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Unless you have been living in a cave, you have heard that Britney Spears has finally acknowledged that she needs professional assistance addressing her “issues.” According to her confidant Sam Lufti, Brit Brit has been seeing a therapist everyday and by the looks of paparazzi images has been making more than few trips to the drug store. After a second hospitalization in less than a month, Brit is on 72-hour emergency hold, known as a 5150. It has been reported that her current therapist called authorities after she refused to take prescribed medication and not sleeping for several days, thus causing her to potentially be a danger to herself and others. We here at the Getty Images Blog are elated that Britney is finally getting the help she seems to so desperately need. Even if Britney leaves the industry, we wish her health, happiness, and serenity in 2008.

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To no fault of her own, the always put together Kate Hudson had a hair-raising experience last night at the Los Angeles premiere of Fool’s Gold. No matter how impeccably styled, Kate’s hair person was no match for the 5-10 mile an hour winds that Los Angeles experienced during the red carpet arrivals. Ever the California golden girl, Kate smiled through it all looking flawless as usual.

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“Not only are these animals being cruelly slaughtered, the meat is contaminated by huge levels of mercury,” said Hayden Panettiere to a politically influential Washington D.C. crowd and The Washington Post’s Reliable Source column regarding her favorite pet cause (no pun intended), the explosion of whale hunting worldwide. Last fall, a viral video of Panettiere confronting Japanese fisherman lead to a warrant for her arrest near the town of Taiji but that is not stopping Hayden—a spokesperson for the Save the Whales Again!—from taking her message on the road to the embassies of Iceland, Norway and Japan. Do you think celebrities have a place in political activism? Discuss.

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Toshiba just won’t give up. After the recent announcement from Warner Bros. of exclusive support of Blu-Ray Disc, ending the studio’s format-neutral release strategy, HD-DVD player and software sales have plummetted. They now have limited studio support on top of mass retailer defections. Large sellers like Wal-Mart only have so much shelf space for the young high-def disc market, and it has become clear that Blu-Ray is the victor in the format war. Nonetheless, Toshiba refuses to relent, and instead of admitting defeat is launching a new marketing campaign for HD-DVD including buying a $2.7 million 30-second Super Bowl spot that will air with the Big Game this weekend.

This latest development seems more than bit irresponsible, especially to Toshiba shareholders. With the media firmly on Blu-Ray’s side, sales figures showing a massive decline, hardmare makers overwhelming in support of Blu, and the history lesson learned by the Beta-Max/VHS debacle of the early 1980s, it is crystal-clear to everyone but Toshiba that Blu-Ray will be the standard in high-definition disc. Even if the technology doesn’t catch on in the mainstream, there will never be room for two competing formats, and this only slows the eventual ascension of high-def disc and confuses consumers. Toshiba needs to throw in the towel and start making Blu-Ray players. The format war is hurting standard DVD sales as well.

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According to Nikki Finke and various other news outlets, the current climate of the WGA strike is almost sunny - a big break from the month-plus of stalled talks. Some writers are even going as far as suggesting that a contract could emerge as early as the end of this week, which means OSCARS baby!

Dampening the news, the L.A. Times ran an article today with a bleak outlook on the upcoming negotiations for the Screen Actors Guild, whose contract ends in June. After years of ‘bowing’ to studio wishes, SAG may use the current strike-weary atmosphere to their advantage and make major demands on the moguls. Hopefully the powers that be are smart enough to deal with it before SAG gets a chance to break out the magic markers.

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The perfection that is Joy Bryant made this year’s most flawless red-carpet appearance at the premiere of Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Working a goddess-white-off–the-shoulder gown, gold jewelry, and a Rachel Zoe for Leiber clutch—this appearance was a perfect 10. Note to Hollywood executives: Please give Miss Bryant a role worthy of her talent, beauty, and magic she brings to the screen!

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On the down low couple, Justin Long and Drew Barrymore made their first red carpet appearance at the premiere of Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show in Los Angeles last evening. After her 2007 split from boyfriend of five years, rocker Fabrizio Moretti and a short romance with director Spike Jones, Barrymore has been on a coast-to-coast love tour with Long for the past few months. If one could bottle the chemistry between these two, one could solve the energy crisis! Look at them!

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In a cinematic death match that could only happen in the new-release dregs of January, Fox’s spoof comedy “Meet The Spartans” - the most recent in a long line of totally unfunny pop culture send-ups including “Epic Movie” and “Date Movie” - edged out Sylvester Stallone’s “Rambo” with an estimated $18.7 million versus Sly’s $18.2 million. 

It was a great weekend for January. The box office was up over 30% from last year and nearly 20% from 2006. The strong openings of Rambo and Meet The Spartans were supplemented by the decent opening of the Diane Lane thriller Untraceable ($11 million) and strong performances from Oscar-candidate holdovers No Country For Old Men, Atonement, There Will Be Blood (still expanding, slowly), and Juno. The latter film saw a 4% uptick over last weekend despite losing over 100 theatres.

Holiday blockbusters reached milestones over the weekend. National Treasure: Book of Secrets and Alvin and the Chipmunks (yes, Alvin and the Chipmunks) both passed $200 million, while the Will Smith apocalypse actioner I Am Legend crossed $250 million.

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Joel and Ethan Coen picked up the top prize at the 60th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards this weekend, making them the frontrunners for the Best Director Oscar. The film’s win for Best Ensemble at the SAG Awards has more or less clinched Best Picture for the brothers as well, making “No Country For Old Men” the film to beat. “There Will Be Blood” still has enormous momentum with all the Daniel Day-Lewis trophies, but at this point the Paul Thomas Anderson film is more of an upset potential than a frontrunner for Picture or Director. Too bad. PTA rules.

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The 14th Annual SAG Awards aired on Sunday night to great fanfare and an unusual amount of star wattage, likely due to the previous cancellation of the Golden Globes and continuing doubts about the likelihood of the Oscars ceremony going forward as planned. This very well could be the last Hollywood awards show of the season, unfortunate for a year with great nominees and a swarm of potential upsets.

The SAG ceremony, despite being mostly pleasant and well-paced, contained very few surprises and an overabundance of self-congratulation. The Charles Durning tribute was particularly excessive, clocking in at nearly twenty minutes with two speeches, an insanely long montage, and Durning’s acceptance speech. Durning mostly made up for it with his own speech which was gracious, touching, and not too long. This was in contrast to Mickey Rooney’s bizarre monologue before presenting Best Female Performance in a Television Movie or Mini-Series, which was prompted by the crowd’s standing ovation at his appearance.

The big awards surprise of the night was Ruby Dee’s victory over frontrunners Amy Ryan and Cate Blanchett for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture. This is a typical underdog category, here and at the Oscars. On the film side, the winners were:

Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture
No Country For Old Men

Best Actor in a Motion Picture
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Best Actress in a Motion Picture
Julie Christie, Away From Her

Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men

Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Ruby Dee, American Gangster