WWE star Trish Stratus starts work on her first movie

PopGoesTheNews.com >> Entrepreneur and former WWE wrestler Trish Stratus is making her feature film debut this month in Bail Enforcers, currently in production in Toronto.

In the independent Canadian film, Stratus is part of a team of bounty hunters who are given an offer by a mob boss that they seemingly can't refuse: bring a bail jumper to him instead of the police for a million dollars.

"I'm thrilled to be a part of a production that is 100 per cent Canadian and I look forward to delivering some Stratusfaction!" said Stratus, 34, in a release. She previously acted in an episode of the Canadian series Da Kink In My Hair and appeared on Royal Canadian Air Farce and MadTV. Since retiring from pro wrestling in 2006, Stratus has opened a successful yoga studio and produced a travel series.

Bail Enforcers, directed by Patrick McBrearty, is scheduled to be released at the end of the year.

Brit singer Jay Sean attacked online by racist

PopGoesTheNews.com >> British pop star Jay Sean was on a stage in Toronto tonight performing hits like "Down" and "Do You Remember" – while online he was the victim of a racist attack.

The 26-year-old chart-topper's Wikipedia page was briefly sabotaged (click the image to see full size) by someone who called him a 9-11 terrorist, "shit camel eater" and a "fag with a little dick." The singer, whose real name is Kamaljit Singh Jhooti, is of South Asian descent.

The offensive addition to the Wikipedia page was removed late tonight.

Sean was in Toronto today for an appearance on MuchMusic and to perform at a private party at the Berkeley Church thrown by Virgin Mobile Canada.

For a photo of Jay Sean on stage tonight, go to CanadianTabloid.com.

Canadians are contenders at this year's Oscars

PopGoesTheNews.com >> Canada will be well represented at this year's Academy Awards on March 7. Kapuskasing, Ont.-born director James Cameron and Montreal's Jason Reitman earned multiple nominations and Toronto actor Christopher Plummer got a nod for Best Supporting Actor (in The Last Station).

Cameron (Avatar) and Reitman (Up In The Air) are competing against each other for Best Director and Reitman is in the running for Best Adapted Screenplay (with co-writer Sheldon Turner). Reitman's famous father, Toronto-raised Ivan Reitman, could also be up on the Oscar stage as one of the producers of Up in the Air, which is nominated for Best Picture.

Avatar and The Hurt Locker lead the race with nine nominations each, pitting Cameron against his ex-wife, director Kathryn Bigelow.

Proving itself again as a breeding ground for the Oscars, half of the Best Picture nominees were screened at the Toronto International Film Festival – The Hurt Locker debuted there in 2008 while An Education, Precious, A Serious Man, and Up in the Air were part of last year's fest.

Oscar flicks with Canadian roots include multiple-nominee The Hurt Locker and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which earned nominations for Art Direction and Costume Design. Both were partly shot in British Columbia. Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), who is nominated for Best Actor, made his big screen debut in 1995's made-in-Toronto comedy Senior Trip.

Suzie McNeil weighs in on the battle of the 'Believes'

PopGoesTheNews.com >> Canadian singer Suzie McNeil, who recorded the Olympic-inspired song "Believe" in 2007, says she's not upset that a song called "I Believe" has been released as the theme song for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics on CTV.

Performed by 15-year-old Montreal singer Nikki Yanofsky, the track was released to radio stations earlier this week. It was co-written by Stephan Moccio and former Glass Tiger singer Alan Frew.

"Alan is a great guy, and I really think his song is great too," McNeil wrote in a message posted on her Facebook page. She recalled learning about his Olympic song last June while at a songwriting event in Halifax. "Alan notices my Believe bracelet and asks if I have any extra to give him. I knew he had children, so I thought maybe they were fans and I said 'of course!' He then exclaimed: 'Thanks, that would be great because I just wrote a song for the 2010 Olympics called 'Believe!'

