Are you a pop culture junkie? Do you know all about the year’s top entertainment stories? Can you work your magic in front of a camera?

MuchNews is looking for you to be part of its year-end special and sound off on everything from Michael Jackson and the JoBros to Twilight and Chris Brown.

Email us at muchnews@muchmusic.com and let us know why you should be part of our show.

You must be between the ages of 16 and 24, and be able to appear in person for an audition at the MuchMusic building in Toronto, Ontario.

Full disclosure: I was not in any clubs or on any teams in high school. I was not a football player, did not cheer or sing, and definitely did not have much glee at all. But an undisclosed number of years later, I like many millions of TV watchers out there found Glee. And yes, I consider myself a Gleek.

Just in case you don’t know about this season’s breakout TV hit, Glee, the show is set in the small northwestern city of Lima, Ohio. (If you haven’t been to Ohio, it’s the sort of place that could use a little, well, glee.) Lying somewhere between High School Musical, Election and Freaks and Geeks, it’s a program that encourages people to be true to themselves and well, emote in the form of song, if need be. It also paints a somewhat accurate picture of high school: the geeks join glee club, the jocks play football and the popular girls lead cheers. But thanks to one chipper teacher named Will Schuester, the three cliques unite and kill their adaptations of tunes like Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Avril Lavigne’s “Keep Holding On,” and er, Young MC’s “Bust A Move.”

And now, Glee is an album.

Like Flight Of The Conchords, I thought the music of Glee would suffer from the absence of seeing the kids perform the songs. But the greatness of Glee: The Music, Volume 1 as an album is in how the songs have been arranged to encourage the sing-along. A true example of this is Jazmine Sullivan’s “Bust Your Windows,” which is sung by the diva-in-training, Amber “Mercedes” Riley. Did I know this song before Glee? Not at all. But now, I feel empowered just like Jazamine did originally belting out a line like, “You know I did it ‘cause I left my mark.” Yeah!

Where I think Glee is at its best though it breathing new life into the oldies. The aforementioned spin on “Don’t Stop Believin’” became a huge hit for the show when it was released on iTunes. Splitting the vocals between Cory “Finn” Monteith and Lea “Rachel” Michele allows the couple to tell the boy-girl story as well as their duet on Chris Brown/Jordin Sparks’ “No Air” (which despite Brown’s thuggery I still think is a captivating tune).

I suppose the real testament to the appeal of Glee is in how they can even pull of the cheesy white-boy rap on “Bust A Move” and “Gold Digger” spat no less by Matthew Morrison, who rings with a certain “that’s better than I can karaoke” charm.

Unfortunately, the belligerent cheer coach Sue Sylvester is completely absent but word on the street is that we could hear her belt those tasteless slurs before the end of the first season.

Glee you’ve done the impossible and made me regret being such a cynical d-bag in high school.

You can buy the album on CD here or digitally here.

- Cam Lindsay

Justin Timberlake is attached to the forthcoming Yogi Bear movie.

JT will star alongside Anna Faris and Dan Aykroyd in the live action/CG animated production said to be directed by Journey to the Center of the Earth’s Eric Brevig.

Not many details have been given, but we’re guessing Justin will be Boo Boo to Aykroyd’s Yogi? Or maybe another French Canadian hockey player…

Beyonce’s “sexiness” is causing trouble again.

An advertisement for the singer’s concert in Egypt tonight caused some controversy in the country after an MP from the Muslim Brotherhood said it “threatens social peace and security.”

The Islamist lawmaker issued a statement saying, “I do not know who agreed to this sinful, unacceptable advertisement, or indeed who agreed to these blatant sex parties.”

A group on Facebook has also spoken out against Beyonce, attracting almost 10,000 followers who support cancelling the show.

Beyonce postponed a concert in Malaysia last month, after Islamists criticized her “gyrating moves” and “sexy outfits.”

In the second part of her interview with Good Morning America, Rihanna offered more details about the attack she endured by Chris Brown.

The singer says she and Brown started arguing after he received a text message from another woman. Rihanna says the fight escalated and turned “ugly” adding, “I was battered, I was bleeding, I was swollen in my face.”

Despite the attack Rihanna says she doesn’t hate Chris Brown and says “I want him to do well and have a great career.”

Meanwhile, Rihanna announced today she will offer a preview of her upcoming album Rated R with a free online concert on November 16th.

Jay-Z and Alicia Keys have teamed up again for a sequel to “Empire State of Mind.”

