QUOTE: "The big story this weekend is the pre-Halloween box office—the horror, the horror of it all—and how Saw VI, which has been a disgusting but reliably performing franchise over the years for Lionsgate, was decimated Friday and Saturday by even lower budget Paranormal Activity—despite the Paramount phenom playing in 1,100+ less theaters during its 5th week of release."

—entertainment industry reporter/blogger Nikki Finke

"Russian Roulette," the first single from singer Rihanna since being beaten by then-boyfriend Chris Brown earlier this year, includes lyrics that allude to her putting a gun in her mouth and pulling the trigger. (The song ends with the sound of a gun going off.) Arguably even more shocking than the content of the song itself is the artwork that accompanies the track, which pictures a topless Rihanna with her chest wrapped in barbed wire. Chuck Harmony, who co-wrote the song with NeYo, said of Rihanna’s artistic choices, "Whatever she came with, if she came out with ’I still love you,’ that would have been about Chris Brown. If she came out with ’I hate your dog,’ that would have been about Chris Brown, too. … If I had to speculate, I would speculate that [she released it] for shock value. ’Russian Roulette’ is the kind of song that when you hear it you’re gonna talk about it."

Speaking before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the topic of violence against women worldwide, actress Nicole Kidman said she believes Hollywood has likely exacerbated the problem. When asked whether her industry had "played a bad role" in portraying women as "weak and as sex objects," Kidman replied, "Probably." She then said, "I get offered roles that often show violence. I can’t be responsible for all of Hollywood, but I can certainly be responsible for my own career." Kidman was speaking as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

Four teens in Palo Alto, Calif., have committed suicide by stepping in front of oncoming trains over the last several months, but officials are trying to keep other details out of the media. Why? Experts say that suicide is contagious: "The research we’re being told is that the more we talk about it and romanticize it, the easier it is that mentally ill or depressed people will make that leap," Sgt. Dan Ryan told the San Jose Mercury News. "We’re taking a stand and not releasing more information." Dr. Nadine Kaslow says suicide can be "like drugs. You pass around drugs and that encourages other kids to do it."

Disney is now requiring all its stars-in-the-making to attend Talent 101—a class designed to prepare them for celebrity life. Security experts, psychologists and media consultants all drill Disney’s young charges in how to handle the pressure. "We learned how to answer questions from the media and how your family has to be your support," says 16-year-old Bridgit Mendler, who will star in Disney’s upcoming Good Luck Charlie. "I was surprised at the amount of security some people recommend—to the degree where you don’t even have a mailbox at your home."

QUOTE: "As we’ve gotten smarter about how to build talent, we’ve created more opportunities for [young stars] within the company. For many people, TV is an endgame. For us, TV has simply become a launch pad to opportunities elsewhere in the company. By creating these opportunities, [we make sure] the talent is more interested in engaging longer with the company."

—Gary Marsh, president of entertainment for Disney Channels Worldwide

Miley Cyrus is a telling illustration of how lucrative Disney’s strategy can be. "Assuming the company spent about $600,000 for each of the 26 episodes [of Hannah Montana], it cost Disney about $15.6 million to set her up," writes Time magazine’s Belinda Luscombe. "Three seasons, more than 8 million CDs, $225 million worth of movie tickets, two concert tours, a best-selling memoir and 15 million Hannah Montana books later, says Disney, she’s worth billions of dollars to the company."

It’s official: 16-year-old Miley Cyrus will have a cameo in the big-screen Sex and the City sequel. According to MTV, Kim Cattrall’s character will wear the same outfit as Cyrus in an attempt to look "hot and young."

QUOTE: "It was 3:30 or 4 in the morning. I couldn’t sleep. [I thought], ’Maybe I could sleep if I wasn’t so friggin’ busy Twittering about not being able to sleep."

—Miley Cyrus, in a recent radio interview, commenting on the reasons she closed her Twitter account

QUOTE: "I hate the Internet. I find it dehumanizing to constantly check e-mails or social sites which have become so fashionable."

—actress Keira Knightley

QUOTE: "I want to be part of the resurgence of things that are tangible, beautiful and soulful, rather than just give in to the digital age. But when I talk to people about that, they just go, ’Yeah, I know what you mean,’ and stare at their mobiles."

—rocker Jack White

QUOTE: "I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the Internet for five years and see what sort of art was produced in that span."

—singer Elton John

Some experts suspect that Richard Heene—the man who allegedly concocted the story about his 6-year-old son getting carried away by a homemade balloon—may be addicted to fame. "I believe he stopped thinking logically about the practicality of his plan, the trouble he was causing and even the welfare of his child because—above all else—he wanted the high, the rush, the euphoric moment when the world was paying attention to him," writes Jake Halpern, author of Fame Junkies. "Perhaps he sensed, on some level, that his plan was risky, even reckless, but the craving was too strong. … Heene shows all the traits of an addict, and, somewhat ironically, the media’s coverage of this story—even these very words that I am typing and that you are reading—are giving him one h‑‑‑ of a high."

QUOTE: "The ’Balloon Boy’ saga proves one thing: that the insatiable hunger for reality TV fame makes people do really stupid things. And once they actually have a show, it can destroy friendships, families, marriages and leave a pile of emotional carnage in its wake. The reality show casualties-list is a long one, and includes Jon and Kate Gosselin, Danny and Gretchen Bonaduce, Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie, Hulk and Linda Hogan, Carmen Electra and Dave Navarro, and Britney Spears and Kevin Federline. In fact, having cameras follow you around 24/7 is almost a certain kiss of death in the romance of reality. …. Reality television is a stain on our society and an insult to culture. It’s dumbed-down television at its worst, lowest common denominator."

—Huffington Post contributor Andy Ostroy

According to findings in a report on the status of women by Maria Shriver and the Center for American Progress, women’s professional success and financial status are being significantly overrepresented in the mainstream media, especially television. "It’s really about the media being funhouse mirrors, the wavy kind where you walk in and certain parts of your body are exaggerated and other parts disappear, that’s what’s happening here," said Susan Douglas, one of the report’s authors. "The success of women, that they’ve made it to the top, has been wildly magnified and exaggerated, and the extent to which millions of women are still struggling to make ends meet, juggle work and a family … that’s gone."

QUOTE: "What does TV portray that is real? Real male problems? Teenagers? No, and certainly not problems of females in our society, no matter what they are doing. It (what you see on TV) is all very light, unrealistic portraits of our society on every level."

—writer/director/producer Barry Levinson

QUOTE: "It’s all fantasy—that’s what entertainment is. I’m here to entertain you, and if my sexuality is apparent and you respond to it, and you’re attracted to it, then great, I’m doing my job."

—openly homosexual American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert, in a Details article accompanying a racy photo spread of him kissing a female model and putting his hands on her unclothed chest