THIS IS THE CHRONICLES OF EFREM: The Daily Roundup for Jan 24

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"The 43RD NAACP IMAGE AWARDS" NOMINEES

The nominees for THE 43RD NAACP IMAGE AWARDS were announced yesterday during a press conference from the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills, CA. Vanessa Williams, Tracee Ellis Ross, Corey Reynolds and Craig Robinson announced the categories and nominees honoring the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of television, music, literature and film.

The winners will be announced during the two-hour star-studded event airing live on Friday, February 17 (8:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) on NBC.

ABC and CBS lead the nominees in the TV categories with 18 and 16 nominations respectively, followed by BET and HBO both with 15. BET landed two shows in the top comedy series category with "Reed Between The Lines" and "The Game." And "Tyler Perry's House Of Payne" also landed a nomination. On the acting front Malcolm-Jamal Warner - "Reed Between the Lines" competes with Pooch Hall - "The Game" (BET) and Terry Crews - "Are We There Yet?" (TBS) in the best comedy actor category while Tia Mowry-Hardrict - "The Game" (BET) goes against Tracee Ellis Ross - "Reed Between the Lines" (BET) and Vanessa Williams - "Desperate Housewives" (ABC) and Wendy Raquel Robinson - "The Game" (BET) for best actress.

Wendy Williams was nominated for outstanding talk show while "Tia And Tamera" got a nod for outstanding reality show.

In the recording category, Columbia Records leads with eight nominations, followed by Warner Bros. For top male artist honors, Common will compete against Cee Lo Green and Chris Brown while the top female artists category features Jill Scott, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige and Ledisi seeking the honors.
In movies, Dreamworks Pictures/Touchstone Pictures/Participant Media lead with eight nominations, while Focus Features and TriStar Pictures followed with seven, and Universal Pictures with five in the motion picture category.

The Help was nominated for Best Picture while Critics' Choice Award winners Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer got nominations for their roles.

See the full list here

Check out press conference pics here:

Gorgeous "Desperate Housewives" star and nominee Vanessa Williams held announcing duties.

Vanessa Williams posed with co-announcer Tracee Ellis Ross.

Both ladies wore simply day dresses and looked fabulous.

Craig had a little fun with Tracee while announcing the awards.

After the press conference, Craig, Corey, Tracee and Vanessa posed with NAACP Image Awards Chairman Clayola Brown and NAACP Hollywood Bureau director Vicangelo Bulluck.

Be sure to tune in and watch!

Is Rev Jesse Jackson a DEADBEAT DAD?

Back in 2001 Jesse Jackson admitted having a child out of wedlock and now he's accused of not taking care of his responsibilities...

From The National Enquirer

The mother of JESSE JACKSON’s love child is blasting him as a deadbeat dad for falling behind on child support payments!
In official documents filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by The ENQUIRER, Karin Stanford claims the 70-year-old famed civil rights leader owes $11,694.50 for their daughter Ashley, now 12.
Stanford was a top aide with Jackson’s Rainbow PUSHCoalition, and The ENQUIRER exposed their long-term extramarital affair in a bombshell world exclusive in January 2001.
After admitting paternity, the former Democratic presidential hopeful paid court-ordered support and regularly visited Ashley at Stanford’s California home for the past decade.
But according to the court documents, Jackson – who’s remained married to wife Jackie – failed to pay support from December 2010 until August 2011, including minimal monthly fees of $400.

“Karin has tried so many times to work with Jesse on their financial agreement,” a source told The ENQUIRER. “But he was only paying when he felt like it, so she’s taking him to court.”

Philly Eagles Baller Michael Vick & Kijafa Frink CONFIRM Summer 2012 Wedding!

Philadelphia Eagles baller Michael Vick proposed to his fiance Kijafa Frink before his 2 year jail stint. And now they're making the walk down the aisle more official. This summer is when the hot yet controversial professional footballer Michael Vick will wed long-term girlfriend, and PNK Elephant owner, Kijafa Frink.

Setting June 30 as the date, according to reports, the couple plan to take their vows at a private residence in Miami.

