Barack Obama Cancels SNL Appearance

By Brian Orloff

Originally posted Saturday September 13, 2008 02:15 PM EDT

Barack Obama Photo by: Matthew Staver / Bloomberg News / Landov

Barack Obama has pulled out of his scheduled appearance on Saturday Night Live due to Hurricane Ike.

The Democratic presidential nominee's spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, told the Associated Press that Obama didn't feel like it was appropriate after the storm made landfall in Texas.

In addition, the hurricane may affect the tone of the NBC show's season premiere, which will be hosted by Olympian Michael Phelps.

"If it's serious, it will change everything for us," the show's creator and producer Lorne Michaels told Politco on Friday. "The tone of the show will shift, and it would be inappropriate for the senator to do if it looks in any way like it's going to be a tragedy."

According to the AP report, Obama also scaled down a planned rally in New Hampshire in the wake of the hurricane, and plans to return to Chicago after his campaign event where he will spend the weekend at home.

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Star Trek's George Takei Prepares to Wed Sunday

By Johnny Dodd

Originally posted Saturday September 13, 2008 05:55 PM EDT

George Takei (left) and Brad Altman Photo by: Gil Kaan / Splash News

George Takei and his soon-to-be-husband Brad Altman are gearing up for their Sunday evening wedding in downtown Los Angeles.

"We've been living in sin for the past 21 years," Takei, 71, tells PEOPLE. "It's high time we made it legitimate."

The wedding party includes two of Takei's former Star Trek castmates – best man Walter Koenig, who played Chekov on the series, and Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura. (Takei played Mr. Sulu.)

With T-minus a day until the nuptials, Takei summed up his mood as: "Nervous-ville."

His partner, Altman, 54, is spending what's left of the weekend polishing up his vows, which he'll recite during the couple's Buddhist wedding ceremony. "This is going to be the most exciting day of my life," he says. "I'm going to be married. I’m the luckiest guy in the world."

In May, Takei announced his plans to wed after California's Supreme Court allowed gay marriage under the state's constitution.

For exclusive details and photos of the wedding, pick up PEOPLE on newsstands Friday

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Britney Spears Throws a Car & Truck Themed Birthday Bash for Her Boys

By Brian Orloff and Pernilla Cedenheim

Originally posted Saturday September 13, 2008 10:40 PM EDT

Jayden and Preston Spears Photo by: Starzlife; INF (inset)

Britney Spears revved up the celebration for sons Preston and Jayden on Saturday, throwing her sons a joint car and truck-themed birthday bash in Los Angeles.

And the party was truly a family affair.

Spears celebrated her boys' special days – Preston turns 3 on Sept. 14, and Jayden turned 2 on Sept. 12 – with sister Jamie Lynn Spears, her newborn niece Maddie Briann, dad Jamie and mom Lynne.

Held at close friend Adrienne Maloof-Nassif's Beverly Park house, the outdoor party drew some famous guests, including Jenny McCarthy with her son Evan, and Gwen Stefani's son Kingston, 2, who came to the bash from an equally starry affair: He celebrated Heidi Klum's son Henry's 3rd birthday at the model's Beverly Hills house along with all three of Victoria Beckham's sons.

But the guests of honor seemed to be having the best time. Preston and Jayden drove around the party in mini motorized cars, which were customized Ed Hardy by Christian Audigier. The cars featured tattoo-inspired decals, Ed Hardy air fresheners and personalized license plates. To keep with the party's theme, the cake was in shape of a yellow truck.

"The boys received tons of birthday gifts," a source told PEOPLE. "Britney and her family really made the party special for the boys."

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Biggest Loser Stars Matt and Suzy Welcome a Boy

By Cynthia Wang

Originally posted Saturday September 13, 2008 11:30 AM EDT

Suzy and Matt Hoover Photo by: Jason Merritt / FilmMagic

Just in time for a whole new season of The Biggest Loser, alumni Matt and Suzy Hoover delivered their second boy on Thursday, PEOPLE has learned exclusively.

Jax Paul, who was born at Valley Medical Hospital in Seattle, weighed in 7.6 lbs., and measured 18.75 inches long. He joins big brother Rex Timothy, 14 months. "We're so excited to add a new member to our family!" says Matt. "We're adding another healthy Hoover to our family and look forward to raising both boys in a healthy way with information we learned on the show."

As for the name Jax, Matt says, "Our first son is named Rex, and that was unique and we wanted something that sounded similar that was also unique."

