Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

Reality Round-Up:

So what's going on with "American Idol?" The press conference yesterday basically confirmed what we already knew: STEVEN TYLER and JENNIFER LOPEZ are joining the show as judges. RANDY JACKSON --who just re-signed with "Idol" --is the third and final judge. There were also a bunch of other details:
   --There's a new character on the show, called an "in-house mentor," which will be played by Interscope Records' JIMMY IOVINE (EYE-oh-veen), who's possibly going to fill the nasty void left by SIMON COWELL. At the press conference yesterday, when asked who'd be a "villain" like Simon, executive producer NIGEL LYTHGOE said, "You obviously haven't met Jimmy." He's from Brooklyn, New York. You gotta problem wit dat?
   --However, so far there are no singers who will be mentors, like HARRY CONNICK, Jr or MILEY CYRUS (for instance), who appeared last season.
   --At least for now, there will be no guest judges as in past seasons. However, the door is open, and executive producer KEN WARWICK said "...if ELTON JOHN picks up the phone and says he wants to come" he'd be more than welcome.

Stars and their movies:

There's a movie about JOHN GOTTI, Jr, in the works.
   As you may remember, Junior's dad, JOHN GOTTI, Sr, ran the Gambino crime family in New York City, and died in 2002 after being imprisoned ten years earlier for life for 13 murders, conspiracy to commit murder, racketeering, obstruction of justice, illegal gambling, extortion, tax evasion, and loan-sharking.
   Back then, they called Gotti "The Teflon Don," before he died of cancer.
   According to the Feds, Junior ran the mob after his dad was imprisoned, but attempts to send him to jail in the form of four racketeering trials, have all ended in mistrials.
   Daily Variety says the focus of the script will be Junior's last visit to his dad to say he was ending his life of crime and getting out of the family business.
   No word on casting yet, although SLY STALLONE met with Junior last summer, leading to speculation that a deal was in the works to play him.

Backstage Bulletin:

Want to sing like SELENA GOMEZ? Hope you've got a strong stomach! The young starlet told ELLEN DeGENERES her trick to sounding awesome every performance is to swallow olive oil right before hitting the stage. Although it may work like a charm, Selena says it's completely disgusting and she gags every time the greasy stuff goes down the hatch. (Lee)

Let's get Biblical:

Some scientists believe the Red Sea could have been parted --not by GOD-- but by strong winds.
   The BBC says researchers with the U-S National Center for Atmospheric Research created a computer simulation to show how it might have happened. In the Bible, the Red Sea parted to allow Moses and the Israelites to escape from Egyptian soldiers.
   But, scientists say a strong east wind could have pushed the water aside in a spot where an ancient river is thought to have connected with a lagoon. (Still)

Health and Medical Briefs:

Doctors may not need to rush to perform appendectomies after all. A new study claims no correlation between how quickly the surgery was performed after the patient was admitted and the patient's condition afterward.
   According to writings in the Archives of Surgery, scientists looked at patients who had the surgery within six hours, at six through 12 hours and after more than 12 hours. Thirty days later, researchers didn't notice a considerable difference in the patients' conditions.
   It's worth noting the researches did not know how much time passed between when the patients first started noticing symptoms and how quickly the surgeries were performed. (Page)