Sideshow: Maestro Muti off to Chicago

Riccardo Muti

has been named music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

The Italian maestro has signed a five-year contract starting in the 2010-11 season.

Muti, 66, was music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1980 to 1992. From 1986 to 2005, he was music director of Teatro alla Scala in Milan and has spent the last few years as a guest conductor. In 2007, he was given a role with the New York Philhamonic much like that of a principal guest conductor.

"The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, after an absence of 32 years, reentered my life last September, and the immediate connection with the wonderful musicians of the CSO made a very powerful impression," Muti said in a statement. "This musical strength just kept growing during our successful European tour. Sometimes when you least expect it, the timing and the situation unite."

- Peter Dobrin

Ryan Reynolds

, who was terrific in the role of three different yet equally befuddled men in

The Nines

, has become engaged to

Scarlett Johansson

, star of

Black Dahlia

and

The Other Boleyn Girl

. Ryan has never married, though he was once engaged to

Alanis Morissette

.

Entertainment and gossip TV newsmagazine

Entertainment Tonight

has uncovered

Michelle Obama

's "secret celebrity crush."

In an interview set to air in two parts last night and tonight, presidential candidate

Barack Obama

's wife 'fesses up that (like millions of men and women across the globe) she adores "

Will Smith

."

Says Mrs. Obama, "I think it's the ears. I'm drawn to the ears. Obviously!"

Tom Hanks

favors

Barack Obama

in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Hanks used his MySpace.com page to announce his support for the Illinois Democrat.

"As an official celebrity, I know my endorsement has just made your mind up for you," the 51-year-old actor says in a short video titled, "Beware: Celebrity Endorsement."

"History with a capital 'H' is going to be made this November, no matter who the president-elect is. I want Barack Obama to be president of this country, a country that once said people with his skin color were only three-fifths of a human being."

Even as the world's top forensic anthropologists and gossipologicians continue to pore over

Tom Cruise

's historic chat Friday with

Oprah

, searching for sub rosa meanings and hidden prophecies, the second part of the interview was broadcast yesterday.

If on Friday Oprah asked Tom tough questions about his marriage and his religion, yesterday she was all sweetness. She paid tribute to Tom's 25-year service to Hollywood, playing videotaped messages from

Steven Spielberg

,

Jamie Foxx

,

Renee Zellweger

and

Dustin Hoffman

.

Tom is never just content. "How can I keep challenging myself more? There's always something else," said Tom, clearly lusting for more adventure, more cinematic art, and more service to his nation and its people.

The New York Daily News has microwaved, re-sauced and re-served rumors that

Katie Holmes

, 29, will return to the stage for the first time since high school for a part in a new Broadway production of

Arthur Miller

's heartrending post-WWII drama

All My Sons

.

She may hold the key to

Tom Cruise

's heart, but Katie would have to hold her own against two formidable thesps: 1967 Harvard alumn

John Lithgow

(magna cum laude) and Oscar-winner

Dianne Wiest

.

Following the success of

Robert Downey Jr.

's solidly studly turn in

Iron Man

, Marvel Studios yesterday announced it would release

Iron Man 2

on April 30, 2010.

The lil' studio that could (transform Marvel comic books into great flicks) also revealed four other films in the pipeline:

Thor

, due out June 4, 2010;

The First Avenger: Captain America

, May 6, 2011;

The Avengers

, July 2011; and

Ant-Man

, which is in development but has no release date.

And Marvel's

The Incredible Hulk

, starring

Edward Norton

, is due out June 13.

Nine Inch Nails

, two months after giving away nine songs from its instrumental album

Ghosts I-IV

for free on NIN.com, is giving away its latest studio album,

The Slip

, in its entirety as a download.

NIN singer and songwriter

Trent Reznor

writes on the band's site that the album is "a thank you to our fans for your continued support."

Reznor is no fan of the recording industry, which he has said overcharges for CDs. During a concert he once encouraged fans to get back at the industry. "Steal, steal and steal some more," he said.

The British press is outraged by a report in the London Sun claiming

Simon Cowell

, 48, the most important

and

most venomous figure in music since

Antonio Salieri

, has persuaded authorities across England to give him carte blanche to park his $400,000 Rolls-Royce anywhere he likes - a privilege enjoyed only by

Queen Elizabeth II

.

Let's hope this parking violation counts as high treason: Off with Si's head!

No remarks from Mr. Cowell.

A judge has approved

Destiny Hope Cyrus

' application to legally change her name to

Miley Ray Cyrus

.

silk autumn blossoms

sun in feathered decades still

hip dance floor mover

So writes a music fan only identified as

Nikki

, who composed this 5-7-5 syllable verse about

John Mayer's Hairdo

and sent it to People mag as an answer to John Mayer the musician's challenge that citizens give him feedback about his new, '80s-inspired haircut in a format taken from Japanese haiku.

"I want everyone who reads People magazine to know how important this haircut is," Mayer said on May Day. "It's important because it draws people together," he said of his hair's magical, totemic powers. "Feel it. Run your fingers through my hair, and tell me what it feels like." (

Eeew!

)

My favorite: "Big head, feathered hair/ Ego and publicity /Silken confidence," by

Ang

.