Matt and Suzy, both 32, first met as competitors on the second season of The Biggest Loser in 2005, which Hoover, a former wrestling coach, ended up winning. He then famously proposed to second runner up Preston, a hairstylist, on the Today Show in March 2006.

The couple got married on Sept. 19, 2006 at a beachside wedding in Jamaica.

Now the Seattle-based pair have started a new company, BestLifeDesign.com, a site that seeks to help people reach their health, fitness, financial, romantic and spiritual goals. In that vein, Hoover co-wrote the diet and fitness manual Matt Hoover's Guide to Life, Love and Losing Weight with exercise physiologist Dr. Sheri Colberg, which hits bookstores nationwide on Sept. 23.

NBC's The Biggest Loser: Families premieres Tuesday, Sept. 16 (8-10 pm ET) and will feature husband-and-wife teams squaring off against parent-and-child teams.

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David Foster Wallace Dies at 46

Originally posted Sunday September 14, 2008 11:55 PM EDT

David Foster Wallace Photo by: Doug Kanter / Startraks

Author David Foster Wallace has died from an apparent suicide at age 46, the Associated Press reports.

The writer, perhaps best known for his 1996 novel, Infinite Jest, was found dead by his wife in their home about 9:30 p.m. Friday. He had hanged himself, said Jackie Morales, a records clerk with the Claremont, Calif., Police Department.

At age 24 in 1987, Wallace published his first novel, The Broom of the System, to critical acclaim. When Infinite Jest came out nearly a decade later, Time magazine included the 1,000-plus-page book in its issue of the ''100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.''

Born in Ithaca, N.Y., Wallace taught creative writing and English at Pomona College.

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Jolie-Pitt Foundation Establishes HIV/AIDS Clinic in Ethiopia

By Brian Orloff and Mary Green

Originally posted Saturday September 13, 2008 08:35 PM EDT

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt Photo by: Kevin Winter / Getty

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's Jolie-Pitt Foundation has made a $2 million donation to the Global Health Committee to establish a center to aid children affected by tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia.

The center will be modeled after the Cambodian Health Committee's Maddox Chivan Children's Center in Cambodia, where children receive medical, education and social services.

"Our goal is to transfer the success we have had in Cambodia to Ethiopia where people are needlessly dying of tuberculosis, a curable disease, and HIV/AIDS, a treatable disease," Jolie said in a statement.

As in Cambodia, where the couple named the center after their eldest child, the Ethiopian branch will be named for Zahara, 3, who was adopted from Ethiopia.

"It is our hope when Zahara is older she will take responsibility of the clinic and continue its mission," Pitt said in a statement.

The clinic will also focus on tuberculosis care. The disease causes approximately 2 million deaths yearly, and is the largest cause of death worldwide for children and adults with AIDS.

"The fact that poor people continue to die in our world today of TB, a curable disease, because of lack of access to drugs and care is unacceptable," Pitt said.

The Jolie-Pitt foundation was established in Sept. 2006, when the couple donated $1 million to the Global Action for Children organization and $1 million to Doctors Without Borders.

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Tina Fey Parodies Sarah Palin on SNL Premiere

By Brian Orloff

Originally posted Monday September 15, 2008 12:45 AM EDT

Tina Fey Photo by: Heidi Gutman / NBC

Tina Fey returned to Saturday Night Live on the show's season premiere Saturday, portraying Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in the opening skit alongside a pregnant Amy Poehler, who played Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The sketch pitted the women against each other in what they deemed a "non-partisan message" to skewer issues of sexism surrounding the presidential election. Also a target: Palin's views on foreign affairs and global warming.

"I can see Russia from my home," Fey's Palin chirped, joking about the candidate's putative lack of experience with international affairs. Dressed in a red suit and glasses, Fey also ribbed Palin, who has publicly spoken about her faith, for views on climate change, teasing that global warming "is just God hugging us closer."

The late-night NBC show was guest hosted by eight-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps, who played a multitude of characters on the show, including a spastic teenager and himself as a guest on a talk host hosted by Charles Barkley (played by Keenan Thompson).

Phelps also made himself a target during his opening monologue. The Olympian called his hosting gig "the ninth greatest moment in my life." Poehler sat in the audience parodying the swimmer's mother, often spotted cheering on her son in Beijing. (Phelps' mother, Debbie, appeared as herself beside Poehler as well.)

While castmember Kristen Wiig teased PEOPLE that she would write sketches for the athlete that would allow him to bare his toned body, Phelps kept his clothes on for all of the 90-minute show.

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