High School Musical lovefest!!

The Post reports that High School Musical star Zac Efron splashed in the Hawaii tide with a bikini-clad gal and that the two were spotted canoodling. But we all know who that is!

Well, here is the first picture of on-and-off-screen couple Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens enjoying their week-long Hawaiian getaway together.

Zanessa all the way!

High School Musical 2 premieres Friday, August 17 @ 8PM ET/PT on The Disney Channel.

UPDATE: Apologies, images removed!

High School Musical stars Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale attend Hollywood Life Magazine’s 9th Annual Young Hollywood Awards at the Music Box at the Fonda on Sunday night in Los Angeles, Calif.

In their July 2007 issue, Popstar Magazine will be confirming that Zac and Vanessa have been dating dating off and on (mostly on) since High School Musical 1.

We never confirmed it only because they never confirmed it publicly, even though it’s been an open secret to everyone around them and to everyone in the entertainment biz. Even their fans are aware of it—75% of you voted on our site at popstaronline.com that you thought they were dating.

Popstar! was the first mag to promote “Zanessa” and we always did so respectfully—never revealing private details that we have access to, or using sneaky photos (that are out there) proving they’re seeing each other. We also didn’t want to use other stars’ interviews to “leak” the info because that would be silly since we already knew the truth.

After seeing Zac and Vanessa in the “Say OK” video, that kind of made it hard to pretend they were not an item! It was like when Justin & Britney and J.Lo & Marc Anthony were dating but wouldn’t say it…at first, you go along with it. But enough’s enough once everyone knows.

Still, we’ll be treating them with a lot of respect and won’t publish any deeply private things about them. So far, we have had no complaints from the cutest couple ever. We love them as individuals and as a real-life couple. Don’t you?

25+ pictures inside of Zac, Vanessa and Ashley… More Here! »

The New York Times featured a fantastic article about the upcoming High School Musical 2: Sing It All or Nothing!. I almost peed in my pants while reading it from all the excitement.

Here are 5 things I learned about High School Musical 2 and its cast:

• Dance number “I Don’t Dance” pits Ryan and Chad’s teams against one another. It sets a baseball game to a musical score that fuses elements of hip-hop and swing.
• There’s a new song called “Fabulous” has Sharpay and Ryan float around in lounge chairs in a pool and “pass around beach balls in a Busby Berkeley-like sequence.”
• Zac wasn’t featured much on the High School Musical soundtrack because his “deep baritone had been deemed an uneasy fit with the rest of the cast” but he’ll be singing own stuff in the new movie and in Hairspray.
• Lucas Grabeel’s younger sister, Autumn Grabeel, is Monique Coleman’s personal assistant
• And here’s a little synopsis of High School Musical 2: “Sharpay Evans, the rich girl whom audiences loved to hate in the original movie, is on a campaign to woo Troy, the basketball coach’s son, away from Gabriella. The setting is a luxurious country club owned by Sharpay’s father, where Troy, Gabriella and their East High classmates have all landed summer jobs. Instead of a school musical, the source of conflict (and more than a few songs) is the club’s annual talent show, and Sharpay is scheming to get Troy to perform a duet.”

And one Zac Efron quote had a little OUCH factor, which stuck out to me: “Personally, I feel no competition with the cast because I’m not going for the same things they are. A lot of them are doing teen music things, and tours, various TV deals and other Disney TV movies and Disney albums. That’s the last thing I want to be doing at the moment. I’m setting my sights a little bit higher.”

High School Musical 2 is set for an August 17 release.

Pictured: Zac Efron is Troy Bolton, Vanessa Anne Hudgens is Gabriella Montez, Ashley Tisdale is Sharpay Evans, Lucas Grabeel is Ryan Events, Corbin Bleu is Chad Danforth, and Monique Coleman is Taylor McKessie.

