It is amazing the amount of influence which Hollywood is able to exert on our society, culture, and civilization, and perhaps, it’s like that old saying; “life imitates art” is really true. The other day, I was discussing this with a young successful actor in Hollywood. And he is not only a talented author but also a deep thinker, as he attends college while pursuing his career.

He told me that although he is an actor, he’d “rather positively influence the content created by the film industry and represent the portion of the industry who attempt to use their power for real world problems.” And why not, Hollywood has gotten presidents elected and changed the course of American history; more than once.

Thus, I said to him; “well I cannot blame you. It seems that Hollywood can do a lot to influence society – if it is done properly, and the productions still entertain.” You see, Hollywood’s amazing the power it has over a society, or in many cases societies around the world. Perhaps, that’s why it seems Hollywood has its own set of lobbyists in a way.

Indeed, many folks with agendas flock to Hollywood to influence things, and many celebrities realizing their power use it to further causes they believe in it seems? Thus, my question to my actor acquaintance was this; “Are you planning to use your talents as an actor and do more with it?” Think about this if you will – many in Hollywood helped get President Obama elected, some now such as Matt Damon have decided that Obama shouldn’t be re-elected.

When President Obama comes to Southern California, he has no choice but to visit the West Side where all the Hollywood Moguls, Talent, and Movers and Shakers are. And Hollywood has been quite active in raising money for social causes, not just here but all over the world; The Sumatra Quake and Indonesia Earthquake, and the Haiti Earthquake and tragedy to name just a couple. Hollywood’s influence is far and wide from Tibet to the Davos World Economic Forum.

Hollywood Actresses and Movie Stars adopt children from African Nations as well, and they help spread their wealth and passions globally. Not only because they need to in order to prevent looking out of touch, but also because their fame gives them a platform with a megaphone to do great things, if they are willing to use it. You may not like the politics of Hollywood, Lord knows I often don’t, but you’ll have to agree it’s a force to be reckoned with, and there is a tremendous amount of influence there. So, please consider all this.

To become a celebrity means to become public. A celebrity looses the privacy of the personal life because the public have interest on the celebrity’s life no matter the size of the issue. This is the prize of fame of most celebrities.

When an announcement is made public on the situation of a celebrity in any point in time in his life, a thin line separates the announcement as news from being a gossip.

In general, news is a statement or information on any developments involving issues, activities and personalities in a certain period of time. News may be communicated through the radio, the daily newspapers, television, or simply through daily conversation.

Well, gossips about celebrities are also communicated using the same media. Recent years with the development of networking through the internet, gossips have gained more grounds on the net and simple daily conversations than any other form of media. Most of the gossips revolve on specific issues of celebrity personalities.

News, on the contrary, does not dwell on a specific issue on one person alone, but covers anything and everything from current developments in business, government affairs, global warming, arts, science and technology.

Gossip and news may be differentiated particularly on the information they intend to communicate. News are present on a simple report with supporting materials to support the facts, while gossip does not provide any proof, but more of conjectures.

Clearly, gossips are based on unconfirmed information from what people say or have said about celebrities.

With uncensored and unplanned pictures and videos taken of celebrities and presented to the public as it developed, paparazzi bring the gossips on celebrities to a brand new level.

Often, a story that a picture exists and that this picture is being distributed on the net for everyone to see spreads like wildfire during hot summer days. As the picture gets viewed by more people, the discussion on the same topic grows and changes into a scandalous gossip.

The actor is nominated for his supporting role as Francois Pienaar in the film Invictus. Damon is up against actors Woody Harrelson, Christopher Plummer, Stanley Tucci and Christoph Waltz.

The movie star has said that he expects to be trumped by Waltz, for his role in The Last Station, and has already formulated a reaction when the German actor’s name is read out.

“I’m waiting for the losing actor to have the courage to just go ‘F**k!’” Damon told Wenn. “When the camera pans on him. If I have the balls you’ll see me do it on March 7.”

However, Damon also claimed that he has a competition with friend Stanley Tucci as to who can look more gracious when Waltz’s name is called.

“I emailed Stanley Tucci. We have a contest to see who could look more magnanimous when Christoph Waltz wins!”

The 82nd Academy Awards will air on the ABC network this Sunday at 8 pm EST. By Shannon McGarvey

In addition, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also announced Monday that Queen Latifah, Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta will be among the presenters during the ceremony. (The Academy has already announced that Tina Fey and Steve Carell would hand out awards – and likely laughs – during the show.)

The 82nd Academy Awards will air live on ABC from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood starting at 8 p.m. ET. By Brian Orloff

Confirming rumors that the actress, who recently appeared on Gossip Girl, would soon be hearing wedding bells, her rep says that the Edmonton Oilers player, 29, did indeed propose.

“Hilary Duff and Mike Comrie were engaged this weekend while vacationing in Hawaii,” rep Nanci Ryder said Friday. “After having been together for over two years, they are very excited to share this happy news. They are thankful for all of your warm wishes.”

Early in their courtship, when he was with the New York Islanders, Comrie surprised Duff, 22, with a Mercedes for her birthday.

Duff, who said she read Hockey for Dummies to better understand her man, became a fixture at his hockey games. She’s been spotted in the stands at Oilers games, and also cheered him on when Comrie played for the Ottawa Senators, where she had some famous company in the stands: Carrie Underwood – whose fiancé Mike Fisher also is on the team.

Comrie returns the favor by frequently accompanying Duff to film press events and shoots.  By Catherine Donaldson-Evans.