"The whole room went silent and it was comically awkward," she added.

Ironically, McNeil released her song in partnership with Bell Canada, a minority owner of CTV's parent company CTVglobemedia. "We reached our main objective when we released 'Believe,'" said McNeil. "It was always meant to get Canada excited about the games, and to raise awareness and funds for our athletes ... so we can win some Gold Metals in Vancouver!!"

McNeil insisted she harbors no ill-feelings. "Let’s enjoy both 'Believes'!! Any song that celebrates the notion that we are capable of achieving anything, is a song worth listening to."

Photo courtesy of SuzieMcNeil.ca

Olivia Newton-John playing a hockey mom in Toronto

PopGoesTheNews.com >> Pop icon Olivia Newton-John will spend the next five weeks in Toronto making a movie about Canada's favourite sport.

The 61-year-old Grease star is playing the mom of a teen hockey star (Noah Reid) in Score: A Hockey Musical, which starts shooting on Feb. 1. Canadian singer/songwriter Marc Jordan will play her husband in the film, which is being directed by Michael McGowan (One Week). It is due in cinemas in October but could have its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Score is full of Canadian talent, including actors Stephen McHattie (Watchmen) and Allie MacDonald and singers Hawksley Workman and Dave Bidini.

Jordan and Newton-John are also co-writing the song they will sing for the movie's closing credits. She has collaborated previously with Jordan's wife, singer/songwriter Amy Sky, on several projects.

New wireless service to launch as Mobilicity?

PopGoesTheNews.com >> Canada will be one step closer to having a new player in the mobile phone market next week when DAVE Wireless reveals its brand name – which could be Mobilicity.

DAVE Wireless chairman John Bitove and president Dave Dobbin are due to announce the name at a Tuesday morning press conference at the office of advertising agency Dentsu Canada in Toronto.

Industry insiders have been speculating for weeks that the company was going to launch as Fresh Wireless since it filed a trademark application for the name, registered the domains freshwireless.ca, freshmobile.ca and yourfresh.ca, and set up Twitter and YouTube accounts. But just two weeks ago Ottawa law firm Gowling Lafleur Henderson filed trademark applicants on DAVE's behalf for the name Mobilicity, including a logo (pictured) and taglines – ""My phone. My city. My way." and "No Contract. No Credit Check. Unlimited Wireless." The domain mobilicity.ca was registered with Internic last October.

DAVE has also filed to trademark Mobilicious.

Fresh Wireless is the name of a retail store in the U.S. and there is a mobile phone company named Fresh Mobile in the UK (though it is reportedly shutting down in March).

Whatever its brand name, DAVE plans to launch within the next few months with a 3G wireless network in five of Canada's biggest cities. It will challenge the well-established brands of Rogers Wireless (Rogers, Fido), Bell Canada (Bell Mobility, Solo Mobile, Virgin Mobile Canada, President's Choice Mobile) and Telus (Telus Mobility, Koodo Mobile) as well as upstart Globalive (WIND Mobile).

'Canada For Haiti' charities spend $340 million on salaries and fundraising in a year

PopGoesTheNews.com>> Canadians donated millions of dollars Friday night during the Canada For Haiti telethon on the country’s major networks. These funds will be divided equally among nine charitable organizations that are helping victims of the earthquake in Haiti. But how many of these dollars will actually go to help the people who need it?

PopGoesTheNews.com has reviewed the 2008 Registered Charity Information Returns – the most recent available from the federal government – of the nine beneficiaries of Friday’s broadcast. No one is suggesting that the charities don’t do good charitable work but, in all, they spend nearly a quarter-of-a-billion dollars a year to employ more than 10,000 people and spend more than $90 million on fundraising.

World Vision Canada, one of the most visible charities collecting funds for Haiti, took in nearly $382 million (all figure in this report have been rounded up). But the organization, which reported 399 full-time employees and 120 part-time workers, spent $36 million on salaries and wages, $45 million on fundraising, $33 million on advertising, $23 million on management and administration, $2.4 million on political activity, $3.8 million in consulting fees and $3.5 million on travel.