The song’s success, which was adopted by the New York Yankees and performed at both the MTV VMAs and game two of the World Series last week, has inspired the duo to write “Empire State of Mind Part 2.”

Keys told MTV News that she was grateful for the chance to represent her hometown and that when the opportunity came up, they jumped right into the studio.

“Empire State of Mind Part 2″ will be featured on Alicia Keys’ new album, The Element of Freedom, which hits stores on December 15th.

Beyonce cleaned up at last night’s MTV EMAs in Berlin, walking away with three awards for best song and best video for “Single Ladies” as well as a trophy for best female. B also performed a scorching rendition of “Sweet Dreams” in a red hot number.

Beyonce’s hubby Jay-Z performed with U2 and walked away with an award of his own for best urban artist. Green Day performed two songs and scored the best rock artist.

Katy Perry hosted for the second year in a row, opening up the show with a Cabaret-inspired performance before changing into several sexy costumes.

Way back in May I had barely even heard of Dan Deacon before. It was that same month that a friend of mine went to a Dan Deacon concert at the DeLeon White Gallery in Toronto. She would not stop raving about how Dan got the whole crowd dancing, a feat I find very impressive. Curious, I went on Dan Deacon musical exploration adventure and was shocked that I hadn’t listened to him before. Not only was his music upbeat and fun, but he really did know how to make a crow move! From that moment on I swore that the next time he came to perform in Toronto I’d be there ready to party.

This guy is kinda the coolest. And his show last night was kinda the best.

Proudly from Baltimore Maryland, Dan Deacon has been creating electronic danc-ey splendor since the early 2000s. His first full length album Spiderman of the Rings came out in 2007 and quickly sparked a buzz, making many a top album of ‘07 list. Deacon has been churning out the goods since, the most recent being his latest album Bromst, which came out March of this year.

Dan is known for his inclusive shows. He sets up his gear on the floor with the audience, so he’s right there with you – not up on some stage. He’s all about audience participation and crowd games. He’s like a musical motivational speaker if you will (just not cheesy in a bad way). These are the things in life I love. Needless to say I was counting down the days to last night’s show and WOW it did not disappoint. WOW WOW WOW! Best show of 2009. Wanna know why?

Photos and more after the jump!

You know how boring it is waiting outside a venue to get into a concert? Not boring at all when you’re at a Dan Deacon show! How so? Two masked characters emerged as we all waited in line. You know just to get us in the mood. Oh they also gave away prizes. See?

Crazy cool right? We’ve just begun.

The show then began with two opening bands taking turns! Toronto’s own DD/MM/YYYY and Detroit’s Child Bite took turns breaking the ice and warming the crowd up. The venue became very sweaty very fast. Next up on stage were friends of Mr. Deacon’s. Named Nuclear Power Pants (lol right?), the fellow Baltimore band were all a glow. By this I mean there were a ton of black lights and neon. A lot. Also? The band was dressed up like glowing sharks? And then there were matching libarian-esque dancing lady singers and 2 twin like hairy male singers. Fun times all around.

What took place next was quite the set up. Move these speakers here, move all of Dan’s stuff there etc. Luckily, we were provided with some fantastic Violent Femmes tracks for us to sing and dance along to in the meantime. Side note? Mucho respects for bands that choose to play great music in between sets. It really sets the mood (pun indented).

Back to the show! Finally it is time! Dan Deacon’s stuff is all set up and he’s got two friendly giants on each side of him to brace the table of equipment from the crowd who is all ready rowdy with excitement.

Now how to begin a show? Well with a point and stretch lead by Deacon, followed by what else but a countdown! We weren’t allowed to say the number 5, and instead had to named states or provinces. 10…

And off we were! The entire show was an insane and amazing bust of energy. Red F started the show off with electricity and things continued to take off from there. Every song, from Snookered to Paddling Ghost (my personal favorite) had everyone dancing and singing along.

Things only calmed down briefly when Wet Wings was played, and when Dan asked us to put our hands on someone else’s head and have a think. After that it was right back to partying! At two points, Dan has us clear the floor and form a giant circle to dance. One was more of a dance party; the other was a follow the leader interpretive dance. Both were the fun-est of fun!

The show closed with Wham City and a final jam packed dance. It was simply freaking fantastic.

Once again - Best show of 2009. Just saying.

