· Some musical offerings: French electro artist Sebastien Tellier is at the Henry Fonda, and Jonathan Richman at the El Rey.
· Postmodern dancer/choreographer David Gordon recreates his 1982 work, Trying Times (Remembered), based on overheard subway conversations and the music of Stravinsky. That's him hiding behind a metal folding chair. At REDCAT.
· Charity Water raises funds to bring safe drinking water to areas of Africa that have none. Progressive social network Ladies Lotto is holding a benefit for them tonight at Royal/T.

Can you smell that in the air? No, it's not Leela Thai's dumpster, it's the backlash to the backlash to the end of Pushing Daisies. In the coming month, we'll start seeing articles arguing that Pushing Daisies wasn't all that good to begin with and that if high-minded critics were in charge of TV programming, no one would ever make money. We understand that it's a commercial art form, but the realization of Bryan Fuller's vision and a combination of intriguing actors and intelligent writing are unique and deserve consideration. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Gay men used to be known for their powers of artistic discernment, granting a priceless cultural imprimatur on the only trends, films, and iconic women who deserved it. No longer! Now, when even a reality show fourth banana like Audrina Patridge can have gays flinging themselves onto the pavement of Santa Monica Blvd. in a desperate attempt to be her new BFF, the standards for gay adoration have reached a watermark so low that it wouldn't even reach the hem of $220 capri pants. Thus it is that Tori Spelling has seen fit to anoint herself as a modern-day gay icon, an honor that E! talk show host Chelsea Handler tells The Advocate is simply canny marketing:

THR noticed something interesting in today's NBC, mid-season We're Canceling Everything New and Supersizing Anything Else That Isn't Nailed Down press release: The Knight Rider season finale was listed as airing on February 25th. Since when do super-duper, Ben Silverman-championed, beloved 1980s trash-TV remakes supposedly given full pickups end their seasons in winter, you ask?

Brad Pitt still has some work to do in New Orleans before he can attend to those areas of America hardest hit by the ravages of UncoolGate. Meanwhile, the woman who started it all—this week's EW covergirl, Jennifer Aniston—emerges a stronger woman, if forever a far less trusting magazine-profile subject:

Supersize This: NBC announced its midseason scheduling moves today, including not just Celebrity Apprentice news but an ER mercy kill on March 12 (the new drama Kings will take over ER's longtime Thursday night berth). And which show gets the plum post-Super Bowl slot? That would be The Office, which is — you guessed it — supersizing to an hour for the occasion. Sorry, Rainn! [THR]

The Sundance Film Festival this afternoon unveiled the competition lineup for its 2009 incarnation (a/k/a the One You're Boycotting), and it's a sharp crop of international cinema that will no doubt be met with accolades and not just a few bounced checks from cash-strapped indie distributors. Follow the jump for our quick, dirty, reductive and completely arbitrary survey of the fest's hottest titles and trends.

Hypersexual lesbian temptress Ellen DeGeneres usually keeps her daytime chat show somewhat neutered, but today's Brad Pitt interview (beamed via satellite from New Orleans, where he was busy building homeless shelters using only the telekinetic energy stored up in each ab) really brought out the gay.

Welcome to the most depressing paragraph you're likely to read today:

Sharon Stone has worked with Samuel L. Jackson exactly once: on the 1998 flop Sphere. However, this was hardly her best qualification to make a speech to Jackson during 23rd annual American Cinematheque Awards, which honored the actor. No, Stone was almost certainly booked for the special brand of crazy she brings to such occasions, and according to the Hollywood Reporter, she did not disappoint:

Adventures in Obviousness. A helpful reminder from MSNBC for anyone who might have forgotten: "Movies no place to learn real history." Like Frost/Nixon? Their meeting never really happened! Spoiler alert! [MSNBC via MCN]

Kate Winslet's sex-positive, clothes-allergic career emerged from its most severe test to date in Revolutionary Road: It was there, the actress admits in a wrenching confession to ET, that her husband sternly insisted that he share her with Leonardo Di Caprio.

