International singing sensation Charice welcomes the new month with grieving and sorrowful news. Her estranged father, Ricky Pempengco, was killed yesterday, October 31, in their hometown of San Pedro, Laguna Province, in the Philippines. The young singer was quick to withdraw her appearances in the upcoming ‘David Foster and Friends’ concert on Wednesday and Thursday in Singapore.

“I am not going to be there to be part of David Foster and Friends concert. I have to go back to the Philippines as soon as possible to be with my family,” Charice posted on Twitter.

40-year old Pempengco was stabbed with an ice pick on the chest and back after he and the suspect bumped onto each other at a local store. Witnesses say the suspect, who was allegedly intoxicated at the time, didn’t rest until he was sure that the victim was dead. Laguna police Chief Sr. Supt Gilbert Cruz said that a manhunt is underway with a PhP 20,000 reward for reliable tips about the suspect’s whereabouts or for his head. The motive for the crime is still unclear as police have established that the suspect and Pempengco have no prior connection whatsoever.

Charice have not seen her father in years after her mother, Raquel, left him taking her and her younger brother with her. Pempengco allegedly has a history of domestic violence and wife battery, but this did not deter the 19-year old singing sensation from expressing grief over his murder and anger directed at his slayer.

“I loved him and I will still love him,” she tweeted. “He’s still my Dad after all.”

Charice had a difficult time growing up. Aside from physical and verbal conflicts between her parents, the singer had to endure financial hardships before breaking out into the highly competitive recording and performing scene. After earning significant exposure in the Ellen Degeneres Show, Charice soon found herself as Oprah Winfrey’s newly discovered talent and became her stepping stone as she worked her way into acclaimed composer David Foster’s radar. Since then, not only has she performed alongside Foster all over the world, but she has also secured a recurring spot in the hit TV musical series, ‘Glee’, as Filipina exchange student and glee club rival, Sunshine Corazon.

If you’ve missed last week’s season premiere of ‘Glee’, you can catch it via Sesame Street, thanks to The Muppets and the letter G.

From the sudden a-capella numbers, to their picture perfect imitation of the annoying but talented club diva Rachel Berry and the flawless depiction of Will Schuester’s butt chin, the Muppets could very well replace the human characters from the popular Fox dramedy series.

So how did the Muppets gleek out? Muppet Schuester gave his classic pep talk on working and singing as one and how to choose a material for their upcoming culminating competition, the “Gee-gionals”. And as usual, Muppet Berry was her old diva self while Muppet Sue Sylvester continued to trash the club, complete in her tracksuit and all of her ‘Gee-rios’ glory.

The funny skit closed with the Muppets’ rendition of ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’, the one song that ‘Glee’ should be singing these days, in the hopes that things would turn for them after a disappointing and heavy hearted sophomore season.

Even without a clear go signal from Oxygen that a second season is in order, the cable station still announced yesterday, September 26, that online auditions for ‘The Glee Project’ are already underway, while details for casting calls in New York, Chicago and Nashville are to be announced later.

For those who don’t reside in the cities aforementioned and are ages 18 and older, they can upload their audition material on thegleeprojectcasting.com. All entries can be viewed on the website. The top rated and most viewed audition clips can be easily accessed by navigating through the site’s homepage.

Show execs have listed an array of songs from which aspirants can choose as their material, ranging from contemporary to classic, sure to fit any vocal range, vocal type and their preferred genre and style. The choice of songs include John Legend’s ‘Ordinary People’, Jason Mraz’s ‘I’m Yours’, the classic hit from the movie ‘Ghost’ – ‘Unchained Melody’ popularized by the Righteous Brothers, another popular OST – ‘Out Here on My Own’, the theme from ‘Fame’, Carrie Underwood’s ‘Before He Cheats’, ‘Drops of Jupiter’ by Train, ‘This Kiss’ by Faith Hill and Lady Gaga’s ‘The Edge of Glory’.

