It's usually weird and surprising when you learn that celebrities are friends, especially when they seem so different. Take Justin Bieber and Usher, here. It seems weird at first, but then you get that they have a fun, big-and-little-brother relationship.... But then it gets weird again. Creepy details emerge that turn their "shootin' hoops and sloppy joes" activities into blackouts and subtle threats. Did we mention it's weird?
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I’m thinking Bieber has taken the title of busiest cat in show business at least for this week, as yesterday we brought video of himperforming on Letterman, and before that he found the time to hit The View twice, was on Nightline for an interview, chatted with Katie Couric, got nice on the drums and piano on Sirius, and strolled into MTV to show off his flow. Think he’s taking the rest of the year off? Nope. His North American Tour starts this Summer.
Check out the clip above from "The Diary of Justin Bieber," which will air on MTV at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
ESPN columnist Scoop Jackson isn't sold on the 5-foot-5, 16-year-old Canadian pop star, who is starting a world tour this summer.
"I guess if he used the Internet and homemade videos to get discovered in music, why not do the same to get into the NBA, right? I mean, the guy that discovered him, Usher, does have some connects with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Who knows?" Jackson told MTV. "By looking at this, you can tell that Justin at least went to basketball camp with this 'two-hand dribble weave' drill. This is one of those things that you learn at about 11 or 12 years old. It's something you use to work on your coordination, nothing you ever use in a game situation. It also seems like he's spent a lot of time watching And1 mixtapes. Let's call it 'Canadian Hot Sauce.'"
But what about the halfcourt shot?
"That was legit. But you couldn't see any wrist action, so it's hard to tell if he has a good form or a legit jump shot," Jackson said. "The wrist is always a dead giveaway. If he came down with a 'goose neck' on that half-court shot, I'd conclude that the kid could shoot. So, although impressive, it didn't show enough to gauge how nice his game might be."
That's cold, Scoop!
"I'll say this: Justin Bieber looks like he probably has a little game," Jackson said. "But on both fronts -- music and hoops -- I don't think Justin Timberlake has anything to worry about. At least, not yet."
- Bieber's been pretty much unstoppable as a Twitter meme since January. His recent one-day peak: Sunday, Feb. 28, when 84,846 tweets name-checked him. Over the past couple of months he's essentially become a permanent feature of Twitter's "Trending Topics" list.
- He's held the No. 1 spot almost every Friday in our weekly Top 10 Most Tweeted Brands chart (only the Oscars were able to displace him, by a slight margin, to No. 2 a couple weeks back).
- He's been chewing up a truly mind-boggling amount of bandwidth in the streaming-media realm. Yesterday, he set a record for himself at Last.fm: 1,854,917 plays of his songs within a single 24-hour period.
- Of course, you saw all this coming if you read my Dumenco's Media People Q&A with Popstar!'s Matthew Rettenmund last November. Rettenmund called YouTube phenomenon Bieber the next biggest thing after "Twilight" (and hours after I spoke with him, the police pulled the plug on Bieber's appearance at a Long Island mall thanks to a crush of 3,000 fans causing near-riot-like conditions).
- BREAKING NEWS! (It's related to that mall mob.) "Justin Bieber's Manager Arrested; Case Hinges on Two Tweets."
- Bieber may be the biggest legit pop star ever created by YouTube. Other viral-video phenomena have garnered more views over time, but in terms of transitioning from genuine obscurity to massively monetizable pop superstardom, Bieber is unmatched. Three years ago he was a kid living in a small town in Stratford, Ontario. After competing in something called "Stratford Idol," he put some of his surprisingly soulful covers of songs by the likes of Usher and Ne-Yo on YouTube, garnering more than 10 million views before getting signed by, yes, Usher. (By the time "My World" came out last November, he'd surpassed 100 million YouTube views.) As he notes rather hilariously on his MySpace page (Bieber was just 13 when this was all happening), "I sang for Usher, and his people and he really wanted to sign me then and there, but I still had a meeting with Justin Timberlake, who also wanted to sign me. It turned out Usher's deal was way better." (Go, player!) He went on to become the first solo artist in history to send four songs into Billboard's Top 40 before his debut album was even released.
- Speaking of YouTube, you totally have to watch this (if you haven't already seen it on Jimmy Kimmel): 3 Year Old CRYING Over Justin Bieber. And then watch this: Cody meets Justin Bieber on Jimmy Kimmel. Yeah, Bieber's locked up the pre-pre-tween demographic as well.
- I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this: Eight days ago, the hashtag trend #Lilyallenfatwhore hit Twitter's Trending Topics list. Why? Because on March 12, British pop star Lilly Allen tweeted this: "Justin bieber should have kiddie bras on the merch stall.... Ha" -- which caused Justin Bieber fans to go ballistic, with one of them creating the #Lilyallenfatwhore Twitter meme with the hopes that it would go viral. (Naturally, it did.) Word to the wise: Do not eff with the Beliebers!
The popular entertainer is coming to Los Angeles and will be attending a private party for those people who win breakfast with the superstar. The contest, held by the radio station, Power 106 is part of the Big Boy's Backstage Breakfast series. Bringing in entertainers, fans are able to have breakfast, meet the celebrity and listen to Q and A segments.
Everyone can enter to have Breakfast with Bieber and it is so very easy.
Send an email with your name, address and telephone to: Radiobigboy@gmail.com
This email must be sent before March 26 for you to enter.
Then wait to see if your name was drawn. The radio station will be in touch with the winners and to make your time go by a little smoother, consider listening to Big Boys Neighborhood in the morning.
Beaten by TeenNick chairman Nick Cannon in a game of bowling, the 16-year-old took a break by filling up with Crumbs cupcakes.