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In the end, all that buzz for the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards was more or less for naught.

Britney Spears showed up. Michael Jackson did not. Russell Brand did, though if the early reactions of bloggers and Jordin Sparks are any indication, he may wish he hadn't.

And in between the edgy banter and star-studded performances, a few awards were even handed out along the way.

Most of which seemed to go to Spears, the night's official comeback kid.

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Awards shows are usually a zoo, but this one was actually a circus, with rapper T-Pain hitting the red carpet riding an elephant.

The rest of the best of young Hollywood was on hand, too, though most of them weren't wearing mile-high top hats.

Even so, they all looked fly, from Lauren Conrad and her sheer perkiness to Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus puckering. From Rihanna getting disturbed to Britney getting awarded and Xtina getting crazy onstage. Check 'em out in our 2008 MTV Music Video Awards gallery.

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• Kevin Smith figures there's one thing wrong with bringing a movie to the Toronto Film Fest: The audiences are way too polite.

"In Toronto, nobody turns their nose up at almost anything," said Smith, in town to hype his latest comedy, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks.

"If you tank in Toronto, then something's seriously wrong with that movie."

• Brad Pitt's promotion of his latest film, the Coen brothers' Burn After Reading, brings him in town for one overlapping day with his ex-missus, Jennifer Aniston, whose Management is also in the festival. Sources tell E! News their respective handlers worked overtime to find luxury hotels at opposite ends of the city, but the former pair checked into accommodations within walking distance of each other. Avoiding each other will apparently take management by both sides.

Despite this, a survey found 51 percent of Canadians want to see Brad and Jen together again.

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Even in a tough economy, people will open their wallets for a great cause!

Organizers say Friday night's historic, star-studded Stand Up to Cancer telethon helped push donations to the charity past the $100 million mark.

"On behalf of the Stand Up To Cancer leadership team, we are tremendously grateful to everyone who contributed to make this historic event a success," said Lisa Paulsen, head of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, the charitable organization behind Stand Up to Cancer. "This money will go directly to funding the research programs necessary to defeat this insidious disease."

More than 100 stars from music, sports, TV and film, including cancer survivors Sheryl Crow, Christina Applegate and Lance Armstrong, came together for Friday's live telethon, which was co-emceed by rival network news anchors Katie Couric, Charles Gibson and Brian Williams.

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The fall box office sure fell all right.

After a $4 billion grossing summer, Hollywood slogged through its worst weekend of the year, per studio estimates compiled today by Exhibitor Relations.

The weekend was distinguished, if not defined, by Bangkok Dangerous, the new Nicolas Cage action movie, which finished first with the lowest gross for a No. 1 movie in five years ($7.8 million).

If estimates hold, the $45 million Bangkok Dangerous will barely have had enough firepower to outgross the debuts of 2008 bombs such as Mad Money ($7.7 million) and Space Chimps ($7.2 million).

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The Toronto Film Festival doesn't often lack the vision thing. And then came Blindness.

The Fernando Meirelles film based on Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago's acclaimed novel, which garnered mixed reviews at its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, made its North American debut Saturday at the Elgin Theatre. And judging by audience reaction, the Toronto gala was something of a repeat performance.

Before the screening, the director, who vaulted to international ranks on the strength of such hits as City of God and The Constant Gardener, introduced stars Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover, Gael Garcia Bernal and the mostly Canadian supporting cast.

Shortly afterward, those in attendance were treated to a two-hour postapocalyptic nightmare. Festival-goers checking their BlackBerries has become a sad fact of screenings. But the number of flashing Smartphones seemed unusually high. The theater was dark but didn't disguise the dozen-plus audience members exiting mid-movie.

One film generating extremely positive buzz is first-time helmer Nicholas Fackler's holiday romance, Lovely, Still. The film, about an elderly bachelor (Martin Landau) who falls in love with a new neighbor (Ellen Burstyn) has been playing to sold-out crowds. Adam Scott and Elizabeth Banks costar.

We caught up with Scott and Banks at one of the hottest (and hardest to get into) parties in town, a bash thrown by Creative Artists Agency at the rooftop bar of the Park Hyatt Hotel.

Here are some party highlights:

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Channing Tatum has smooth moves on and off the dance floor—just ask his new fiancée, Jenna Dewan.

The 28-year-old hottie popped the question to the equally hot Dewan, 27, on Friday while the couple was in Maui, People magazine is reporting. To the bride-to-be's surprise, Tatum had invited their close friends to the island to witness the proposal.

The pair met in 2005 on the set of the hit dance movie Step Up and started dating after the film wrapped.