If you feel like some fun, do yourself a favour and give Dan Deacon a try! And if you’re lucky enough to have him come to your town? Go go go!

ps. His tour bus runs on veggie oil!

The MTV Europe Music Awards are already under way and MuchNews correspondent Jessica Capobianco is in Berlin, Germany tweeting live!

You can follow Jess now over at twitter.com/MuchNews, as she comments on what’s shakin’ overseas.

If you’d like to see U2, Jay-Z, Green Day, Beyonce, Katy Perry and more, tune in to MuchMusic tonight at 7:00 EST where you catch the MTV Europe Music Awards in its entirety.

While Rihanna spills to ABC, at the same time Chris Brown will sit down this Friday night with MTV to share his side of the story.

The singer says he’s confused about the public’s perception of him.

Chris says “I got the people that will come out and support and then the people that don’t want to see me do anything. They basically want me in jail.”

Make sure to catch our special MuchTalks - Chris Brown and Rihanna: Young Love Gone Wrong this Sunday night at 8:30 pm EST.

For the first time since the February attack by Chris Brown, Rihanna broke her silence this morning on Good Morning America, saying she was embarrassed by the incident and hopes people can learn from her situation.

You can watch a clip here.

ABC will air the full interview Friday night on 20/20.

WHOA NELLY. Stereos are going on tour with Midway State, and we’ve got MORE TICKETS TO GIVE OUT. I know, I know. We’re loco. But anyhoodle, we’re giving out 90 (!!!) pairs of tickets for the “Much Zone” spanning these tour cities:

London, ON - November 12, 2009
Ottawa, ON - November 15, 2009
Winnipeg, MB - December 1, 2009
Edmonton, AB - December 3, 2009
Vancouver, BC - December 9, 2009
Toronto, ON - December 19, 2009

If you live in or near any of the above towns, you know what to do…

Click Here and Enter Now! You’ve got until November 18 to enter!!

You gave us the (awesome) questions, and Emily answers ‘em! We had so many amazing ones to choose from, but unfortunately couldn’t get to them all. But Em was a total sweetheart! Watch the video to see if we asked your question! Doooooo iiittttt.

Emily Osment Answers Your Questions from MuchMusic on Vimeo.

Beyonce has been added to the list of performers for Thursday’s 2009 MTV Europe Awards.

Coinciding with her performance, the video for Beyonce’s new duet with Lady Gaga, “Video Phone,” will debut following the awards show.

Beyonce rounds up a glittering lineup of EMA performers including Foo
Fighters, Green Day, Jay-Z, Leona Lewis, Shakira, Tokio Hotel and U2.

Just like last year, the event will be hosted by Katy Perry.

You can watch the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards right here on Much, Thursday, November 5th at 7:00 pm EST.

If ya don’t know, now ya know: One Republic dropped by MOD yesterday for an interview and performance! Ryan talked about his successes as a songwriter VS his successes in a band, and we showed off some of Zach’s modelling pics!

I guess you deserve to see some photos (here) and video of their 2 performances (here), MAYBE.

(Check out My Date With.. Hedley this Friday at 6:30pm ET! Now, here’s what our winner had to say about the experience…)

This experience that we had is going to be very hard to put into words because this date was probably the most unreal and incredible thing we have ever done in our lives.

It all started with MuchMusic coming to our house. We had all our friends and family here awaiting the moment of truth. Finally they handed us the envelope - originally it said no, and then we saw the limo pull around the corner and we knew that we were actually winning a date with Hedley!

We flew out that weekend to Vancouver, British Columbia. It is one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen in our lives. We got to the hotel and they brought us up to the 32nd floor and surprised us with a room fully decorated with balloons, signed Hedley memorabilia, hair products, t-shirts and more. It was amazing. We were so happy. We were not expecting this.

We then went out and explored the streets of Vancouver a bit, looked around, had our very first taste of sushi and then headed to McDonalds! Tim informed us that we were getting makeovers done! We were so happy because we never expected to get our hair and makeup done at such a phenomenal salon. We felt like princesses. They had the salon closed just for us and we were made to feel so special and important!

The next day was shopping! They surprised us on the corner of the street handing us a Visa and saying we get to go shopping at Parasuco for an outfit! We never had done this before. Everyone was helping us pick out our clothes, gave us their opinions of what looked hot and what didn’t and it truly was an unreal experience having everyone focus on you. We then continued shopping for the remainder of the day.

