"Hugo" honored, Britney turns 30

Martin Scorsese's 3D family tale "Hugo" has been named best film by the National Board of Review in the U.S. The Oscar-winning moviemaker was also chosen as best director by the group. Tilda Swinton won best actress for her role in gritty drama "We Need To Talk About Kevin" and George Clooney took best actor for "The Descendants." The NBR, made up of film historians, student and academics, was established in 1909 and is one of the first groups to select its picks for awards season.
Pop princess Britney Spears turns 30 on December 2. Britney broke into showbiz on The New Mickey Mouse Club in 1993. She has released seven best-selling albums, scooping a Grammy Award, launching a multi-million dollar perfume empire and is now a mother to two boys. She suffered a public meltdown in 2008 and has two failed marriages behind her but the Toxic singer has turned her life around after settling down with boyfriend Jason Trawick and hitting the road with her Femme Fatale Tour, which grossed more than $6 million in its first 10 shows.
Motley Crue promises a psycho circus of heavy metal, pyro and possibly some naked women when the band begins a nearly three-week residency at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on Feb. 3. The Los Angeles-based, multiplatinum band will be the first hard rock act to establish a residency in Sin City, and are in the planning stages of a production that singer Vince Neil compared to Cirque du Soleil.
Lady Gaga made her music video directorial debut with a 14-minute production for her single "Marry The Night." The fifth single from her "Born This Way" album sees the Grammy-winning performance artist making a trip to the hospital, dyeing her hair mint green, throwing Cheerios over her naked body and hanging upside down in a car all in the eight minutes before the song comes in. Gaga told E! News that the surreal video, released on Thursday (December 1), was a portrait of the day she thought she saw her dreams slipping away from her when she was dropped from her first record label.
Lindsay Claiborn, Reuters.