Famed author J.D. Salinger died Wednesday of natural causes at his home in New Hampshire. He was 91. He wrote four acclaimed novels during the 50s and 60s including his groundbreaking piece of literature "Catcher in the Rye." "Catcher's" cardinal character Holden Caulfield has resonated with generations of misunderstood youths. Fiercely private and secluded in nature, J.D. Salinger had all but disappeared from the public eye albeit brief, unsubstantiated rumors that the author would come out of hiding to release a new novel. It never was to be. The author had broken his hip last May, but was in sterling health until he abruptly went downhill after the New Year according to a statement from the Salinger family. Salinger was a true literary master and will be missed.

It's been tittering on the brink for much too long it seems. ABC has finally lowered the boom by canceling fan favorite and ratings challenged "Ugly Betty." Originally based on a Colombian telenovela, the dramedy starts America Ferrera making her way in the fashion world of New York. The show has won Emmy and Peabody Awards as well as a Golden Globe for Ferrera's portrayal of Betty. Eight episodes remain with the show taking its final bow in April.

Source: MSNBC

Saucy vixen Chelsea Handler will be taking her biting comedy routine on the road in March in support of her forthcoming coming book "Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang." The comedy tour will touch down in 21 cities kicking off in Chicago March 10 and closing out in New York's Radio City Music Hall on May 15. In addition to her standup shtick, Chelsea will be making the rounds to local area bookstores to sign books and meet fans in promotion her third book.

Source: Chelsea Handler Tour

That collective groan you are hearing this morning is coming from the Netflix subscribers out there. The company has reached a concession with Warner Brothers to delay the rental of new releases for 28-days and in exchange Warner Brothers will give Netflix deep discounts on buying videos as well as opening up more of WB's back catalog for Netflix's video streaming service. Netflix is trying to reach similar deals with other studios. Warner Bros is attempting to combat dwindling DVD sales through the move. DVD and Blu-ray sales fell 10% last year, and three quarters of those movies purchased were done three weeks after the release date. While this may help stem one front on the rental war, just as big of a threat is Redbox who doesn't operate under any release restrictions.

Source: Yahoo Finance

As TV revenues continue to shrink because of falling ad dollars and the irrelevance of ads period due to the proliferation of DVRs, the major networks are mulling shutting off the tap. ABC, CBS and NBC could soon be just another cable network since cable channels have dual sources of revenue -- television ads and kickbacks from cable companies that can amount up to $4 a month per viewer as is the case with ESPN. Fox reported that operating income fell 54% for the quarter while other Fox properties FX and Fox News grew income by 41%. News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch (owner of FOX) recently said in a shareholder meeting, "Good programming is expensive. It can no longer be supported solely by advertising revenues."

Read the Full Article at MSNBC

John Mayer is known for entertaining the ladies, but his latest target is -- Taylor Swift? In March, Mayer revealed on Twitter that he had wrapped a new song called "Half of My Heart," and he was hoping his "Diamonds in the Stream" partner would be none other than teen icon Taylor Swift. Taylor is evidently blushing like well the schoolgirl she is at Mayer's attention and thinks its a grand idea. Mayer actually made an appearance at Taylor Swift's concert in Los Angeles last month where they shared a moment on "You're Body is a Wonderland" and "White Horse." Is it just me or is Mayer's affinity for younger ladies getting a tad creepy?

Source: Taylor Swift Tour

Evan Rachel Wood (the Wrestler) and Alan Cumming (Goldeneye) have both signed on for staring roles in the new Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark musical coming to Broadway next spring. Wood will play the vivacious Mary Jane and Cumming will take on Harry Osborne and his alter-ego the Green Goblin. More cast members will be named at a later date. Previews will begin on February 25th and tickets will be released to the general public on September 12th. American Express cardholders can take advantage of presales going on now at Ticketmaster.

Source: Rolling Stone

Tim Burton's new project is one of the ultimate head trip films Alice in Wonderland. Set to be released in March 2010, the film has already added the star power of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen and Helen Bonham Carter as the Red Queen. Relative newcomer Mia Wasikowska will play the pivotal role of Alice. Wasikowska is a 19-year-old Australian actress who has had some exposure to US audiences as one of Gabriel Byrne's patients in the HBO show In Treatment. Count on CGI to play a key role in Wonderland as it does in all of Burton's fantasy visions.

Source: NY Daily News

As the seasons have gone by, the quirky comedy Scrubs has defied cancellation time and again even though the DNR order had been signed. After making the jump to ABC last fall, Scrubs returns for its final season and will now be set in a university. Turk and Dr. Cox will be the professors with JD, Eliot and Carla making guest appearances. And for all you Janitor lovers out there, he's officially out. His alter ego Neil Flynn will be starring opposite Deborah Heaton in the new ABC fall sitcom The Middle. Scrubs producer Bill Lawrence says that 60% of the cast will be comprised of newbies. Why couldn't they have just let this show die off gracefully a couple seasons ago?