The last day we knew was Hedley day! The time had come and we were losing our minds. We were waiting for the news of what was going to happen for the day. We were with Tim Deegan, patiently awaiting some sort of signal or call with plans. We were not expecting Hedley to come to our room, but to our surprise there was a knock on the door. I opened it and actually stopped breathing. It was HEDLEY! They ran in screaming our names and it was the most surreal and beautiful thing hearing our names come out of their mouths! Melissa and I could not believe that this was actually happening to us; things like this do not happen to people like us! It was a dream, we couldn’t believe they were actually in our room, touching our stuff, jumping on our beds and talking to us!

They boys told us to get ready because we were going zip lining on Grouse Mountain. Melissa and I actually wanted to throw up when they told us this because we were so nervous but we knew everything would be fine and we were with Hedley so we didn’t care if we had to risk our lives!

A gorgeous old fashioned limo picked us up and brought us to the mountain where we took a gondola up and we were set up with the zip lining gear. The view was ridiculous, it was breath-taking. It was time to zip line, and we were scared. Like, do the cords ever break? We did it though and it was actually so much fun, I got to go with Jacob twice, linking legs, trying to do tricks and attempting to be cool all at the same time! Even if we looked ridiculous up there, it was probably one of best times of our lives and was worth every second.

After zip lining we got to go for dinner with the band. They are not only amazing, talented musicians but they are intelligent, kind and down to earth people. We thought that we would be so scared and not talk at all during the date, but they were very easy to talk to and made us feel so comfortable. We bonded and hope they remember us!

Unfortunately the date had to end, but it was an amazing time and we just want to say thank you MuchMusic for making this all possible and thank you Hedley because we don’t think you realize how much we appreciate this. Dreams do come true, so never give up on what you believe in!

Thanks everyone!

What’s up! How is everyone? My name is Zander and I’m here to be a blog correspondent for the latest news in celebrity gossip, music, movies and all the added extras that come along with those!

Now before you start reading this and think, “Oh great, another blog from another annoying person,” wait! This isn’t going to be your average blog. This is the real deal. I’m not here to tell you that someone looks fat this week. I’m here to tell you who looks amazing this week, who has new music out and many more positive thoughts!

For my first blog entry, I decided to discuss a few different things. First things first, Rihanna is back and hoping to be bigger than ever!

Her new album Rated R is coming out on November 23 and this time, she is taking a whole different approach to things! From hearing a few songs leaked online, her album has an edgier, more rock type sound compared to her three previous albums. The songs aren’t as catchy and easy to sing along with as some of her old #1 hits such as “Disturbia”, “Please Don’t Stop the Music”, “Take A Bow” and of course “Umbrella”, but getting into the music is no task at all!

We all know by now the events that happened last February involving Rihanna and Chris Brown, but this album is bound to prove that Rihanna is back and stronger than she has ever been! Along with the album coming out, Rihanna is also going to be on Good Morning America and 20/20 to have a tell all about her relationship with Chris Brown, the night of the assault and everything in between. She’s also the cover girl for Glamour magazine in which she discretely discusses the Chris Brown situation but not as much as expected in her GMA and 20/20 interviews.

Well everyone, my first blog has definitely been fun. And it most certainly will not be my last! I’ll be back a few times a week writing as much as possible! If anyone has any requests or suggestions of what to blog about, let me know in the comments below!

DJ AM’s bachelor pad is up for sale.

The four-bedroom, 3300 square foot home in Beverly Hills has been put on the market by the late DJ’s estate for a whopping $3.8 million dollars (U.S.).

The price is actually half of what AM paid back in 2007, but as we all know, living in the home of a beloved deceased celebrity has its price.

And just in case you’re considering buying it, AM passed away this past August in his New York City apartment, not his California mansion.

Canadian funnyman Jim Carrey was across the pond for the premiere of his upcoming film - an animated remake of the classic A Christmas Carol.

Jim switched on the Christmas lights at London’s Oxford Circus and chatted with the media. The comedian used the premiere to show off something we don’t see very often – his singing voice.

A Christmas Carol opens this Friday.

If you’re still holding your breath for The Game’s new album, well, you might soon turn blue.

The rapper has tweeted that The R.E.D. Album’s release has been postponed - indefinitely.

He wrote: “Album is Officially pushed back, says Interscope so that I can finish wit Dre without having to rush him, myself or the album. Think R.E.D.”

Big names are expected to appear on The R.E.D. Album include Timbaland, Gucci Mane, Akon and Chris Brown.