Kijafa was Mike's ride-or-die chick through the dog-fighting scandal, his jail sentence and his NFL-comeback....and now they're finalizing the wedding details. No perpetual engagement here. Congrats to the twosome!

Oh? Muscle Man Sly Stallone can’t F*CK?

Brigitte Nielsen says Sylvester Stallone was like a rabbit in bed and had shrunken balls.

Brigitte Nielsen has branded Sylvester Stallone terrible in bed.
The 65-year-old actor was married to the model-and-actress for two years from December 1985 and the Danish beauty says he was like "a rabbit" when they had sex and also admitted his steroid use had had an unfortunate side-effect.

During a chat on 'Ich bin ein Star - Holt mich hier raus!' - the German version of 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!', Brigitte spoke of the actor's steroid use, prompting former T V presenter Ramona Leiß to ask her: "Don't your balls shrink when you take steroids?"

Brigitte laughed and said: "Yes, yes, yes!"
Pressed on whether he was good in bed, she added: "No! He was like a rabbit."
The 48-year-old star also discussed how the 'Rambo' star changed after they married, admitting he was very possessive.

She said: "A day after we married he was a completely different man. I was like his car. It was horrible."

JAY Z ‘s GRAND RE-OPENING OF HIS 40/40 CLUB IN NYC

He has plenty to celebrate after becoming a father for the first time two weeks ago.
And following some recuperation with wife Beyonce and their new baby girl Blue Ivy Carter, it was time for Jay-Z to go back to work.
The rapper made his first public appearance since the birth of his daughter at the reopening of his nightclub 40/40.

The 42-year-old star, whose real name is Shawn Carter, received a wonderful welcome when he arrived at the New York venue.

A crowd of fans gathering outside reportedly shouted ‘congratulations’ as Jay-Z made his way inside.
He is understood to have responded: ‘Thank you,’ while giving his admirers an enthusiastic wave.

He attended the event alone while his 30-year-old wife and their baby daughter stayed at home.
But the throng of fans were not the only people on hand to give Jay-Z their well wishes as he arrived at his newly remodelled club.
A host of glamorous celebrities showed up to celebrate the reopening and congratulate Jay-Z on the birth of his baby girl.

Singer Ashanti arrived in a flowing metallic grey gown, which boasted cut out sides and a long train.

New York Yankee C. C. Sabathia, director Spike Lee, and business magnate Warren Buffett were also in attendance at the bash.

More pics of celebs arriving to the event

Looks like Hova had a ball while Beyonce tend to Lil Blue Ivy!

Aretha is still wishing!

For the past few years Aretha Franklin has been talking about filming her bio-pic and she's got all the parts cast, in her head anyway...

Aretha's already made it known she wants Halle Berry to play her, much to Halle's chagrin and now she's filled out the rest of the cast.
ReeRee wants Blair Underwood to play her brother Cecil, Nia Long to play her older sister Erma and Kerry Washington to play her younger sister Carolyn.
Aretha's reps insists the names are merely a "wish list" and no actors have yet been contacted about any parts.
The bio-pic, titled 'These Roots' will be based on Aretha's 1999 autobiography of the same name.

DMX Plots Ruff Ryders Reunion Tour

The Ruff Ryders are taking their reunion on the road. According to DMX, the ’90s hip-hop collective is plotting a comeback tour.
X tells TMZ that a blowout reunion tour is in the works. Ruff Ryders Entertainment co-founder Joaquin “Waah” Dean is in the process of booking several venues for the cross-country trek.

Swizz Beatz, Drag-On, and Murda Mook have committed, but Eve and The LOX have yet to sign on because X hasn’t reached out to them yet. He is confident the whole crew will be on board by the time the tour kicks off in a few months.
“We are all family and we’re going to come back stronger than when we left,” said the Yonkers rapper. “It’s going to take the nation by storm.”

Would you buy tickets to see a Ruff Ryders reunion tour?

So Chris Brown & Rihanna really have been creeping for over a year?