Source: MSNBC

The ridiculousness of file sharing lawsuits still trudge on yet this time they've hit a new low. A Minnesota woman was found guilty of sharing 24 songs, and the record companies were awarded a baffling $1.92 million or $80,000 per song. It is obvious the 32-year-old mother of 4 has no means to pay such a far fetched sum, and that this circus is simply a PR vehicle for the RIAA to strike fear in the hearts of downloaders everywhere. This case is only one of 30,000 making their way through the court system currently. Most violators settle out of court for around $3500. If you find out who was on this jury panel that rewarded this ridiculous sum, please beat the living daylights out of them.

Source: Yahoo News

The recession hasn't been kind to many outside of fatcat AIG executives. People are hurting right now and no one more than the small business. The venerable indie magazine Paste unfortunately falls into this category. The Decatur-based magazine says the advertising dollars have dried up, and they are looking for donations from its reader base to try to bridge the gap. 75 top music artists have joined the fight, contributing rare and unreleased tracks to help Paste's cause. They include the likes of the Decemberists, Neko Case, Indigo Girls and Cowboy Junkies. Help save one of the rare pillars of music taste on the magazine shelves. Donate today.

iTunes has basically taken the music business out of the hands of the record labels. By embracing technology instead of stubbornly trying to fight the rising tide, Apple's iTunes has reinvented the music industry and looks like the unstoppable leader. That is until Spotify came along. Spotify is a European music service that serves up music on demand for free. What is the catch? You have to listen to a commercial every 30 minutes or so similar to commercial radio or you can pay a $14 monthly charge to listen ad free. Record labels seem to be embracing this new format including heavy weights like Sony, EMI, Warner Music and Naxos. The 6-month old service already boasts 1 million users, and they are serving up an impressive catalog of music, adding songs at the rate of 10,000 tracks a day. Will this new licensing format make downloading MP3s obsolete? Only time will tell if consumers adopt this format whole-heartedly, but with little downside I certainly wouldn't bet against it. If I were Apple, I'd be looking to launch a competing service yesterday before Spotify hits the US market and slaughters their cash cow. To be one of the first in the know concerning when Spotify hits the US, signup on their website.

Source: Newsweek

Jon Stewart has been known to swing a few solid blows at the media in his day. He single handedly kicked Crossfire off the air and sent Tucker Carlson's bow tie a spinnin'. Now the host of the Daily Show has set his sights on the gross negligence of the financial reporting at CNBC. His primary target last night was none other than avid stock pumper Jim Cramer of Mad Money. Stewart was relentless in his rebuke of CNBC and Cramer's role in not foreshadowing the most epic financial disaster since the Great Depression. Did Cramer swing back and defend the hard hitting news organization? Not so much. The usually verbose Cramer seemed more content to cower at Stewart's continued onslaught of accusations and take the ass whipping that he had coming. Kudos to John Stewart and the Daily Show. Its too bad a comedy news organization is the only one to step up and hold anyone's feet to the fire over this media debacle.

Checkout the full extended interview at Comedy Central

As Ticketmaster navigates the tricky, shark infested waters that plague its pending merger with LiveNation, more trouble lies on the horizon. Ticketmaster just settled a lawsuit from New Jersey's attorney general for $350,000 and agreeing not to link to their subsidiary TicketsNow off their main website. It all stemmed from the shady practice of forwarding fans to TicketsNow (a ticket seller on the secondary market) selling tickets for a steep markup once tickets for Bruce Springsteen's tour flashed sold out. Canada has also filed a $500 million lawsuit against the company for the deception they've leveled on Canadian fans. Now Leonard Cohen fans are feeling the heat. Recent tour dates in NY sold out in seconds. Ticketmaster affiliate Ticketexchange had inventory for over $1000 a ticket available while prices on TicketsNow ran upward of $1900. This just highlights Ticketmaster's questionable business practices and why they cannot be allowed even more power through the proposed consolidation with LiveNation. Congress should have heeded Pearl Jam's advice back in the 1990s and splintered up this monopoly.

Source: NY Daily News

So you've been waiting ever so patiently since the utter silliness of the series finale of Seinfeld swept these lovable schlubs out of our lives. Well they're long awaited reunion aren't donning the peacock feathers of NBC this go around, but rather Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm on cable network HBO. This fall, Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Michael Richards and Julia Louis-Dreyfus will put aside their new lives to afford us an extra day in the sun. No details have been revealed thus far concerning the appearance or potential story lines. Larry David was one of the original creators of the hit NBC series that lives on in infamy through massive syndication.

Source: MSNBC

Canadian jazz chanteuse Diana Krall will soon be heading out on tour to support her latest Brazilian bossa-nova styled record release Quiet Nights. Currently, her tour is slated to snake its way through Canada with a sprinkle of US dates in New England and along the west coast. With large gaps between her summer dates, it's fairly easy to surmise she will be filling in those vacancies with stops along the major US markets, sure to be announced in the months ahead. Diana Krall's tour will start March 19 in Honolulu. Quiet Nights marks Krall's first release since 2006s From This Moment On, and highlights three covers from bossa nova godfather Antonio Carlos Jobim. Diana co-produced the album with Tommy LiPuma.

