ROLL CALL: Madonna: 'I Didn't Resort To Pole Dancing' & Rihanna's Birthday

Your Daily Dispatch of Celebrity Shenaningans
by Jesse Spero

'Idol's' 24 Are Here: If you missed American Idol last night, Access all the details on the Final 24 here.

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Madonna: Never A Pole Dancer: Hold on to your popcorn, Madonna is back in the movie business. As much as we'd like to report Madge was coming back in "Swept Away 2," this time around Madonna is taking a cue from husband Guy Ritchie and getting behind the camera as the director of "Filth & Wisdom," which debuted Wednesday at the Berlin Film Festival, Reuters reports. Madonna's directorial debut focuses on "struggle," which Madge says she can relate to, "If I look back to the beginning of the career I can recall those moments of struggle like it was yesterday…the cold, harsh reality…(was) to find that there were thousands of other girls wanting to do the same thing and that I wasn't so special after all. Although I didn't resort to pole dancing. I did other things." And by "other things" we'll assume she means "Body of Evidence" and "The Next Best Thing," (the movie equivalents of pole dancing).

Another Strike?: Is Hollywood on the verge of another strike? Not if Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro have anything to say about it. The dynamic foursome took out an ad in Variety urging talks between the Screen Actors Guild and studios before their contract expires on June 30. Let's hope no one needs to dust off their strike signs come June.

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'Trek' Now In '09: Not so fast Trekkies! You can put those prosthetic pointy ears back in the drawer, you won't need them until summer of 2009 (that means you, Scott Mantz! [hyperlink here to his tag page]). Paramount has announced that its overhaul of the "Star Trek" franchise, slated to drop this winter, has been moved back to summer of 2009, Variety reports. The re-imagining of the sci-fi series will open between "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and "Da Vinci Code" sequel "Angels and Demons." Talk about three weeks of nerds, geeks, and dorks rejoicing - we can't wait!

Rihanna's Birthday Cupcake Fight: A happy belated birthday to Grammy-darling Rihanna, who celebrated her 20th birthday with a cupcake fight at Les Deux in Hollywood Wednesday, People reports. "There was frosting all over Rihanna's face and the group was hysterically laughing to the point of almost tears," a guest tells People. Other guests included Kanye West, Wilmer Valderrama and Chris Brown, who sang the birthday girl an a capella version of "Happy Birthday." Though Rihanna and Chris Brown deny that they're dating, the musical duo were reportedly seen cuddling and being "very cozy all night." No word if Chris gave her a birthday kiss kiss kiss.

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'Weeds" Couple Engaged: Mary-Louise Parker and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who star on Showtime's "Weeds" as husband and wife, are reportedly on their way to really becoming a married couple. The actors are engaged, The Daily News reports. Let's hope their marriage works out better than their marriage on "Weeds."