A sad day for opera fans all over the world...

Luciano Pavarotti, whose vibrant high C's and ebullient showmanship made him the most beloved and celebrated tenor since Caruso and one of the few opera singers to win crossover fame as a popular superstar, died Thursday. He was 71.

His manager, Terri Robson, told the AP in an e-mailed statement that Pavarotti died at his home in Modena, Italy, at 5 a.m. local time. Pavarotti had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year and underwent further treatment in August.

My favorite tenor singing my favorite aria from my favorite opera:

Sweet fancy Moses...

Paris Hilton is no stranger to self-promotion. But when she asked DJs to play songs from her upcoming debut album, "Paris," last spring, she wasn't so confident.

"People go crazy," the 25-year-old socialite/reality TV star/singer says in an interview in the September issue of Blender magazine, on newsstands Tuesday. "They love it. Everyone's like, 'Who is this?' I don't tell. Because I don't want someone putting their phone up and recording it and making a ring tone off of it. [...]

Of her album, she says, "I, like, cry, when I listen to it, it's so good."

Yeah, I, like, cry when I listen to it, too.

And it's awfully modest of her to take such thorough credit for an album whose lead single is almost entirely plagiarized from "Kingston Town," a song recorded by UB40 17 years ago.

303 days... 303 days... 303 days...

[USA Today] Paris Hilton praises her debut album

...Nelly Furtado.

I wonder if it ever occurred to the once-great-now-skanky singer that the Teen Choice Awards might not be the most appropriate forum for singing a song called "Promiscuous."

Probably not, considering that she ended her performance by telling the all the 12-year-olds in the audience to use condoms.

Apologies for posting the Paris Hilton video and running. That was quite cruel of me. I'd like to say it was planned evil, but the truth is it was simply neglect. I am currently busier than I've ever been in my entire life. Between teaching, multiple web design projects, two cross-country trips to conferences, volunteer work, and all my regular job duties, the blog was bound to get sacrificed in the process. Hell, Tony called me about a month ago to discuss "Lost," and I still haven't called him back. (Sorry, Tony.)

On the plus side, I'm going to see Brian Wilson live this Saturday night. It will be almost 22 years to day since I saw him perform with the Beach Boys in Washington, D.C. on July 4, 1984. And if that isn't enough to make me all warm and fuzzy, all the surviving members of the Beach Boys appear to have buried the hatchet and made friends again just in time to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their masterpiece, "Pet Sounds." The Boys made their first public appearance together in 10 years a couple of weeks ago on the roof of Capitol Records headquarters in Los Angeles. Could a tour be far behind?

Well, we're less than two weeks away from the halfway point in the Paris Hilton Retirement Countdown. How are things looking? Well, since the countdown began she ditched her fiance, appeared in a bad horror film, been involved in a heavily televised fender bender, launched a new season of "The Simple Life," introduced her own video game, and attended just about every red carpet event in existence. So, no, the prospects for retirement in a year don't look particularly good.

But then comes this, the first video promoting her brand new hip hop/reggae album. Judging by this dreck, retirement may not be too far away after all. Involuntary retirement, that is.

[You Tube] Paris Hilton - Stars Are Blind Video!!