Scarlett Johansson Calls for Recycling
Scarlett Johansson wants you to get in the spirit of recycling your cell phones.
Seriously.
Playing off posters for Johansson's upcoming comic-book thriller The Spirit, the Environmental Media Association and Lionsgate studio have created PSAs encouraging folks to recycle their used cell phones. The ads feature one of the movie's taglines, "Answer the call!"
The magazine ads—first appearing in People on Friday—will also include Johansson's costar Eva Mendes.
EMA's goal is to lower the amount of carbon dioxide emissions created by the production of new phones.
This isn't the only good deed Johansson has been up to recently. She just completed a four-day visit to Rwanda, where she visited AIDS clinics with (RED), Bono and Bobby Shriver's initiative to raise money for women and children affected by AIDS in Africa.
A-List Secrets: How Hard Scarlett Really Works
It drives me nuts when I hear celebs talking about how "I am working so hard, all I do is work, blah blah blah." It's not like they are going into a coal mine for 14 hours a day.
—Kathy, N.J.
Now, now. Not every celebrity is a Katherine Heigl-sized black hole of negativity. Take Scarlett Johansson. Sure, Scarlett has her flaws—see my earlier references vis-à-vis "singing voice" and "manatee"—but she's also a veritable supersquirrel in the hard work department. A chittering, happy little squirrel treated with L'Oréal hair color No. 10SB.
Earlier this month, I asked her about this very topic. She had just starred in Vicky Cristina Barcelona and had two other acting roles in the can. Her short film was in postproduction, and her album of Tom Waits covers was out. I asked if she slept.
Find out what she told me, after the jump.
ScarJo Screams Sexism Over Obama Email Hoopla
Scarlett Johansson apparently never had a crush on Barack Obama. Or at least in the way some media outlets have made it out to be.
In fact, the actress believes all the attention surrounding her recent comments about an email relationship with the Democratic presidential hopeful reeks of "extreme sexism."
"I kept thinking to myself, 'God, if this was just, like, Kal Penn or George Clooney or any of the other [Obama] surrogates or supporters...there wouldn't be [any] question about it," she tells the Associated Press. "Nobody would even talk about it."
ScarJo's a Full-Time Smarty-Pants
She sings. She cracks jokes. She makes guys pant. No wonder director Woody Allen says Scarlett Johansson "can do anything."
And Johansson doesn’t exactly disagree.
"You're always, as an actor, becoming, like, an expert at something in two weeks," Scarlett said in a press roundtable Monday. “I remember, for The Man Who Wasn't There, I had to learn to play a Beethoven sonata. I was like, 'Aaaah! Ooookay! I've never touched this thing before!' "
Then there were the riding lessons for The Horse Whisperer...
Hollywood Wears Its Politics on Its Sleeve, Hat
Whether it's "Team Heidi" or "Real Girls Eat Meat," you know celebrities care deeply about something when they put it on a T-shirt.
That's why we couldn't ignore the fact that many Tinseltown types seem to be wearing gear in support of Sen. Barack Obama's quest for the presidency. Who knew?
The pendulum always swings both ways, however. So we will await the inevitable crush of McCain '08 hats, hoodies, and decorative neck tattoos sure to turn up soon.
Until they do, though, check out our Team Obama gallery and see who supports him.
Scarlett, Heidi and Hayden Have Albums—Here's Why
Why are so many celebutantes/reality stars recording albums? Who the heck is telling them that's a good idea?
—Penny, Denver
Now, now. I hear the manatees living off the coast of Florida cannot get enough of Scarlett Johansson's album. They line up along Cape Canaveral and thump their stumpy flippers and take turns mooing just like ScarJo does on "Fannin Street."
If you need to blame someone for this recent spate of craptastic singer-actress albums, blame the cheap-ass music industry. More on exactly how cheap-assness has resulted in a Hayden Panettiere album after the jump.
Scarlett: Monogamy's Still Not Natural
Scarlett Johansson's still backpedaling to explain her we-breed-like-animals comments a couple of years ago.
"I don't think it's a natural instinct for human beings, but it doesn't mean I don't believe in monogamy or true love. I believe in finding a soul mate," she tells the August issue of Cosmo.