‘Moneyball’ star Jonah Hill paid Jimmy Fallon a visit in his nightly ABC talk show where the two chatted about baseball, working with Brad Pitt, and of all things, an impending face-off with ‘Glee’ star Matthew Morrison.

“I’ve got it in my head that I don’t like this guy. I am sure he is a good human being, but you don’t throw a dude under the bus,” Hill candidly told Fallon, referring to the Fox upfronts event last summer where he was there to promote his as-of-yet untitled show with Hannibal Buress while Morrison was – as expected – also present as part of ‘Glee’. “He’s a big timer at Fox and I’m the new kid,” he added.

Morrison played along by releasing a YouTube video that aired on ‘Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’ the following Monday. “I heard that Jonah said I should bring my sh– next time. Well, guess what? This is next time. You think I can’t sing my way out of this?” he said on the video which was recorded while he was taping an episode for ‘Glee’.

And as usual, he danced and sang on the set and even threw a challenge for Hill (who just lost a lot of weight by the way): “Pick a date and I will meet you on ‘Late Night’ and we will settle this like men.” Pretty darn lame if you’d ask me, honestly, I can’t wait for Morrison to get into a fist fight without belting a note or busting a move.

Morrison even adds, “Be very afraid. Nobody messes with someone from musical theater. … This just got real, man.” Really Matthew, this is the best you can come up with? Even if this was a joke, I’d say it again – pretty darn lame, just like your character on ‘Glee’.

McKinley High’s New Directions glee club has been struggling to bag Nationals two years in a row now, and with about half of the club graduating this year, perhaps Mr. Schuester and his troop of outcasts should take a lesson or two from primetime TV’s most “adorkable” ‘New Girl’, Zooey Deschanel, on how to win, if not the National title, at least in the ratings war.

Deschanel’s ‘New Girl’, Fox’s new comedy offering where her sweet and dorky character, Jess (who loves to sing to herself a lot), just moved out of her cheating boyfriend’s apartment and tries to settle in with three guys, was watched by more than 10.1 million people, with the majority of the viewership share coming from the young demographic, the audience age bracket that makes the television business thrive and alive. The numbers are impressive considering that Fox made the show’s pilot episode available via iTunes for two weeks prior to its premiere.

Whereas its lead-in show, the season 3 premiere of ‘Glee’, was watched by just 8.9 million viewers , a 35 percent fall from its season 2 premiere which rounded up a total of 12.5 million viewers and its highest rating to date. Needless to say, ‘New Girl’ didn’t need any lead-in help – at least for this week – from Rachel Berry and the rest of the Gleeks.

But ‘Glee’ still has a saving grace though, according to Fox, many of the show’s fans record the show and watch it later, a statistic that Nielsen doesn’t immediately tally.

The trending decline in ratings for ‘Glee’ started to be apparent towards the end of the show’s second season, where it was watched by an average of only 9 million viewers per episode. Aside from a lackluster and lack of focus sophomore season, Glee’s singing and dancing seemed to be no match for the CBS crime series ‘NCIS’, which, for its season premiere aired on the same day and time slot as that of ‘Glee’, was watched by about 20 million viewers, with a majority viewership share coming from the 50 and older age bracket.

Diana Agron, better known to Gleeks as cheerleading captain Quinn Fabray, lets her hair down in a Flaunt magazine photo shoot, where instead of donning her trademark Cheerios uniform, she is clad in a D&G bodysuit filled with sequins while sexily clinging onto a velvety curtain, posing and looking a-la Marilyn Monroe with a darker and more sophisticated theme.

Apart from taking a 180-degree turn from her wholesome ‘Glee’ image – at least for this magazine – she also shares to the readers of Flaunt how inspiring and energizing and at the same time, grueling her current schedule is, which involves multiple shows in the US and the UK as part of the Glee Live tour, and how refreshing it has been now that her luscious blonde locks have been chopped off.

