culture and entertainment

Lady Gaga announces ‘Born This Way Ball’ tour

Listen up “Little Monsters.” Lady Gaga has just unveiled dates for her “Born This Way Ball” tour in Southeast Asia and Australia. Dates for Europe, Latin American and North America will follow shortly.

Gaga has been tweeting about the tour, revealing some details and photos. On Feb. 7, the singer unveiled a sketch of what the star calls “The Monster Pit,” a general admission area that she says, “Little Monsters unlock when they arrive to the arena or stadium.”

The tour kicks off with 15 shows throughout Southeast Asia and Japan through early June. Then Gaga heads to Australia for 15 more shows ending in July.

After traveling Down Under, Gaga will head to Europe in August. Latin America will follow towards the end of 2012, and then Gaga hits North America in the first quarter of 2013.

On Wednesday, Gaga said “The Born This Way Ball” will perform 110 shows around the world.

The tour will be guided by Live Nation Global Touring CEO Arthur Fogel and his team, who also manned the helm during Gaga’s monster “Monster Ball” tour in 2010-11, which grossed $188 million from 167 shows.

The “Monster Ball” tour landed Gaga at No. 84 on Billboard’s recent “Power 100″ list. It also put her on the map as a major focus in the music arena and as a high-grossing touring artist.

Shake up at the ‘X Factor’

Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and Steve Jones have all been x-ed from the “X Factor.”

The first season’s host, Jones confirmed his departure on Twitter Monday afternoon. Fox confirmed Scherzinger’s exit also on Monday, and confirmation that fellow judge Adbul won’t be back is imminent, sources say.

It appears that the show’s producers were looking to make a clean sweep and are looking for new talent to replace the two axed judges and host.

The show scored very decent ratings, but hasn’t lived up to creator Simon Cowell’s expectations.

Cowell commented last summer that he hoped “X Factor” would top “American Idol” as the country’s top-rated show. How, it failed to gain viewers from the roughly 12.49 million who watched its September debut. “X Factor earned only half of Cowell’s “American Idol” ratings in its first season, which wrapped in December.

Newt wants Brad to play him in movie

If they ever make a movie about Newt Gingrich, the Republican presidential hopeful known for his ego wants Brad Pitt to portray him, TMZ reports.

Gingrich picked the A-list actor even though he admits they don’t look alike, and that Pitt is younger, better built, and better looking.

Gingrich said in an interview with the “Rich Stevens Radio Show” about selecting Pitt to play him, “Look if you’re gonna go for it… You gotta relax and just, you know, let your imagination soar.”