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!

• Nicole Richie featured in Deluxe Magazine
• Everybody needs a little neat freak in them! Mr. Clean Extra Power Magic Erasers, Blistex Stick, and Febreze.
• Natalie Portman’s growing mess of hair
• Scarlett Johansson teams up with Reebok. Wow.  "Reebok is thrilled to partner with Scarlett because she is a world renowned style icon and truly an inspiration for today’s young women," said Reebok’s President and CEO Paul Harrington. "Scarlett embodies the pulse points of our brand - individuality, authenticity and a life lived to the fullest in perpetual motion. These characteristics make her the perfect fit for our new women’s footwear and apparel collection and also for our exciting new women’s campaign."
• Lindsay Lohan’s cheap hooker pose
• Tom Cruise has regained control of his own domain name tomcruise.com.  Can’t wait to see his homepage.  Maybe he’ll start blogging mysterious entries like Britney!
• Jessica Alba takes her dogs for a walk
• Matthew McConaughey receives an intimate massage from a female friend in Malibu.
• Eva Longoria’s Bikini Causes Global Warming
• Stephen Colbert Skewers Clueless Politicians

If you’ve been following Just Jared, you’ll know that I am a big big big fan of High School Musical.  Don’t even ask how many times I’ve seen it!  But of course I want everyone else to "Bop to the Top" with me… so here’s a DVD giveaway!  Below is a 5-minute clip (not featured on the DVD) of the High School Musical Dance Along that I didn’t look stupid trying to imitate in front of my computer screen . . .  BTW, Zac Efron just signed on as Link Larkin in the film version of Hairspray.

HOW TO WIN A FREE COPY ::  To win the High School Musical DVD, leave a comment in this entry with your most memorable (fun, silly, embarrassing, etc) high school moment.  One entry per person.  Be sure to include a valid email address (not published).  Entries must be made before Thursday, June 29 @ 7PM EST.  Good luck!

UPDATE :: Congratulations, Dan!  Your DVD will go out in the mail soon!  Thanks to everyone else who entered.  I really enjoyed everybody’s stories.

As expected, Elliott Yamin, the 27-year-old aspiring singer from Richmond, Virginia was sent home last night during American Idol’s results show.  UNEXPECTEDLY, the voting came down to 33.68%, 33.26%, and 33.06% from a total of 50 million votes. It was the first time in American Idol history, that we know of, that produced a winning result by mere decimal places!!!  The final two (pictured above) are Taylor Hicks, 29, from Birmingham, Alabama, and Katharine McPhee, 21, from Sherman Oaks, California.  It’s going to be a heckuva Taylor vs. Katharine showdown next week!!!!!!!!  Many more pictures in the gallery!

This Ryan Seacrest and Zac Efron (High School Musical)
picture cracks me up!!!!!!  Ashley Tisdale pictued to right.

Hollywood, California :: The cast and producers of Disney’s High School Musical attended a Q&A session at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel yesterday afternoon — (L-R, standing) Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Monique Coleman and Ashley Tisdale, (L-R, kneeling) Corbin Bleu, Lucas Grabeel and Zac Efron.  HOOOTTTTT.  Below is a video from TRL’s "High School Week" featuring the High School Musical cast teaching the dance from "We’re All in This Together" to the students of Washington Irving High School’s Drama Club.  Don’t hate.  Appreciate.  Many, many more pictures in the gallery!

Even though I’m well outside of Disney’s key demographic, I’m a sucker for happy-go-lucky musicals and I totally bought into the High School Musical phenomenon. The cast is lovable, the choreography is fun and the music is fresh. I’ve watched the film at least three times and I have the soundtrack on repeat — please tell me I’m not the only High School Musical fanatic outside the target audience of ages 5-14!!!! The Disney Channel Original Movie continues to score big TV ratings and the certified-platinum CD even peaked at the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Top 200 chart. The sure-to-be-best-selling DVD version of High School Musical hits stores on Tuesday, May 23rd. High School Musical was directed by choreographer/director Kenny Ortega, who also directed the Disney big-screen musical Newsies, which I also own on DVD.

The cast of  High School Musical – Monique Coleman, Vanessa Anne Hutchinson, Corbin Bleu, Lucas Grabeel and Ashley Tisdale — performed on the NBC Today show this morning in New York’s Rockefeller Center. The actors also taught some young audience members one of their dance routines. Watch a clip of High School Musical below with Zac Efron (Troy Bolton ) and Vanessa Anne Hudgens (Gabriella Montez ) singing one of their hit songs, "Breaking Free."  Many, many more pictures in the gallery!