MTV: Nina Dobrev

What's going to happen with "The Vampire Diaries" steamy love triangle? Will Elijah's interest in Elena Gilbert turn it into a romantic rectangle? And who knew Klaus could develop a soft spot for anyone, let alone Miss Mystic Falls herself, Caroline? These were our burning Q's for Nina Dobrev at the annual Oscars party thrown by Elton John and producer husband David Furnish where, looking just as ravishing on the red carpet as on that recent Entertainment Weekly cover series, our favorite Petrova Doppelgänger cheerfully dished to Hollywood Crush. CLICK HERE to read / watch.

MTV: Box Office Report

A group of real-life Navy SEALs stormed the box office this weekend, kicking overall theater grosses into high gear for the eighth consecutive week. "Act of Valor" commanded the #1 spot with a $24.7 million debut, which contributed to an overall box-office number up roughly 23 percent from the same period last year.

"Tyler Perry's Good Deeds" was #2 with $16 million during its first weekend in theaters. Meanwhile, the Judd Apatow-produced comedy "Wanderlust" starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd and the Amanda Seyfried thriller "Gone" both flopped.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report.

MTV: Billy Crystal's Best Oscar Jokes

There were jokes about old relatives, bar mitzvahs and other tried-and-true familiar shticks from the only comedian to host the Oscars nearly as many times as Bob Hope, but Billy Crystal came armed with a surprising amount of some Ricky Gervais-style bite, too.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report.

MTV: The Oscars, Best Actor

For several weeks, conventional wisdom foretold that the Best Actor contest would come down to George Clooney ("The Descendants") and Jean Dujardin ("The Artist"), and Sunday night (February 26), the suspense was finally lifted.

And the Oscar went to: Jean Dujardin. CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report.

MTV: Oscars 'In Memoriam' Montage

Farley Granger starred in my favorite Hitchcock film, "Strangers on a Train." I was moved to see him rightly included in the "In Memoriam" montage. It was also classy that they asked the audience to refrain from applauding until after the entire montage had concluded, which meant that finally, the unintentional applause-meter aspect was eliminated from the segment.

CLICK HERE to read my report.

MTV: 'Hugo' Beats 'Potter' For Effects Oscar

aThe broken-down robot at the center of "Hugo" beat out two groups of much more advanced robots, a bunch of rebellious apes and the magical moments in the final installment of "Harry Potter" at the Oscars. The visual-effects team behind filmmaker Martin Scorsese's first-ever children's movie, the 3-D period adventure "Hugo," won the Oscar at the 84th annual Academy Awards.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report.

Movie Fanatic: Round Table

I was asked to participate in a round table to discuss this year's Academy Awards. I had the pleasure of joining reporters from IAmRogue, MSN Movies, HitFix and of course, Movie Fanatic.

You can read that HERE.

MTV: Taylor Swift Invites Teen to ACM Awards

Taylor Swift has asked a fan to be her date to an awards show, and it all started on Facebook.

Less than 24 hours after the sister of a leukemia-stricken New Jersey teen made a plea to the country star in an online video, Swift responded via her official Facebook page.

"Kevin, I'm so sorry but I won't be able to make it to your prom," she wrote. "But I was wondering, the ACM Awards are coming up... Would you be my date?"

Swift's camp confirmed to MTV News that the Facebook post is legit.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report.

MTV: Baron Cohen Will Attend Oscars as 'The Dictator'

Action heroes like Rambo may not give in to threats, but Oscar producers caved to "The Dictator."

Of course, it's all in good fun. In an interview with "Extra," producer Brian Grazer confirmed Sacha Baron Cohen will arrive at the Academy Awards on Sunday as his character from his forthcoming political satire, contrary to earlier reports. CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report.

MTV: Box Office Report

Denzel Washington topped the box office over the holiday weekend as a comic book sequel flamed out. Two holdovers from last week, "Safe House" and "The Vow," were neck and neck for the top spot during the four-day Presidents' Day weekend and helped push box-office receipts to 11 percent over the same period last year. Washington's "Safe House" was #1, with a four-day total of $28.4 million. "The Vow" followed just behind with $26.6 million, according to studio estimates.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report.

