Heath Ledger is known for his boyish good looks and for generally playing the good guy. That’s all about to change. Just a few months ago he was confirmed to star as “The Joker” in Christopher Nolan’s sequel to the very popular “Batman Begins” starring Christian Bale as Batman. Ledger has been in some darker movies such as “The Order” and “Ned Kelly” but his roles in those movies don’t do much to prepare him for the idolized “Joker” role. It’s going to be intense and he’s going to have to really work hard to pull this off.

The Joker has always been very animated and colorful. That style joker may or may not work well in this new darker Batman world. Gotham is a dark and scary place and based on the portrayal of Scarecrow in Batman Begins, I imagine the new Joker will be more scary and less funny. Heath Ledger really doesn’t strike me as “The Joker” when I look at him though. To be honest I’m not really sure what Nolan was thinking when picking him but maybe he sees something I don’t. One can only hope. After all, the bar has been raised quite high this time around. “The Dark Knight” is set to be released in 2008.

…from herself.

Apparently, when you are rich, famous, single, and you have a boyfriend who is afraid to pop the question, there is a solution. Paris Hilton was recently seen at an alive+olivia dinner party last week with a diamond solitaire on her left ring finger. Where did she get this beauty? Apparently not from Stavros Niarchos, her “shipping heir” boyfriend, who’s parents haven’t even met Hilton yet.

So where did she get the ring? Does anybody really care? Apparently so, and apparently she bought the ring for herself. Why? She wanted people to think she was engaged. Is she? No. How is this news? Who knows. It’s about as fun to write about as it is to read.

“Blade” hero Wesley Snipes has been arrested on charges of tax fraud. Snipes is being accused of avoiding paying taxes for over 6 years, a crime that could land him in jail for quite a while. 16 years to be exact.

Snipes was filming a movie in Africa when these accusations surfaced. In an effort to clear his name, Snipes did finally return to the US this week. He was quickly arrested, but was later released on a $1M bond, just under 10% of the money the government claims he owes them.

Regardless of whether or not he is found guilty of tax fraud, the US government has found a neat little loophole for getting the money anyway. They will simply arrest Snipes 11 more times, each with a $1M bond.

Snipes allegedly owes $12M in unpaid taxes.

We’ all know the story. An eccentric lady named Cruella Deville kidnaps 101 Dalmatian puppies in order to create the ultimate fur coat. As the story progresses, we learn that animals are in fact capable of devising elaborate escape plans. If you’ve seen the movies, then you are well aware of many of these tactics never before seen on the Discovery Channel. (Why is that?)

Anyway, we’ve recently read some shocking news that could put the kibosh on the believability of the 101 Dalmatians story, or at least raise some questions. Modonna, (whom we all know and love) is turning the tables on the animals where Cruella Deville could not. She was recently spotted wearing a $70,000 fur coat made entirely out of chinchilla skins. So somewhere in Hollywood, a pet store is missing around 40 Chinchillas.

More importantly, somewhere in Hollywood, roughly 40 Chinchillas are missing their fur coats.