Plan International Canada reported revenues of $94 million in 2008. The organization spent only $6.3 million on salaries for its 85 full-time and 19 part-time employees and a mere $176,000 on consulting fees. Plan spent $13 million on advertising, $12 million on fundraising and $8 million on management and administration.

Care Canada took in $138 million and spent $42 million on salaries, $2.9 million on management and administration, $2.7 million on fundraising, $5.8 million on consulting fees, $10.8 million on travel, $1.4 million on advertising and a whopping $4.3 million on rent. Care Canada reported 2623 full-time and 13 part-time employees.

Both Oxfam Canada and Oxfam Quebec will receive funds from the Canada For Haiti telethon. The former had revenues of $20.7 million. Salaries accounted for $5 million and $1.8 million was spent on management and administration. The organization spent $2.4 million on fundraising, $847,000 on consulting fees and $930,000 on advertising. Oxfam Canada reported 48 full-time and 17 part-time employees. Oxfam Quebec and its 75 full-time and 12 part-time employees took in $33 million. It spent $2.2 million on salaries, $212,000 on consulting, $2.3 million on management and administration and $698,000 on fundraising.

Save the Children Canada brought in $13.5 million in 2008 and spent $2.4 million on salaries, $1 million on advertising and $1.9 million on fundraising. It had 22 full-time and 5 part-time employees.

Kids Can Free the Children earned $16 million and reported $1.3 million in salaries for its 41 full-time and 47 part-time employees and $1 million on consulting fees. It claims to have spent nothing on fundraising.

Red Cross of Canada made a whopping $253 million in 2008, of which $144 million went to salaries for its 1410 full-time and 5300 part-time employees. Management and administration cost $25 million, $18 million went to fundraising and consulting fees were $5 million.

Unicef Canada reported making $59 million. Salaries and wages accounted for nearly $8 million and consulting cost the organization $1.5 million. The charity, which had 90 full-time and 146 part-time employees, spent $6.4 million on advertising and $10.4 million on fundraising.

There is no way to operate a major national charity without spending money. Still, donors should consult with the Canada Revenue Agency's Charities Directorate to make sure their dollars are being spent effectively.

Another Lambert makes it to the 'Idol' top 24

PopGoesTheNews.com >> Adam Lambert launched a successful pop career after coming in second on season eight of American Idol. Now it appears that a guy named Alex Lambert is going to have a chance to do the same.

According to sources, the top 24 chosen by the Idol judges for season nine includes Lambert, a guitar-strumming bespectacled native of Texas who is not related to Adam. Click here to see his rendition of a Jason Mraz hit.

Another guy reportedly in the top 24 has a name that is hard to forget: Benjamin Honeycutt. The Alabama singer has recorded a number of home videos showcasing his singing talent. Click here to see his version of Canadian crooner Michael Bublé's "Home."

The list of top 12 girls includes memorable names like Siobhan Magnus, a Boston-based soprano who sings in a vocal jazz ensemble, and Vered Benami, who performs under her nickname Didi.

The top 24 won't be officially unveiled until the episode, taped in Hollywood, airs next month. Here's who reportedly makes the cut.

Top 12 Guys: Lee DeWyze, Jose Munoz, Andrew Garcia, Chris Golightly, Tyler Grady, Benjamin Honeycutt, Casey James, Aaron Kelly, Alexander Lambert, Michael Lynche, John Park, Jermaine Sellers.

Top 12 Girls: Lacey Brown, Michelle Delamor, Katelyn Epperly, Ashley Rodriguez, Lillian Scott, Katie Stevens, Haeley Vaughn, Janell Wheeler, Siobhan Magnus, Vered "Didi" Benami, Crystal Bowersox, Paige Dechausse.