Los Angeles (E! Online) - Britney Spears shouldn't expect to work with Jermaine Dupri on her new album.

The über-producer, who's worked with some of the biggest names in the music biz—Mariah Carey, Usher, Kanye West and girlfriend Janet Jackson, to name a few—had an unexpected response when I asked him why.
"I don't think she needs me," Dupri told me yesterday. "Her last album was a good album. She probably would have sold three million records if everybody wasn't paying attention to her babies and all that."
Ne-Yo, on the other hand, says he'd hook up with Ms. Spears, because they were supposed to work together on her last album. Plans got sidetracked, because of Brit's then-troubled private life. "It's entirely up to her now," Ne-Yo said at the House of Hype's VMA festivities this weekend. "I'm not calling them. They can call me this time…Once she gets focused, I think she'll be alright."
While Akon is working with Spears on her upcoming album, he is thinking about some other things these days, like acting. He said, "I'm definitely going to be doing some movies."
Also hitting House of Hype were Michael Phelps, Jaime Foxx, Robin Thicke, Ludacris, Missy Elliott, Solange Knowles, Busta Rhymes, Audrina Patridge and Brody Jenner with his new girlfriend, Playboy Playmate Jayde Nicole.

Usher to kick off NFL season with concert

The R&B singer hopes he’ll be asked to play the Super Bowl halftime show

NEW YORK - Like the NFL teams beginning their new seasons, Usher is hoping to go all the way to the Super Bowl.

The R&B singer will perform the season’s kickoff concert on Thursday in New York’s Columbus Circle along with Keith Urban and Natasha Bedingfield. The 3 p.m. concert will be held just before the season opener, when the Washington Redskins take on the Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

Like the Redskins and Giants, Usher is aiming for the big game in February. The game might be the destination of all football players, it’s also one of the most sought-after gigs in music.

“I don’t think it’s too early to consider it,” said Usher, speaking from Atlanta. “Certainly being associated with the organization makes that a lot more possible. There have been conversations for a lot of years about me being part of a performance at a Super Bowl.”

He added: “I’m hoping that this leads, definitely, to that. This whole process is basically you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”

Usher feels that he’s sufficiently built up his “brand” over the past decade — it can sometimes be easy to forget that the 29-year-old singer has been around that long. Recent Super Bowl performers include Prince and Tom Petty.

Last year, Usher married Tameka Foster and the couple had a son, Usher Raymond V. The onset of family life has brought out a more mature side of Usher, whose 2008 album “Here I Stand” deals considerably with growing into adulthood.

At the kickoff concert, which will stream on NFL.com, Usher plans to perform “Here I Stand,” “Changing Places” and “What’s Your Name” with guest star will.i.am.

Usher, who spent much of a his childhood in Tennessee, counts himself a Titans fan, and vividly recalls being at the 1999 Super Bowl and watching the Titans’ Kevin Dyson fall one yard short of the end zone as time expired.

n expert dancer, Usher gives props to Randy Moss and Terrell Owens’ endzone dances, but says their moves still fall short of another.

“The greatest end zone dance of all time has to be Cuba Gooding Jr.,” said Usher, referring to the actor’s dance in “Jerry Maguire.” “The greatest of all time.”

Diana and the Cult of Celebrity Forum: Overview

mark the 10th anniversary of the tragic death of “Lady Di,” princess of Wales, the Britannica Blog hosted (Aug. 20–31) a forum to discuss both Diana’s legacy and the concept of celebrity itself. How did Diana change the British monarchy? What constitutes a “celebrity,” and why are we fascinated by such people and their every move? And is our obsession with celebrities — from Hollywood starlets and sexy sports stars to charismatic politicians and even some serial killers — a mark of cultural decline, or is this merely a reflection of a social, psychological need?

A diverse array of prominent writers, scholars, and experts tackled these questions from a variety of points of view. They included:

Catherine Whitney (writer and biographer, author of The Women of Windsor) “Diana and the Royal ‘Me’ Generation”

Maureen Orth (longtime correspondent for Vanity Fair, author of The Importance of Being Famous) “Diana, Versace, and the Celebrity Epidemic”

Graeme Turner (professor of Cultural Studies, University of Queensland, Australia, author of Understanding Celebrity) “Diana and the Celebrity Culture We Enjoy”

Frank Deford (NPR radio commentator and contributor to Sports Illustrated; author of The Entitled) “Diana, Beckham, and the Cult of Celebrity”

Denny McLain (former Major League Baseball star, author of I Told You I Wasn’t Perfect) “Celebrity: A Little Bad, A Lot of Good”

Theodore Dalrymple (British essayist and author of Our Culture, What’s Left of It: The Mandarins & the Masses) “The Dianafication of Modern Life”

Darrell West (professor of Political Science, Brown University, author of Celebrity Politics) “Celebrity Politics, Political Celebrities”

Ilan Stavans (professor of Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College and author of Love and Language) “The Cult of Leadership and Nationalism Run Amuck”

Roger Kimball (co-editor of The New Criterion, co-editor of Counterpoints: 25 Years of The New Criterion on Culture and the Arts) “The Age of Celebrity: What’s 15 Minutes Really Worth?”

Victoria Lautman, Chicago print and broadcast journalist, interviews Tina Brown, author of The Diana Chronicles

David Schmid (professor of English, University of Buffalo, author of Natural Born Celebrities: Serial Killers in American Culture) “Natural-Born Celebrities: Serial Killers in American Culture, Part 1”

David Schmid (professor of English, University of Buffalo, author of Natural Born Celebrities: Serial Killers in American Culture) “Natural-Born Celebrities: Serial Killers in American Culture, Part 2“

The final contributor, of course, remains you: your comments, opinions, and replies to these varied posts. Reader comments continue to be welcome. So please read and reply to as many of these posts as you’d like.