Taking yet another page from Madonna, who flirted with country, Lady Gaga today released this countryfied version of her single Born This Way.  

How's this for a 24th birthday present? Lady Gaga was interviewed last night by Google's Marissa Mayer, answering questions posed on YouTube via Google Moderator. If you don't have an hour-plus to watch the whole thing, New York has a cheat sheet.

Cadillac received a Jewel of high praise on Saturday. The singer-songwriter Jewel, who's expecting her first baby, was hit by a firetruck while driving on Friday. She and the baby are fine, which she credits to her Cadillac SRX. She duly thanked the brand on Twitter: "my car saved my & my baby's life. Definitely going 2 get another Cadillac SRX! It absorbed all the damage & kept me safe!"

Charlie Sheen attracts 500 new followers per second as he gets ready to bring the crazy to Twitter. Update: he tweeted! And uploaded a twitpic in his first tweet, no less. No word on how Naked Juice and Broguiere's Farm Fresh Dairy chocolate milk feel about being Sheen's "choose your vice" stand-ins.

In other celebranding news:

Bono swoops in to address Spider-Man on Broadway woes.

Bristol Palin is writing a book.

Christina Hendricks pitches Vivienne Westwood.

Emma Watson used as lure for Facebook "clickjacking" scam.Continue reading...

The hair's a little off, but the Taiwanewz phenom that is NMA.tv has just released its take on Lady Gaga's eggciting Grammys appearance last night. The stunt helped propel her new single, Born This Way, to #1 on Billboard's top 100 chart today, and she'll be appearing on Jay Leno's NBC show tonight.

Gaga, meanwhile, is poised to appear in ads for her latest endorsement deal — the New York-based Supreme skater fashion brand. The relatively NSFW campaign, shot by controversial photographer Terry Richardson (who accompanied her to the Grammys) can be viewed here.

Lady Gaga is having a(nother) moment.

She's on the March cover of Vogue (her first), hitting newsstands around the time that she unveils her new single at the Grammy Awards (Feb. 13), where she's been nominated for six Grammys; and her second Viva Glam collection for MAC, which launches Feb. 17.

She's also being honored (though not yet inducted) by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in May, which is including her in its first nod to women rockers, and releases her highly anticipated next album on May 23.

Continuing her sideline as an enthusiastic endorser of brands, she's using her social clout to help launch SkyGrid Groups, a new social platform. And, according to Forbes projections, she could topple U2 this year as the world's top-grossing act.

(Update: here's Vogue's profile)

“I am Barbara Bush, and I am a New Yorker for marriage equality. New York is about fairness and equality. And everyone should have the right to marry the person that they love.”

With these words, the daughter of George W. Bush today broke with her father's presidential platform. Her 22-second PSA is part of a new campaign by the Human Rights Coalition, a national gay rights organization.

According to the New York Times, HRC "plans to show it Saturday at its annual gala in New York City. Advocates said it would show elected officials and voters that, in many cases, young people are not following in their parents’ ideological footsteps." “No matter what party they belong to, young Americans believe in basic fairness and equality,” said HRC's Brian Ellner to the Times. 

Other New York-based celebrities calling on the state of New York to legalize gay marriage in the campaign include Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, Whoopi Goldberg, Kenneth Cole, Fran Drescher, Mayor Bloomberg, Moby, Julianne Moore, Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe (an activist and the widow of Arthur Ashe), and singer/actress Daphne Rubin-Vega.

A fixture of daytime TV is stepping down. Regis Philbin announced he is retiring from daytime television, and will step away from his 28-year-running talk show at the end of the summer. The former Who Wants to be a Millionaire host will no doubt continue his lucrative side-career as a pitchman. A few of his many endorsements, after the jump.Continue reading...