Splash News; Chelsea Lauren/WireImage; Seth Browarnik/startraksphoto.com; Denise Truscello/WireImage; Fred PerryThe week admittedly kicked off with a tragic thud as the story of Amy Winehouse's sudden death unfolded out of London.
We won't see that things "picked up," per se, but obviously the entertainment world continued to go round with the usual mix of hilarity, drama, controversy, imploded relationships, premarital celebrations and other celeb-centric shenanigans.
And we covered all of it, so here are the happenings worth poring over from the last seven days:
BACK TO BLACK: No one was shocked but everybody was saddened by Amy Winehouse's passing at the tragically coincidental age of 27. Her family, friends and fellow artists are all feeling the void and expressing their grief in different ways. There's been the occasional obvious attempt at self-promotion among the hoi polloi, but for the most part the sentiment has been on the up and up. It won't be known for several weeks what lethal cocktail of chemicals (or the lingering damage they had wrought) ultimately killed her, but hers was a cautionary tale with major peaks (five Grammys, global renown) and epic valleys.
COWBOYS & AWESOME: Andrew Garfield provided one of the best moments of Comic-Con 2011, showing up at the Amazing Spider-Man panel in a low-rent Spidey outfit and thanking all the fans for supporting what's turned out to be the coolest moment of his life: playing a superhero. And the movie looks pretty bomb, too. But the franchise reboot was just one of oodles of films and TV shows that strutted their stuff at the star-studded four-day expo. Also proving overe the weekend that The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn wasn't the only thing worth showing up for were Cowboys & Aliens (the premiere was a blast), Snow White and the Huntsman, Immortals, Glee (Who's staying/! Who's going?!), The Vampire Diaries, Game of Thrones, True Blood...It's an exhausting list. Get our complete Comic-Con coverage right here!
ROYAL FLUSH: The ever resourceful Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, again recycled a chic look, donning a dress from her L.A. trip at a yacht party celebrating the pending nuptials of Prince William's cousin, Zara Phillips, and rugby player Mike Tindall...Prince Harry gets cartooned for a biographical comic book...Jennifer Aniston has advice for Will regarding his thinning pate...Fun fact: It turns out people don't want to pay more than $78,395 for a 2001 Volkswagen Golf.
BEST GIRLFRIEND EVER: Happy David Fisher snapped a cell-phone pic as his new girlfriend, Bar Refaeli, locked lips with a female friend.
ON THE MEND: Christopher Schwarzenegger is out of the hospital after being treated for a collapsed lung and broken rib suffered in a surfing accident. And, it turns out Arnold Schwarzenegger had no intention of denying Maria Shriver spousal support.
BIG PIMPIN': Who knew Soulja Boy's "Soulja Boy" was such a moneymaker? The rapper reportedly dropped $55 million on a jet, including $20 million to make it really fancy inside.
EXTRACURRICULARS: James Franco, he who does everything but return to General Hospital, will join Gus Van Sant as a guest lecturer at NYC's Museum of Modern Art.
CINDERELLA: Scarlett Johansson is not going to the ball.
LIKE SON, LIKE FATHER: Justin Bieber didn't just get a tattoo of the Hebrew word for "Jesus." His dad got one, too!
BOSOM BUDDIES: Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene are considering going in on an apartment together in NYC to use whenever they're in town.
SPLITSVILLE: Kristin Cavallari and Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler called off their engagement...Nicky Hilton and David Katzenberg broke up after four years together.
BABY BOOM: Selma Blair and boyfriend Jason Bleik welcomed son Arthur Saint Bleik...Lauryn Hill and not the guy who fathered her other five children welcomed a son...Emma Bunton shows off her ridiculously adorable son Tate... Giuliana Rancic is ready for a third round of IVF, but it's on to adoption or surrogacy if it doesn't work...Sarah Drew, who plays virginal Dr. April Kepner on Grey's Anatomy, is with child. It's a miracle! (Or hubby Peter Lanfer was involved.)
WEDDING BELLS: True Blood vamp Denis O'Hare swapped newly legal vows with interior designer Hugo Redwood in NYC...Watch Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo prepare for their Dream Wedding.
ENGAGEMENT RING: Gene Simmons is finally going to make an honest woman of Shannon Tweed...American Idol winner Lee DeWyze is ready to put a ring on Jonna Walsh...Neil Patrick Harris is engaged but not really in planning mode.
LAW & DISORDER: The Amazing Spider-Man villain Rhys Ifans was busted at Comic-Con...Leighton Meester's mom returns the favor after her daughter draws first blood..Real Housewives' Taylor Armstrong and estranged hubby Russell were sued for $1.5 million...Andy Dick headed to trial in West Virginia over penis-related antics...Jonathan May-Bowles, the comedian who slugged Rupert Murdoch with a shaving-cream pie, convicted of assault...Woman accused of burglarizing Alex Trebek's hotel room and prompting his busted Achilles must stay 150 yards away from double jeopardy...Paz de la Huerta copped to clocking Samantha Swetra...Joe Pesci tries to put the hurt on Gotti...Jesse James' ex, Janine Lindemulder, cited for harassment...Halle Berry's alleged stalker notched a new burglary charge...Trial set in poker-related civil suit against Tobey Maguire...Nicki Minaj fined for swearing onstage in Jamaica.