“It’s difficult work being part of something so widespread and global, for sure. The constant flights, the dizzying two shows-a-day schedule, the autographs, the interviews, but at the end of the day, when the reward is changing people’s perspective of what’s normal, and giving a voice to a part of America that still needs one, you almost never want to go to sleep,” she explains. She continues, “I’m the happiest that I’ve ever been. Ever. High school, middle school—I’ve loved every part of getting older and growing, but I definitely think that this is the most I’ve ever felt like myself and that I’m being treated like who I feel I am.”

She also notes that while she appreciates how their fans try to capture every moment from every Glee Live show with whatever gadget they have with them, nothing could replace watching every performance live and witnessing every response and interaction from both the stars and the audience with your own eyes, rather than from a camera lens or a video footage. “To me, that’s putting yourself back in front of the TV. You are part of it; you feel the energy. You’ll never see or feel that from a video, ever,” she emphasizes.

As for her summery hair-do which we first saw on the season finale of ‘Glee’, she tells the magazine that the comments she’s been receiving make her feel that her new do was a dramatic change, “It’s almost like putting on the glasses and all of a sudden you’re smarter. It’s a very interesting and lovely observation that I keep having of how people treat me now that my hair’s different,” she says.

And while reports have swirled that three of her co-stars (Lea Michele, Chris Colfer and Cory Monteith) will surely be graduating from McKinley High at the end of season three of ‘Glee’, her future in the show’s fourth season is uncertain at the moment, but her future in show business seems promising. Just recently, she starred in the film ‘I am Number Four’ alongside now ex-boyfriend Alex Pettyfer, with whom she broke up in February because she reportedly felt “terrified” after receiving threatening phone calls from the actor. And before she struck gold on ‘Glee’, she had directed a music video for an indie act, had guest spots on ‘CSI: New York’ and the now defunct ‘Heroes’, and she also writes scripts. After ‘Glee’ became a global hit, not only did she and her ‘Glee’ character become household names, but she has also added guest appearances on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ and performances on The White House to her resume.

The past couple of months has been a roller coaster of press releases for the hit dramedy ‘Glee’. After show creator Ryan Murphy revealed that lead stars Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and Chris Colfer would be graduating at the end of season three, therefore being totally scratched off the series, co-exec producer Brad Falchuk then told Comic-Con attendees last July that they are exploring the possibility of creating a spin-off starring the three actors. And just recently, we learned that the spin-off idea may not even materialize after all.

The future of the new show is bleak for many reasons, but primarily because they plan to ground the story’s setting to New York City, the Mecca of performing arts, with The Juilliard School as the pivot of the story, and Colfer, Monteith and Michele have expressed reluctance on the big move. ‘Glee’ is currently being shot in California.

Insiders have also said that the idea for the spin-off has been relayed to execs of the Fox network, which airs ‘Glee’ on Tuesday nights, but there are no offers on the table as of yet, adding more doubt to the prospects of the show. Fox was asked for comment but declined to speak about the matter.

The third season of ‘Glee’ is set to premiere on September 20 on Fox.

Tony Award winning actress Idina Menzel might be returning to ‘Glee’ next season, with the operative word ‘might’ being used heavily in this piece.

Menzel played the recurring role of Shelby Corcoran in the show’s pilot season and had a roller coaster story arc that consisted of being the director of the McKinley High glee club’s archrival (Vocal Adrenaline), Rachel Berry’s biological mother, and as that season came to a close, she eventually became the adoptive mother of Quinn and Puck’s love child (Baby Beth). Oh, and did we mention that Shelby had a one-time heavy make-out session with Will Schuester which cost him his relationship with Emma?

With all that brouhaha and drama, plus the fact that season three will be Lea Michele’s last (Rachel Berry, the straight A student, member of the celibacy club and the ultimate glee club diva is graduating this year) makes Menzel’s re-appearance in the show all the more perfect in timing, but remember, we said that she ‘might’ re-appear, keep in mind that this is still all just a possibility, a big one, that is.

Apparently, she is “in talks” – as a FOX rep would put it – with the producers for a possible return, and not just for a single-episode guesting, but a real recurring appearance stretching from 10 to 12 episodes in the upcoming season. If this pushes through, season three of ‘Glee’ definitely shapes up to be a much-anticipated one.