Presidential Theater: Earlier this week, world's laziest presidential candidate Fred Thompson awoke from his midday nap (11am to 5pm) to start plotting out his next move. "Get me that job back as that mentor guy with five lines on Law & Order," he drawled to his agent. "What? Sam Waterston is doing that now? Too young! What about SVU? Maybe I could romance Mariska Harg..." He then fell back asleep, conserving his energy as the agent patiently pre-cut Thompson's dinner steak while booking him his first role since the presidential campaign: NYPD's chief of detectives on Life on Mars. Haha, remember when everyone was scared of this dude? [EW]

Terrible lovebirds Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt are capable of making no move without a cannery-level of fishiness (and paparazzi present, of course), and so it is with their Mexico wedding, which has since been revealed as the legally unbinding publicity stunt that, rather than being beneath the couple, represents the absolute apex of their combined powers. Still, Heidi's mother Darlene is not having it, and she's come out swinging in Us with some wild allegations about Spencer's Svengali-like hold on her daughter. But is it all part of the plan? Let's find out:

At a Cedars-Sinai benefit last night at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, the animated woodland creatures that typically accompany David Archuleta wherever he goes were shooed away by idol-feeding succubus Priscilla Presley, who quickly drained the rosy tint from his cheeks. Hours later, he arose from a shallow dirt grave to take on his new, immortal form—as ELVISULA, Hip-Gyrating Prince of Darkness. [NY Post]

Silver Mine: Buoyed by the sterling performance of Speed Racer and other films from its multi-faceted partnership with Joel Silver, officials at Studio Babelsburg have announced a deal to co-produce a slate of Silver's upcoming projects released through Warner Bros. The pact sets up another five years of subsidized shoots at the German studio, complementing their co-financing deal for Silver's genre output from his Dark Castle shingle and assuring the producer a clean, spacious cubicle from which to work when Warners throws him off the lot at the end of 2009. [THR]

Sometimes the mere existence of a rumor is as interesting as the rumor itself, and the recent surge of people breathlessly telling us that Wendi Deng Murdoch is cuckolding News Corp. Rupert Murdoch certainly falls into that category. In the last couple weeks, three separate people have come forward to tell us Deng is having an affair with Chris DeWolfe, a MySpace founder who now works for Rupert after News Corp. purchased the social network three years ago for $580 million. It's pretty clear there is a campaign underway to get this story out. And whoever it is has finally found an outlet to bite. There's certainly no shortage of people who might have an ax to grind against Murdoch, Deng or even DeWolfe. If you have any idea who's behind it, please email me.

It was just last December when knocked-up teen Jamie Lynn Spears attended a showing of knocked-up teen comedy Juno, and oh, how we all larfed! The parallels, they were strong! The imagined glances between Jamie Lynn and mom Lynne, so awkward! Now, though, Star is revealing an extra wrinkle that might have made that Juno viewing even more unbearable: you see, much like our homeskillet Juno MacGuff, Jamie Lynn originally thought she was carrying a "food baby." Sadly, by the time she figured out it was a "baby baby," she had already done something she probably shouldn't have:

· Johnny Depp has bought the film rights to novel In the Hand of Dante, in which he'll play a Dante expert charged with authenticating what might be the original Divine Comedy manuscript. Hopefully along the way he breaks a couple of codes and finds out the Virgin Mary was the town slut or something—otherwise, SNOOZERS. [Variety]
· SAG was struck a mighty blow from within their own ranks when its former VP Mike Farrell lambasted current leadership for its negotiation tactics. Go Klinger! It's about time someone took a man in a dress seriously. What's that? He didn't play Klinger? Never mind. [Variety]
· The End of Ideas: Hey, Does Anyone Remember Captain Blood with Errol Flynn? No? Great—Let's Remake It! Edition. [Variety]

Despite its principals' best efforts, the Ricky Gervais Oscar-hosting whispers simply will. Not. Die. But Gervais, who has downplayed the possibility since his Emmy-saving bit in September involuntarily sprung him into candidacy, has his foot squarely on the rumor's throat today with his strongest denial yet. And we paraphrase: Who wants that bullshit job, anyway?