Esquire magazine has named actress Scarlett Johansson as the Sexiest Woman Alive. The starlet will grace the mag’s November issue.

After months of speculation and rumors, Tool has officially been confirmed to headline the Big Day Out festival tour of Australia and New Zealand, which begins January 19 in Auckland. British pop rock trio Muse, emo heroes My Chemical Romance and Australia's Jet have also been announced for the trek.

Beau Garrett and Andre Braugher have been cast in Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer. Tim Story is once again directing for 20th Century Fox. Shooting is taking place in Vancouver, with the main cast reprising their roles from the first film. Garrett will play Frankie Raye, a scientist and love interest to Chris Evans' character. In the comic she eventually gains super powers.

Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake may be reuniting. According to gossip reports, Janet is in talks with JT's people to arrange for another high profile duet on a live broadcast like the Grammys or the Oscars.

Ludacris, who had a role in the Oscar-winning film Crash, is set to play an ornery elf opposite Vince Vaughn in the holiday comedy Fred Claus. Vaughn is in the title role, playing Santa's less-jolly brother, a New Yorker who returns to the North Pole and nearly ruins Christmas. Kevin Spacey, Paul Giamatti and Elizabeth Banks also star.
 

Jeffrey Wright will come on as the main villain in Live Free or Die Hard, the fourth installment of the Die Hard franchise currently shooting in Maryland. Len Wiseman (Underworld) is helming the feature. Bruce Willis reprises his role as Detective John McClane and is being joined by Justin Long and Maggie Q.

Beck's new album, The Information, comes with extra materials that US fans have come to expect when they buy a disc today. But the DVD with videos for each song and the bundle of stickers are going to keep the album off the British charts. The UK's Official Chart Company has ruled that the extras in the album give it an "unfair advantage" over other albums.

Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash is among the musicians appearing in TV ads for a new campaign partnering First Act guitars and Volkswagen cars. Custom First Act axes will be given away to purchasers of new VW automobiles, and feature a built in pre-amp allowing them to be played through the vehicles' stereos.

R. Kelly is being sued by a man who claims he was beaten by the R&B star and his entourage. The man also alleges that he came up with the idea for Kelly's song Step In The Name Of Love and never received compensation. Kelly's rep denies the allegations, calling the man a disgruntled ex-employee who is looking to extort money.

The first auction of official Star Trek memorabilia hit warp speed when a determined bidder paid $576,000 for a model of the legendary science fiction franchise's starship Enterprise, helping drive the total for the three-day sale above $7 million.

Google is in discussions to acquire YouTube for about $1.6 billion.

Warner Bros. has purchased the film rights to The Au Pairs, a series of books by Melissa de la Cruz which will be produced by Drew Barrymore's Flower Films as well as Alloy Entertainment. The young-adult book series tell of three teenage girls who take up summer jobs as au pairs for a wealthy family in the Hamptons.

Shakira is planning a benefit concert in her hometown in Colombia next month. The show will help fund an arts school for children displaced by the Colombian civil war. The school will be built just outside Shakira's hometown, and will fund the education of 1800 students.

Former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker has a broken arm. Barker injured himself on the set of the video shoot for his new band, Plus-44. The drummer will be out of commission for two months.

Jennifer Lopez was hit with a lawsuit this week. A charter jet service accuses the singer of not paying for private flights from New York to California and Puerto Rico. The company says Lopez owes more than US$34,000.

Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies will co-produce a film based on the children's book The Game of Sunken Places by M.T. Anderson and published by Scholastic.

Original Charlie's Angel and 1970s bombshell Farrah Fawcett has confirmed that she is battling intestinal cancer.

Oscar-nominated actress Keisha Castle-Hughes, 16, is reportedly expecting a child with her boyfriend of three years, Bradley Hull, 19.

Bloggers are scoring rich paydays by turning their online diaries into books, but some publishers say the craze could fizzle out with a glut of new titles destined to yield disappointing sales.