• A posthumous Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes album hits stores in January. [PH]

• NeNe Leakes from The Real Housewives of Atlanta wants to become the black Lucille Ball. She's serious. [E!]

• Madonna and Guy Ritchie really are divorcing and she really is dating A-Rod. [Us]

• Aubrey and D. Woods are out of Danity Kane. For now. [MTV]

• Q-tip channels Michael Jackson in his new video. [SOHH]

• Ne-yo tries to make himself feel better about a sure-to-be terrible song he made with Lindsay Lohan. [MG]

• Now that Mariah Carey has a new man in her life, maybe she could also get a new stylist and hairdresser? [SR]

• Madonna and David Banda will officially be together forever. [PH]

• If it didn't seem like Usher's TRL rant last night was in defense of himself instead of in defense of his wife, it would be sort of sweet. [NB]

• What does Brandy think of Ray J, I wonder? [C&D]

So we're all going on holiday this weekend, right? Even if you're not, take some time to celebrate having a day off of work.

The stars got their glam on yesterday at the annual amfAR's Cinema Against AIDS benefit at the Cannes Film Festival.

It was a big week for Mariah Carey — she lost her single status and her No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200. In her defense, there was really no competing with Madonna's Hard Candy.

Also debuting new albums last week were Lyfe Jennings, whose Lyfe Change debuted at No. 4, and the Roots. Their album, Rising Down, debuted at the No. 6 spot. I haven't listened to it yet, but from what I hear, it's definitely better than it's spot on the charts suggests. But that's just the way it works in the music industry.

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Say what you will about her personality and, uh, wardrobe, Mariah Carey is a force to be reckoned with in the pop world. It's undeniable. Her album, E=MC2 sold 463,000 to open at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, bumping Leona Lewis to second place. Not only is it Mariah's biggest debut sales week ever, it's also the largest of the year, and she is now tied with Madonna and Janet Jackson for the second most No. 1 albums of any female artist. Barbara Streisand holds the title, and Madonna will probably pull ahead of Janet and Mariah with her newest album. Still, Mimi's doing big things.

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT A new study from the University of Liverpool suggests that "Madonna-style adoptions" — high-profile, international adoptions that probably should be called Angelina-style adoptions — have produced more orphans instead of reducing the number. Here's how — in EU countries, the numbers of institutionalized children has increased, supposedly because celebs have influenced more people to seek international adoptions. 'Child Psychologist, Professor Kevin Browne, said: "Some argue that international adoption is, in part, a solution to the large number of children in institutional care, but we have found the opposite is true. Closely linked to the Madonna-effect, we found that parents in poor countries are now giving up their children in the belief that they will have a 'better life in the west' with a more wealthy family."' So more orphans all around? Bummer. [Telegraph]

Madonna's new video for "Four Minutes" premiered yesterday, and the woman is on the cover of so many magazines and flooding so many gossip blogs that I thought it would only be right to post "Vogue," one of my Madonna faves. If I'm relying on gender/race/sexuality stereotypes, the girls and the gays will probably like this Rewound the most. This one's for you!

MALAWI-WOWIE The celeb-philanthropists of the world are always trying to keep up with Oprah Winfrey, aren't they? Madonna recently told Elle that she has purchased land in Malawi, the country-of-origin of her son, David, and is now in the process of getting permission to build a girl's school there. "The women will play a big role in the future and rebirth of Malawi," she said. Apparently, Ricki Lake of all people is also helping to build a school there with her Malawian nanny. As long as they're all very vigilant about not hiring child molesters to work at their schools, it should be all good.

Janet Jackson answers to her large gay fan base in a new interview by Clay Clane in HX. She touches on Jermaine Dupri's great relationships with her gay friends, how if she were a man for a day she would be curious about the peeing standing up thing (you and me both sister), and her thoughts on the war between her fans and Madonna's.

Who would be your celebrity girl-crush?
You know who I think is flawless? Alicia Keys. I think she's absolutely beautiful, such a sweetheart, down to earth. So maybe Alicia Keys.

I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but there's an Internet war between Janet and Madonna fans. I know you and Madonna had some beef in the '90s, but do you think the heat between Madonna and Janet fans has any validity?
No—I didn't know this was going on. [Laughs]…

If a "Janet" drag queen had to battle a "Madonna" drag queen, what advice would you give the "Janet" queen?
Kick the bitch's ass!

Prior to "kick the bitch's ass," Janet explained that she had the utmost respect and admiration for her once-rival, of course. [HX]

Madonna threw a very star-studded, glamorous party last night with Gucci to benefit Malawi (her son David's country of origin) and UNICEF. Guests include an ever-dapper Andre 3000, Rihanna, who also performed, the two Simmons couples, Alicia Keys, Pharrell Williams, Diddy (with Cassie, even though they posed separately on the red carpet), TomKat, super-pregnant JLo and lots more.

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• Critics are accusing Ishmael Beah, who wrote A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, of being from the James Frey school of memoirists. [AP]

• Beyonce made $27 million last years. Reverse those numbers to see how much Madonna made. [SOHH]

• Whose house? Not Run's house. [MG]

• Britney Spears is bat-shit insane. But we knew that. [Jossip]

• I don't wanna talk about the reverse Oreo. [TS]

Madonna hasn't become the queen of reinvention for nothing. For her new album, Licorice, she's tapped Kanye West to rap on one of her songs. No 50 Cent, though. I'm telling you, she knows how to spot upward and downward trends. [MTV]