'Act of Valor' Interviews

"Act of Valor" attempts to blend real stunts, real explosions, live ammunition and actual NAVY Seals with actors and a fictional story. I sat down with co-director Scott Waugh and one of the actresses in the film, Roselyn Sanchez, recently. You can watch those interviews HERE and HERE.

'The Secret World of Arrietty' Interviews

I caught up with Bridgit Mendler and the legendary Carol Burnett to talk about their voice performances in "The Secret World of Arrietty," which arrived in the US courtesy of Disney.

CLICK HERE to watch.

MTV: 'The Secret Circle' Recap: 'Return'

Last night's episode of "The Secret Circle" featured a huge payoff front and center: the "Return" of John Blackwell. After the steamy raciness of last week's "Valentine," the show returned to its slow-boil pace and gave us long moments to contemplate Blackwell's true intentions, to wonder even more about the fire and the other big events from 16 years ago, to consider for a moment why Cassie's father clearly favors Jake over Adam and other such plot threads. Of course, witch hunters just love to interrupt our pondering! CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report.

Trailer Roundtable

Movie Fanatic asked me to participate in a roundtable discussion about several new movie trailers, including "The Avengers" and "The Amazing Spider-Man." You can read that HERE.

Billboard: Deadmau5, Rihanna Grammy After-Party

Rihanna kept it blonde and Deadmau5 took off his head at a packed Hollywood party benefitting the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. Revelers danced hard at the House Of Blues on the Sunset Strip after the Grammys concluded Sunday night and well into the early Monday hours. Organized by Jay-Z's imprint Roc Nation and Three Six Zero Group, the event proved to be one of the hottest after-parties in town. CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report.

MTV: Box Office Report

Moviegoers are clearly feeling romantic in 2012. Bittersweet drama "The Vow" was #1 at the box office over the weekend, with the biggest opening for any movie so far this year. Co-starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams, "The Vow" debuted to the tune of an estimated $41.7 million while three other movies opened to more than $20 million each during the weekend before Valentine's Day. CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report.

MTV: Whitney Houston: A Film Fan's Appreciation

Whitney Houston will be remembered for her voice, her hit songs, her charismatic presence. As someone who has spent my life sharing equal passion for music and movies, it's particularly noteworthy to me that the biggest hit I associate Houston with is intrinsically tied to a film.

Judging by the number of "Whitney, I will always love you" tweets from celebrities and fans on Saturday, I'd say I'm not alone in thinking of her big voice mostly in "I Will Always Love You," which is inseparable from "The Bodyguard."

CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report.

Billboard: Grammy Special Merit Awards

LOS ANGELES -- Glen Campbell, Diana Ross, George Jones and the Allman Brothers Band were among those honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards at the Special Merit Awards ceremony hosted by the Recording Academy late Saturday afternoon.

NARAS president Neil Portnow, who hosted, pointed out that there is rarely a dry eye in the house at the sentimentality soaked event. This year was no exception, with standing ovations for recipients like Jones, 80, and Memphis Horns member Wayne Jackson, 70.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report.

*Photo by me!

MTV: 'Vampire Diaries' Q&A

"The Vampire Diaries" meets "Downton Abbey"? We've succumbed happily to the "Downton Abbey" obsession in my house so I was delighted to learn that "Vampire Diaries" show runner Julie Plec is on the team, as well. She was midway through describing an upcoming episode called "1912" to a select group of press outlets during a TVD Q&A at the CW office when I introduced the Earl of Grantham and his lot into the conversation. It turns out Plec's recent marathon viewing session of the PBS drama inspired the choice of time period for the upcoming flashback episode.

CLICK HERE to read my report.

