BinaryPublisher

Our friends at Pop & Hiss do a bang-up job in general, but we just noticed they’ve been covering a bunch of celebrity-style dish out of the music scene the past day or two.

Did you hear about Randy Jackson asking for Grammy voting help on Twitter? How about the part where it wasn’t him doing the tweeting? 

And of course, to start the new year, Kanye West invoked the musical mojo of Kobe Bryant with an ALL CAPS MISSION STATEMENT on his blog. Also at that link, you’ll find further discussion of the leaked song from Michael Jackson and Lenny Kravitz.

JoBros fans might take an interest …

The confirmations are in — Russell Brand and Katy Perry are engaged.

Brand had been spotted in mid-December doing a little ring shopping, and rumors were swirling this week: He popped the question New Year’s Eve.

They have been dating only since September, after meeting at the MTV Video Music Awards, which were remarkable in many ways. All of the sudden, Russell was in love. Katy too — “She says he makes her laugh like nobody else in the world,” a source told Us magazine.

Hmm. Might these two be romantics at heart? Check out this adorable Twitpic of Katy and Russell at the Taj Mahal (read the caption, please!).

Congrats, kids — and seriously, this is one wedding the Ministry wants to get a look at.

They might very well go traditional, but with those two quirky sensibilities working together, who knows what the favors might be.

– Christie D’Zurilla

Back in September, when Redmond O’Neal was moved from jail into in-patient rehab, his attorney advised us all, via People, that “Redmond has embraced recovery.”

But in ordering the son of Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O’Neal back behind bars today on a probation violation, a judge clearly disagreed.

“It seems to me you haven’t got a clue as to what recovery means,” Judge Michael Tynan said. “It’s a lifetime commitment.
It’s grinding, hard, painful work.”

Why is Redmond being sent back to jail? O’Neal had been on a 24-hour pass from a residential treatment center, L.A. County sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore told L.A. Now. “When he came
back, he told the program counselors that he had used drugs,” Whitmore
said. “He tested positive” for unspecified drugs.

So, it was more like giving recovery a hearty clap on the back, rather than a full-on embrace?

Stars from Hollywood to Aspen to Miami are slowly waking up from their New Year’s slumber, and the Ministry has eyes all over.

Keep tabs on a sushi-snacking Lady Gaga, pampering Katy Perry, adventure-craving Zac Efron and working mom Amy Poehler after the jump!

For New Year’s Eve, Vince Vaughn was in Chicago; Fergie and Josh Duhamel were in Las Vegas; Lady Gaga was in Miami. And Beyonce was — performing for the son of Libyan dictator Moammar Kadafi?

We kid you not — nor does Mediaite, in its detailed take on the singer’s five-song performance at Nikki Beach in St. Barth.

[Updated at 10:33 a.m. Jan 6: Also on New Year's Eve,
after the Nikki Beach gig, Beyonce performed for Russian billionaire
Roman Abramovich -- see below, it's the same guy-- at his lavish party.]

As pointed out by Mediaite, Moutassim Kadafi, aka Hannibal, has something in common with Charlie Sheen — a Christmas visit from the cops.

More than a few folks think Beyonce’s decision to play the “private party” wasn’t cool at all. As Hot Air points out, the U.S. now recognizes Libya, but there are still, ahem, rough spots in the international relationship. Open arms for the Lockerbie bomber, anyone?

Given Beyonce and Jay-Z’s means, you’d think that $2 million wouldn’t speak quite so loudly. Maybe that Russian billionaire really rattled them.

[For the record, 10:35 a.m. Jan. 6: A previous version
of this post stated on New Year's Eve 2008, "Mariah Carey played a
similar gig thrown by brother Saif Kadafi -- albeit for a cut-rate
price of $1 million," and linked to an article with that erroneous
information. Saif Kadafi was not in St. Barth on New Year's Eve 2008
and did not pay Carey to perform.]

Also among those at the party? Jon Bon Jovi, Lindsay Lohan, BET founder Bob Johnson and Usher.

– Christie D’Zurilla

Photo: Beyonce in New York on Dec. 8, 2009. Credit: Peter Kramer / Associated Press.

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Every once in a while a celebrity story comes along that tips the skank scale even for us gossip hounds.

Such stories are so highly toxic that hazmat suits and safety goggles are recommended before viewing.

The Ministry of Gossip cannot be held responsible for any communicable diseases, skin outbreaks, poisoning, cancerous growths or any other medical issues that may arise in connection with reading the following statement.

Michael Lohan — father of Lindsay and former best friend of Jon Gosselin — and Kate Major — onetime tabloid reporter and erstwhile girlfriend of Gosselin — are reportedly dating.

She is apparently 26; he is 49.

Pause while I fumigate my keyboard and order a steam cleaning of the motherboard over at the Genius Bar.

Oh, shouldn’t have done that. Yet. There’s more.

“The two, who have been reportedly seeing one another on the sly for quite some time, are getting serious,” Hollywood Life reports.

Lindsay Lohan’s New Year’s in St. Barth’s was all over the Internet — but while she was ringing in the new year, longtime friend Patrick Aufdenkamp may have been working behind her back to lift her leggings, a source tells Us Magazine. 

Actually, we’re talking about allegedly lifting sketches of her 6126 clothing collection, which is due to expand from leggings into a full line for 2010. That’s separate from her work with Ungaro.

Celebrity stylist Patrick, a.k.a. “Pootie,” has been the 23-year-old actress’ friend since she was 16 and, according to the source, “He is now running off trying to do his own line. … It’s horrible. He was her best friend. He has always used her, and she’s been warned to never trust him.”