FAREWELLS: Dan Peek, founding member of rock band America and later a Christian pop artist, died at 60; cause wasn't immediately determined...Linda Christian, played Vesper Lynd in a made-for-TV version of Casino Royale, died of colon cancer at 87.
SCREEN PLAY: K-11 won't have Kristen Stewart, but it will have her brother, Cameron...The 68th Venice Film Festival and the 2011 Toronto Film Festival will be sights for sore eyes...This spoilerific Avengers sneak peek explains how Nazi-fighting Captain America ends up in the same decade as Tony Stark & Co....The Hunger Games bares a few secrets...Remember when Selena Gomez was a brat in Spy Kids 3-D?...Electric Daisy Carnival Experience created a hullabaloo...Olive Wilde is considering starring in the other Linda Lovelace movie...Ben Affleck doesn't think Republicans should be reppin' with The Town...Ben is also sporting a funny little shag 'do for Argo...Figure out which movie's getting your money this weekend with our reviews of Crazy, Stupid, Love, Smurfs and Cowboys & Aliens...Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 was trounced by Captain America after only a week!
TRAILER PARK: George Clooney is seemingly honorable and Ryan Gosling's kind of a dick in The Ides of March...Eddie Murphy teaches Ben Stiller how to steal in Tower Heist...Taylor Kitsch and Liam Neeson are under attack in Battleship...New Year's Eve is going to be as crowded as Valentine's Day!
MUSICAL NOTES: Kanye West and Jay-Z's much-hyped collaboration, Watch the Throne, drops Aug. 8...Australia doesn't find the suicide imagery in Olivia Newton-John's daughter Chloe Lattanzi's new music video to be in good taste...Meatloaf fainted in concert but kept performing (after waking up, of course)...Cops are concerned that Lady Gaga could cause a riot...Kurt Cobain won't have a bridge named after him in Aberdeen, Wash....50 Cent's fifth studio album is hung up for now...Haley Reinhart scored a record deal...Nirvana's Nevermind cover too penile for Facebook?...Bob Dylan's grandson, Pablo, is a rapper with a mixtape...A Michael Jackson tribute concert is being held in Wales, of course!
TV LAND: Ashton Kutcher joins the official Two and a Half Men tux-and-microphone opener. It really just looks like three men...Go behind the scenes with The Bachelorette's bachelors...So You Think You Can Dance made Lady Gaga cry... Showrunner Frank Darabont walked out on The Walking Dead...Meet the newest Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, including Dana Wilkey...Project Runway's back!...Guess who isn't a fan of The Playboy Club already?...Amber Portwood's trip to rehab is for MTV viewers' eyes only...Jenny McCarthy is no longer in business with Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Studios, but not because OWN sucks or anything...Jimmy Kimmel brought Han Solo and Chewbacca together again...SPOILER ZONE!
OLÉ!: Fans will help decide the winners for the back-in-action 2011 NCLR ALMA Awards, whose nominees include Demi Lovato, Christina Aguilera and Eva Mendes. Eva Longoria and George Lopez will host.
PRODUCT PLACEMENT: Isaiah Mustafa is obviously still the Old Spice guy...David Beckham's taking his knickers to H&M...Eddie Cibrian's got the face for Charisma...U.K. advertising watchdog gives Lancôme ads featuring a too-flawless Julia Roberts and Christie Turlington the thumbs-down...Kristin Cavallari has an unfortunate Sex in the City movie moment by modeling wedding dresses in the midst of ending her engagement...Kellan Lutz is flashing his abs for Dylan George and Abbot + Main by Dylan George Fall 2011. Obviously, they needed someone who was in shape to be able to say all that...Mariah Carey was back on QVC, selling her jewelry and dishing on pregnancy.
SCENE: Lindsay Lohan turning heads by showing up at Paris Hilton's Malibu beach party...Ian Somerhalder testifying before Congress on behalf of a species-preservation funding bill...Rupert Grint sporting an "I love Tom Felton" T-shirt at the L.A. premiere of Rise of the Planet of the Apes...Pink out and about with daughter Willow Sage in Malibu...Newly single Kristin Cavallari flipping the bird at the paps while walking her dog in West Hollywood...Evangelina Lilly touching down at Vancouver International Airport with boyfriend Norman Kali and their son, Baby X...Alicia Keys rocking her post-baby bikini bod at a hotel pool in Florida...Lea Michele doing the bikini-girl-emerging-from-the-surf walk in Hawaii...Kate Hudson relaxing on a Malibu beach with son Ryder and fiancé Matt Bellamy...Justin Bieber making a surprise appearance during Selena Gomez's warm-up concert in Costa Mesa, Calif., setting off rumors of a possible joint tour...Angelina Jolie taking four of the Jolie-Pitt children to the London Aquarium...Jennifer Lopez celebrating her 42nd birthday on a yacht in Miami and then later at a private home with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.