MTV: 'The Secret Circle' Recap: 'Valentine'

Shelley Hennig warned us that Diana would get all hopped up on Devil's Spirit and get into some silliness on this week's episode of "The Secret Circle." It was some welcome levity on the traditionally very serious hit series about a coven of teen witches in a sleepy boat town. This week "The Secret Circle" let its hair down, with some punchy dialog ("bitch, hurry"), teenage hijinks and an action-movie pace.

There was (finally!) the (almost) return of John Blackwell by episode's end (more on that later) and the negative effects of drug use were on display without any hackneyed heavy handed preaching from the show's writers, as is often the trap many shows have fallen into.

Trumping those exciting elements, of course, was all of the making out.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report.

MTV: Vampire Diaries Episode Preview

We never take this job for granted. No matter how many times Hollywood Crush gets invited to screen an episode of "The Vampire Diaries" a day early on The CW lot, followed by a juicy Q&A with passionate, articulate and always engaging show-runner Julie Plec (and sometimes, a few cast-members), it never gets old. And tonight's "Dangerous Liaisons" is one of the steamiest episodes of "The Vampire Diaries" in history (complete with a brand new hookup) while alternately one of the series most mythology-rich episodes, balancing the ever-deepening story of the Originals against the backdrop of the burning love triangle long at the show's center.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report.

MTV: Box Office Report

The Super Bowl couldn't stop another found-footage flick from topping the box office.

Box-office receipts were up more than 30 percent from last year's Super Bowl weekend as "Chronicle" took the #1 spot with Daniel Radcliffe's first post-"Potter" flick, "The Woman in Black," close behind at #2. "Chronicle" took in $22 million while "Woman in Black" earned $21 million, according to studio estimates. CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report.

MTV: Avengers Assemble! Super Bowl Trailer

Captain America is from Brooklyn, New York, so he's probably a Giants fan, right?

Well, if the new trailer for "The Avengers" is any indication, Cap will have bigger things to think about than the Super Bowl this summer. The game was a big deal and all, but comic book movie fans also assembled in front of televisions and computers on Sunday (February 5) to watch a different group of uniformed supermen (and women) go to battle in ways we've never seen before.

Marvel Studios debuted the second full-length trailer for the summer's "Avengers," and boy, did it deliver, true believers! An extended version appeared on the flick's official Facebook page moments after the commercial aired during the game. CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report.

MTV: 'The Secret Circle' Recap: 'Medallion'

What better way to celebrate someone's birthday in Chance Harbor than with witch drugs, sharp objects, evil jewelry and a steamy forbidden kiss? Adam's ex-girlfriend and his dad threw a birthday party for him on this week's episode of "The Secret Circle," but all of the real action happened elsewhere. John Blackwell is definitely alive! Cassie is getting darker! And Jake made out with Faye!

CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report.

AltPress: Falling In Reverse Cover Story

Billboard: Van Halen!

Last night, I was one of a few hundred people who got to watch an hour long private performance by Van Halen: David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen and 20 year old Wolfgang Van Halen. Three new songs and a ton of classic hits. I was so close to the stage; it was mind-blowing. All of the photos in this accompanying story were taken with my iPhone 4GS!

HOLLYWOOD, California -- Henson Studios is located just across the street from Crazy Girls. It's hard to imagine a better place than the crossroads between Kermit the Frog and a Hollywood strip club for David Lee Roth to lead Van Halen through a hit-packed club show. With three giant video screens and a wall of EVH amplifiers loud enough for an arena, the newly recharged band were agile and full of smiles as they performed Wednesday in front of a few hundred VIPs deep inside Charlie Chaplin's old stomping grounds.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report and check out all of my photos.

MTV: 'The Secret Circle' Shelley Hennig Interview

What's in-store for Diana on "The Secret Circle"? Party planning, getting all hopped up on Devil's Spirit, moving on from Adam and siding with Cassie when John Blackwell creates division within the high school witch group, for starters. Speaking to Hollywood Crush by phone, Shelley Hennig told us all about her character's arc over the next few episodes, her new castmates and her recent private hip-hop dance class. CLICK HERE to read the rest of my report.