Ashley Tisdale

With the Grammys in the review mirror and the summer festival season still in the not-too-distant future, it’s time to focus on the next big event in pop music: Wrestlemania XXIV. The WWE’s annual fiasco, held this year at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, FL, will feature a bevy of musical performers and guests. John Legend will sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” to open the show, while Snoop Dogg will preside over something called the “BunnyMania Lumberjack Match,” which will involve four female wrestlers and possibly some woodcutting. It was also reported that 50 Cent will be in attendance as part of boxer Floyd “Money” Mayweather’s entourage. Mayweather uses 50’s “I Get Money” as his entrance music and will take part in a match against a gigantic man called the Big Show. Finally, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have provided the official song for the event: their “Snow (Hey Oh),” from 2006’s Stadium Arcadium, has been scoring promos for the show since January. Wrestlemania has a long tradition of musical guests, as groups like Motorhead, Limp Bizkit, Run-DMC, Salt-N-Pepa and P.O.D. have played the gig.

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[Photo: Getty]

The little movie (and soundtrack) that could just kept on doing at last night’s Academy Awards ceremony, as Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova’s “Falling Slowly” from the film Once took home the prize for Best Original Song. “Falling Slowly” beat out three tunes from Enchanted and one from August Rush – plus non-nominated songs from Eddie Vedder’s Into The Wild soundtrack – to win the Oscar, adding another trophy to sit beside the Grammy Hansard and Irglova won earlier this month in the same category. Also on Rock Daily’s radar was Cate Blanchett’s Best Supporting Actress bid for portraying a faux Bob Dylan in I’m Not There. Despite being an assumed favorite, Blanchett lost out to dark horse Tilda Swinton for her role in Michael Clayton. In case you missed the Academy Awards because you were too busy watching The Wire or Rock of Love 2, or if you just want to relive the action, Peter Travers has you covered with his Oscars Live Blog.

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Reuters - Disney’s direct-to-video
sequel “Snow Buddies” scored a surprise win on the national DVD
sales chart Wednesday, beating several high-profile releases.

AP - Damon Wayans is taking “In Living Color” to the Internet.

Reuters - China voiced its disappointment on
Thursday over movie director Steven Spielberg’s decision to
quit his Beijing Olympics role because of China’s policies in
Sudan and said the Games would be a success regardless.

AP - An $8 million painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat has been located in a Manhattan warehouse after apparently being smuggled out of Brazil, federal prosecutors said.

Reuters - Critics damned Madonna’s first feature
film with faint praise on Thursday and suggested her career
behind the camera might be as successful as her acting.

AP - China is blaming activists with “ulterior motives” for linking the Beijing Olympics to the nation’s involvement in Sudan, with top officials saying they shared concerns over the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

AP - Madonna recalled her struggle to break into show business on Wednesday as she presented her first effort as a movie director: “Filth and Wisdom,” which made its debut at the Berlin film festival.

AP - Madonna recalled her struggle to break into show business on Wednesday as she presented her first effort as a movie director: “Filth and Wisdom,” which made its debut at the Berlin film festival.