Meanwhile, the ‘Glee’ kids are preparing for their big screen debut with the release of ‘Glee: The 3D Concert Movie’, but it won’t be ‘Glee’ without Sue Sylvester taking a piece of the action by releasing an ad to stop the “tone deaf howler monkeys” (nice one, Sue) from gracing the silver screen three-dimensionally (and even two-dimensionally).

“I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand looking at their little satanic faces in 2-D, much less 3D,” Sue says in the video. Something tells me that there might be some who would concur with Sue.

Reports have swirled in the past few weeks that the upcoming season of ‘Glee’, which is the show’s third, will be the last for some of its stars, as they are to make a graceful and realistic exit as members of McKinley High’s class of 2012. And in those past weeks, the names of Cory Monteith, Lea Michele Diana Agron and Chris Colfer have surfaced as those who will be graduating in season 3.

Today, Ryan Murphy confirms to The Hollywood Reporter that Finn (Monteith), Rachel (Michele) and Kurt (Colfer) will surely don the cap and toga this season as they make the natural transition from seniors to well, whatever future has in store for their characters.

“You can keep them on the show for six years and people will criticize you for not being realistic, or you can be really true to life and say when they started the show they were very clearly sophomores and they should graduate at the end of their senior year. We made that decision and I involved Chris and Lea and they thought that was a good idea. They both trust the writing and trust me and felt it would be great to have an open and closed experience for them to go out while they were on top,” Murphy told THR.

So how about the members of the McKinley High faculty? “We’ve got Matthew Morrison and Jane Lynch who will stay and be the male and female lynchpins of the series, but I think the fun thing about the show is it’s a celebration of youth and talent,” the series co-creator further explained.

As for the future of the graduating ‘Gleeks’, it seems as if their story ends there. They will be written off the show for good and let them leave with a bang, making room for newcomers – freshmen, sophomores and even repeaters (it’s very likely that Brittany might stay for another year) – to shine the way the pioneer stars of the show did. “I think that just like with the original cast, I think finding those young unknown people and giving them an opportunity to break into the business and become stars is a really fun and exciting thing and is the spirit of the series.” And that’s the direction season 4, with most of its original stars gone, is clearly headed.

Lea Michele, who as mentioned, was made aware of her departure from the show was in no way disappointed, if for anything, she was even optimistic, at least that what her tweet meant: “To Gleeks everywhere, you’re in my heart now and forever. Love u all!!! This is just the beginning!!”. She also added, “We always knew we’d graduate in real time. It’s all part of the plan and it’s all good! It’s going to make Season 3 amazing!!!” Not just amazing, but perhaps more poignant than the previous two seasons and hopefully, more coherent, more structured and more meaningful than last season’s roller coaster of disappointment and blandness.

Gleeks all over North America unite, as ‘Glee: The 3D Concert Movie’ can be seen two days ahead of its scheduled theatrical premiere (which is on August 12). So if you’re that kind of gleek that likes to get ahead of everyone else (a-la Rachel Berry), then you should log on now to the official Glee/Fox website to snag yourself and your friends tickets to this advanced screening which will be held on August 10 in 291 cinemas across the US and Cory Monteith’s very own Canada.

But the hype doesn’t stop there. Tickets to the special screening will include an equally special treat for all loyal (and eager) gleeks out there. A special gift pack full of ‘Glee’ merchandise will be dished out for free for every ticket purchase. The gift pack includes almost every common ‘Glee’ novelty item out there like a lanyard, bracelet, hat, 3D glasses (which you have to use during the screening, or not, unless this movie has special riveting effects like the ones on Harry Potter or Transformers, which we highly doubt. But this thing’s in 3D for which we really don’t see the point, so still, don the glasses or suffer), a logo lapel pin and hey, a backpack!

Tickets, priced at $30 each, will go on sale beginning today, July 13, but you have to hurry as these things go by real quick. You can also buy your tickets by logging on to the show’s official Facebook fansite or via gleeksneak3d.com.