It seems a court-ordered separation wasn’t enough to keep former couple Chris Brown and Rihanna apart for long. As the three-year anniversary of Rihanna’s infamous beating at the hands of Brown approaches, sources tell “Us Weekly” the pop stars have been meeting up for over a year now. The insider goes on to say the get-togethers are casual, explaining that Rihanna usually visits Brown whenever she’s in Los Angeles. Another source close to the singer says the meetings are all part of Rihanna’s desire to “live dangerously.” Further complicating the matter, however, is the fact that Brown is currently seeing aspiring model Karrueche Tran. But a rep for Chris insists he isn’t cheating, adding that the relationship with Rihanna is nothing more than a friendship.

But the “Umbrella” singer’s recent tweets with Brown seemed to imply the flame was still burning. On Dec. 29, Brown, who follows Rihanna on Twitter, tweeted, “Love U more than u know!” A minute later, Rihanna, who follows Brown on Twitter, tweeted, “I’ll always love u #1LOVE.”

The tweets may have taken an ugly turn days later after Brown was photographed with Tran on New Year’s Eve.

“How can you lie to her, while u lay with me???…..If you don’t have an answer, you don’t have to answer,” Rihanna tweeted, presumably to Brown.

Britney Spears Tell-All on the Way?

Britney Spears former bodyguard plans to release a tell-all book exposing Britney's penchant for orgies and lesbian lovers.
Britney Spears may be facing yet more unwanted public attention in the run up to her wedding to Jason Trawick. Her former bodyguard, Fernando Flores is reportedly planning to release a revealing account of Britney's past, including details of orgies and lesbian kisses with her female dancers. According to a story from Yahoo News, Flores is timing this account of her kinky sex life to be published to coincide with her forthcoming wedding to Trawick.

Flores has suggested to reporters that he is being paid a million-dollar sum for exposing details of Britney's hot-tub sessions whilst she was on tour. He says "Britney has a huge sexual appetite and, from what she told me, her tours were an anything-goes environment. I heard stories of threesomes, orgies, girls making out - things that would make your hair stand on end. She had a lot of young, attractive dancers around her on tour, and things would get crazy. There was drinking, drugs, steamy sessions in hot tubs, all sorts of things."

This is not the first time that Flores has made attempts to damage Britney's public image. In July, he launched a sexual harassment case against the 'Toxic' singer and accused her of having 'obnoxious personal habits' in court papers relating to the case. Britney's publicist was keen to dismiss Flores' earlier claims and has done the same for his latest stream of allegations. Britney became engaged to the former William Morris employee last year. Her first marriage, to Jason Alexander, in 2004 was annulled after just 55 hours.

February 8 marks the three-year anniversary of Brown’s assault, to which he pled guilty and was sentenced to community service and five years probation. What yall think are they still getting it in?

‘X Factor’ Rapper Astro Signs with Epic Records

“X Factor” contestant Astro is blasting off into the next phase of his career. The 15-year-old hip-hop sensation has inked a deal with Epic Records.

The Brooklyn-born MC, born Brian Bradley, will unite with his mentor L.A. Reid at Epic, where he will join his fellow “X Factor” alum including Chris Rene, Marcus Canty, and winner Melanie Amaro.
Astro captivated the attention of America following his 10-week run on Simon Cowell’s singing competition. As the only contestant to write new material each week, Astro thrilled with his versions of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” Naughty by Nature’s “Hip Hop Hooray,” and Missy Elliott’s “Get Ur Freak On.”

“I’m excited to continue my journey with L.A. Reid and his staff at the new Epic Records,” said Astro, also known as the Astronomical Kid. “The first time L.A. saw me he said I’d be a star, and I can’t wait to get to work and prove him right. 2011 was Dope, but 2012 is gonna be Epic!”

Although he’s been rapping since the age of 10, Astro first burst onto the scene a few years ago with his original song

Evelyn Lozada & Daughter Shaniece Celebrate Basketball Wife Tasha Marbury's B-Day

Evelyn Lozada hit up the Polar Lounge inside the Marcel Hotel at The Gramercy in NYC. She partied it up with birthday girl Tasha Marbury, who turned 36.