Metallica's Lars Ulrich says if you don't see a Metallica date coming to your city in the near future -- never fear. Although the current Death Magnetic world tour is scheduled through August of 09, the band is now laying the foundation for it to run into the spring of 10. This tour will be Metallica's first time playing arenas in four years. The set list is said to be drawn heavy from the 80s classics with a sampling off the new album. Regardless of anything, they'll always wrap it up with "Seek and Destroy."

Source: Metallica Tour

Motley Crue will close down the legendary 'The Joint' concert venue on February 6 & 7 to clear the way for a new state-of-the-art 'Joint' set to open in April. The Hard Rock Casino & Hotel says the new venue will be twice the size with upgrades of the sound and lighting systems including seven VIP suites for its patrons. The stop will be two of many along Motley Crue's expanded Saints of Los Angeles tour winding through the spring of 09.

Source: Motley Crue Tour

At least one good thing came out of the Sarah Palin fiasco, the world shined a big spotlight on Tina Fey. The SNL-alum and star of NBC's sensational 30 Rock, Tina Fey has been dubbed by the Associated Press as Entertainer of the Year. The honor is chosen by newspaper editors and broadcast producers based on the performer who had the biggest influence on pop culture in 2008. Runner's up included Robert Downey Jr. and Heath Ledger. Fey's 2008 itinerary has been chocked full of fun. She started the year staring in the film comedy Baby Mama. She won 3 Emmy's for writing, lead actress and series honors for her work on 30 Rock. Then she balanced her time taping new 30 Rock episodes with visiting her old stomping grounds at Saturday Night Live to guest star as Sarah Palin. The hilarious sketches drew record ratings for the show and even an appearance by Palin herself. Catch Tina Fey weekly on 30 Rock -- NBC Thursday's at 9:30pm.

Source: MSNBC

The much heralded Broadway production Wicked will be returning to San Francisco for an open ended engagement at the Orpheum Theatre beginning Tuesday, January 27. It is a sweet homecoming for the musical that premiered in San Francisco at the Curran Theatre in 2003 before going on to win countless Tony and Grammy Awards on Broadway. Teal Wicks has been tapped to play Elphaba and Kendra Kasselbaum takes on Glinda. Tickets are onsale now.

Source: Wicked San Francisco

It seems being in the bottom three every week finally caught up with her in life. Arista Nashville has dropped Kristy Lee from the label. Her debut album Why Wait has sold a meager 25,000 units and her aptly titled first single "30 Minutes of Shame" is charting weakly. This marks the second time she has been dumped by the label. Fellow Idol winner David Cook is tearing it up as his self-titled debut album is number 3 on the Billboard charts and number 1 on the digital album charts. It seems the cougar faithful are pushing their wrinkly support behind tasty David Cook.

Source: American Idol Tour

Jimminy flippin' Christmas. Have I mentioned today what a lucky SOB John Mayer is? The always lovely and incredibly enticing Jennifer Aniston is draped over this months cover of GQ in nothing but a patrotic necktie. Jennifer strips down to bare all in a host of revealing shots that show why she was always the sexiest Friend, and how 40 looks better by the day. For those article readers out there, Jen opens up about her relationship with Mayer, this silly Jen - Angelina - Brad love triangle the tabloids giddily perpetuate, and some other nonsense. Do yourself a favor. Skip the words and dive straight into the pictures using the handy link below. Believe me, you'll thank me.

Source: GQ

Its been 10 long months since the twisted plastic surgeons of Beverly Hills lit up the screen, but wait no more. Nip/Tuck is set to return for season 6 on FX on Tuesday January 6th at 10pm. This coming season promises to answer many lingering questions like how Sean puts back his life back together after the attack by fruit loop Colleen. We'll also get to check-in on delusional Matt as he continues to rationalize rolling in the hay with his sister, and of course Julie's point blank shooting incident. I'd say the writers have their hands full straighting out this simmering mess.

Source: Buddy TV

Carrie Fisher, better known as Princess Leia by the Star Wars faithful, says she would have turned down the coveted role had she known the film was poised to be a boffo success. On the Today show, Fisher relayed stories of suffering from Bipolar disorder, finding relief in electroshock therapy, and that when she got tangled up in LSD, Cary Grant was called in as her drug counselor. She says the fame that came with the Star Wars part was unbearable, and she just waited for it to end.

Source: MSNBC

Guitarist Joe Satrini is suing Coldplay, saying their song "Viva La Vida" uses "substantial original portions" of his 2004 instrumental "If I Could Fly." Satrini wants "any and all profits" from the alleged plagiarism. The band has responded "If there are any similarities between our two pieces of music, they are entirely coincidental and just as surprising to us as to him." Much tamer than what Oasis' response might have been to Satrini "Who the f$%k are you? Saw it off you old bugger."

Source: Coldplay Tour