Here are some miscellaneous celebrities that made it out to the 2006 Billboard Music Awards held last night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The host-less show went on without Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. Here’s how the top six winners stacked up:

• Mary J Blige: 9 Billboard Awards
• Carrie Underwood, TI: 5 Billboard Awards
• Chris Brown, Rihanna, Nickelback, The Fray: 3 Billboard Awards

Now onto some of the red carpet arrivals…

Nelly Furtado - Billboard Awards 2006

Rihanna - Billboard Awards 2006

Katharine McPhee - Billboard Awards 2006

Kristen Bell - Billboard Awards 2006

Danity Kane - Billboard Awards 2006

High School Musical - Billboard Awards 2006

• Halle Berry & Gabriel Aubry at “Paddle Out Protest”
• Rachel Bilson & Adam Brody Out & About in Canada
• Lindsay Lohan: InStyle Magazine
• Jake Gyllenhaal Shows Some Wiggle in His Walk
• Tom & Katie Announce Wedding in Italy, Nov. 18
• Borat Premieres in Hollywood
• Petra Nemcova Has Legs Up To Her…
• Paris Hilton is Always High
• Jayden James Federline’s Birth Certificate [pdf]
• Download Gwen Stefani’s “Wind Up” [mp3]

• Britney Spears took a night off from being a full-time mom last week to catch a Pussycat Dolls performance at Pure in Las Vegas. She and a pal stayed out until 1 a.m.
• WAHOO!! TV movie High School Musical has been turned into a concert and is hitting the road with a nationwide tour. Cast members including Monique Coleman, who is currently on Dancing With the Stars, and Lucas Grabeel will take part in the 40-city tour that is scheduled to begin Nov. 30 in San Diego.
• RUN and watch the 24 Season 6 trailer at 24trailer.com NOW!!

My girl Vanessa Hudgens (Those cheekbones could cut through glass!) is currently in the middle of practices for her two live performances next week but that didn’t stop her from hitting up last night’s Teen Vogue Young Hollywood Party Red Carpet. The swanky event was held at Sunset Tower in Hollywood where Vanessa was accompanied by High School Musical co-star Corbin Bleu. Check out the exclusive interview I had with Vanessa earlier this week if you haven’t already. More pictures in the gallery!

DON’T FORGET :: Watch Vanessa Hudgens perform on Good Morning America this Tuesday, September 26th and on Regis & Kelly next Thursday, September 28th.

High School Musical picked up three surfboards last night at the Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Comedy/Musical, TV Choice Breakout Star (Zac Efron), and TV Choice Chemistry (Vanessa Anne Hudgens and Zac Efron).  Vanessa Hudgens also has a single out called "Come Back To Me" (MP3 download links after the jump).  It’s from her upcoming album "V," which drops next month on September 26, 2006. Watch the "Come Back To Me" music video preview below; the full video will debut this Friday night after the Cheetah Girls 2 movie on The Disney Channel! More pictures in the gallery!

DOWNLOAD LINKS ::
#1 - Vanessa Hudgens - "Come Back To Me" [YSI]
#2 - Vanessa Hudgens - "Come Back To Me" [Sendspace]
#3 - Vanessa Hudgens - "Come Back To Me" [Rapidshare]
#4 - Vanessa Hudgens - "Come Back To Me" [Megaupload]

Six months after its premiere, "High School Musical" rolls on, a singing and dancing juggernaut. Almost 37 million viewers have watched the $4.2 million production at least once since its first airing, and the musical—a pop confection that makes "Grease" look like "Rebel Without a Cause"—surged back into the spotlight this month, grabbing six Emmy nominations. The soundtrack, a top-10 hit since its January release, is the year’s biggest-selling CD, at 2.7 million copies. After five weeks, the DVD has sold an eye-popping 2.1 million copies.

Six Emmy nominations!  SIX!  I love me some High School Musical… And if you missed the last announcement, Zac Efron joined the cast of Hairspray, playing the role of hearthrob Link Larkin. Hairspray will also feature John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Amanda Bynes, Billy Crystal, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Brittany Snow. Speaking of Hairspray, I’m seeing it again tonight!  WOOT! More pictures in the gallery from Newsweek July 24, 2006!