Aufdenkamp said via Twitter this morning that “Everyone will know the truth soon enough. And I mean Everything…!” He was also in St. Barth’s for the holiday.

Gossip Cop has it from Lindsay that the story is true. And she told Us Magazine that she “should have known better.” Girl can’t catch a break. 

Still — color the Ministry naive, but — wouldn’t people now be suspicious of any drawings Pootie might show during New York Fashion Week? Perhaps there’s more to the story?

The friendship is, according to Lindsay, over.

Better late than never, we suppose.

– Christie D’Zurilla

Johnson & Johnson heiress Casey Johnson, in the spotlight recently for a custody battle, grand theft charges and a flashy engagement to reality TV diva Tila Tequila, was found dead Monday morning in her Los Angeles home, OK! Magazine has confirmed.

[Updated at 8:54 a.m., Jan. 5, 2010: Though there were no signs of foul play, the LAPD is looking into Casey's cause of death. An autopsy and toxicology tests were pending this morning, according to L.A. Now. Such tests typically take six to eight weeks to be completed and assessed.

Though "a natural death" had been cited in preliminary reports Monday, the police said they had no cause of death, and that they didn't know how long she'd been dead before her body was discovered.

Paris Hilton, a childhood friend of Casey's, expressed her sadness via Twitter late Monday and early Tuesday.

Updated at 9:40 a.m., Jan. 5, 2010: Casey, a diabetic, may have been dead for several days before her body was found.]

News of Johnson’s death began circulating online around 5 p.m. PST, after TMZ reported that the wayward socialite’s body had been found. Access Hollywood reported that the family had issued a statement asking for privacy. 

Johnson, the daughter of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, had recently been trying to regain custody of her daughter, Ava. She’d also  been arrested on Nov. 30, 2009, and then charged with two felonies; she was accused of taking about $22,000 worth of items — including underwear and jewelry — from the Hollywood home of Jasmine Lennard, a model and also a reality TV personality who was on Britain’s “Make Me a Supermodel.” 

Her parents had recently cut off her trust fund, according to the New York Daily News, after she refused to get help for drug abuse.

Tequila, who had not mentioned her “wifey” Casey on Twitter for a few days — this was unusual, if you follow such things — posted a couple of comments on the microblogging site shortly after reports of Casey’s death began circulating.

Johnson & Johnson heiress Casey Johnson, in the spotlight recently for a custody battle, grand theft charges and a flashy engagement to reality TV diva Tila Tequila, was found dead Monday morning in her Los Angeles home, OK! Magazine has confirmed.

News of Johnson’s death began circulating online around 5 p.m. PST, after TMZ reported that the wayward socialite’s body had been found. Access Hollywood reported that the family had issued a statement asking for privacy. 

Johnson, the daughter of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, had recently been trying to regain custody of her daughter, Ava. She’d also  been arrested on Nov. 30, 2009, and then charged with two felonies; she was accused of taking about $22,000 worth of items — including underwear and jewelry — from the Hollywood home of Jasmine Lennard, a model and also a reality TV personality who was on Britain’s “Make Me a Supermodel.” 

Her parents had recently cut off her trust fund, according to the New York Daily News, after she refused to get help for drug abuse.

Tequila, who had not mentioned her “wifey” Casey on Twitter for a few days — this was unusual, if you follow such things — posted a couple of comments on the microblogging site shortly after reports of Casey’s death began circulating.

Who doesn’t love an ominous Vanity Fair cover with moody shots from lens master Annie Leibovitz?

Tiger Woods, perhaps. He’s splayed on and inside the February edition of the magazine, with a piece from contributing editor Buzz Bissinger on Woods’ dramatic spiral. 

“There was no way of ever knowing Tiger Woods — not in golf, beyond witnessing the machine-like relentlessness that made him the most remarkable athlete of our time, and not outside of golf, because he never showed any real part of himself off the course,” Bissinger writes. 

Never showed us a real part, until he hit that fateful fire hydrant.

The academic read on Tiger’s recent (and money hemorrhaging) misfortune is certainly insightful, the anatomy of an American hero’s perversion and, at times, desperation. Yet at the bottom of the cover, noticeably devoid of other sell-lines and content teases, is a quote from William Shakespeare’s “Henry VI.”

“O tiger’s heart, wrapp’d in a woman’s hide!”

Doesn’t that say it all?

– Matt Donnelly

Photo: A shirtless Tiger Woods looks sullen while pumping iron. Credit: © 2010, all photographs by Annie Leibovitz, all rights reserved, N.Y.C.

Many related Ministry Posts on Tiger Woods

Divorce in bulk: Jon and Kate Gosselin, Tiger’s wife Elin, Beyonce’s mom

Tiger Woods’ ‘mistress’ list hits double digits (Trangressions R Us, Part 3)

50 Cent on street cred, college and, of course, Tiger Woods

PREACH IT! C’mon, you already knew that Tiger cheated

VIDEO: ‘Is Tiger Feeling Lucky Today?’ aka ‘This is your gossip on Google’

‘Tiger Woods Voicemail Slow Jam Remix’: Now playing [VIDEO]

Overwhelmed’ Rachel Uchitel hires celebrity attorney Gloria Allred

Tiger Woods’ charmed life may be feeling the squeeze

Tiger Woods says ‘all my fault,’ praises wife, hires attorney

Tiger Woods, his wife, that odd little car accident — and Rachel Uchitel

Tiger Woods slightly injured in accident near his home

Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Facebook and Twitter (we’re @LATcelebs).