Sweet. But just when you think fiancé Ryan Reynolds can breathe a sigh of relief, ScarJo goes and blabs again: "Monogamy can be hard work for some people. I don't think it applies to everybody, and I don't think a lot of people can do it."
Resisting the urge to add fuel to the fire? Also apparently hard work.
Teens Choose Justin, Miley, Gossip
OMFG. Consider the Gossip Girl word sufficiently spread.
The CW hit received a leading—and whopping—14 nominations this morning for the Teen Choice 2008 Awards.
Chris Brown checked in with nine nods, Miley Cyrus (who will host the ceremony) scored four nods, and perpetual nominee Justin Timberlake racked up three.
Timberlake is the awards' winningest artist, having aggregated 21 surfboards—the event's laid-back hardware of choice—since 1999.
3 Doors Downs Dancing Queen Hough, Bun B; ScarJo Struggles
Music fans seem to like what's behind door No. 3—at the expense of Bun B and Dancing With the Stars' Julianne Hough. And maybe Scarlett Johansson should stick to her day job.
Mississippi rockers 3 Doors Down opened atop the Billboard 200 for the second straight time as their new self-titled album sold 154,000 copies for the week ended Sunday, per Nielsen SoundScan. The band, best known for the 2000 megahit "Kryptonite," previously topped the charts with 2005's Seventeen Days.
Bun B debuted at No. 2, selling 98,000 copies of his sophomore solo effort, II Trill. The Southern rapper had been one-half of the rap duo UGK until the December death of partner Pimp C. The late, great Pimp posthumously appears on II Trill, however, with verses recorded before his death.
Hough, the youngest pro hoofer on and two-time champ of Dancing With the Stars, stepped in at No. 3 with sales of 67,000 for her country-music debut. Hough is currently at country radio with "That Song in My Head."
Scarlett Scorned by Critics
It was a tough week for ScarJo.
First, there was the minor brouhaha about her missing the premiere of her new film with Woody Allen at the Cannes Film Festival. Now she's facing the music from critics about her album of Tom Waits covers, Anywhere I Lay My Head.
And they don't like what they're hearing: "Unremarkable," "fussy and forgettable" and "deeply in a druggy ambiance" are just a few of the descriptions of the disc and her voice.
Plus, there's this deep-thought gem from the Washington Post: "Every song is like every other song, even the ones that sound different."
Whoa.
Anyway we've got a couple of tracks right here if you haven't made up your mind yet. But now how about we check out the rest of this week's new releases?
ScarJo Pal: She's Gonna Make a Beautiful Bride
Scarlett Johansson’s best friend, singer and songwriter Jessie Baylin, has high hopes for ScarJo’s wedding to Ryan Reynolds.
“I’m really excited for them,” Baylin, 24, told me earlier today. “I think Ryan is amazing. She’s beautiful, and she’s going to look beautiful.”
Johansson may want to avoid looking at Baylin during the ceremony. “If she sees me crying, then she’ll start crying,” said Baylin, who has known the actress since they were 14-year-old schoolmates in New York City. “She’s a bawler.”
But it's not just weddings. Find out what else gets Scarlett reaching for the tissues:
Awkward! Alanis Bares "Rock Bottom"
Sure, Alanis Morissette has an album coming out next month, but you have to wonder about the timing of this revelation: The Canadian pop singer says a recent breakup led to her to try "everything from pounding pillows to sharing with intimate friends" in order to get through "a personal unraveling of significant relationships in my life."
"The record chronicles the rock bottom finally being hit," she tells People.
Ouch. Be strong, Alanis. We’ve all been there.
Still, did you have to bare your “rock bottom” the same week a famous ex of yours, Ryan Reynolds, announced his engagement to hotastic Scarlett Johansson? (Who, yes, also has a new album of her own to push, BTW.) As much as we feel your pain, you oughta know that raining on your ex’s parade just makes you look bitter. Next time, try saying, “I’m so happy for them”—even if you don't mean it.
Then you can go back to pounding the pillows.















