Stars to light up D.C. for inauguration

Washington D.C. becomes Hollywood East this weekend, as celebrities descend upon the Capitol for Barack Obama’s inauguration. I’ll be keeping you up to date throughout the weekend on who’s where and doing what, but here’s an early look at where the A-list parties are.

Probably the most Hollywood-laden ball of the week is Tuesday night’s Creative Coalition gala at the Harmon center. Tickets to this ball are $5,000 a pop, Sting is performing, and you can expect Creative Coalition co-presidents Tim Daly and Tony Goldwyn to attend, as well as Adrian Grenier, Anne Hathaway, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Trudie Styler, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Saarsgaard, Connie Britton and more.

Thousands will be at the gala, but if you’re out and about in D.C., try to catch a glimpse of the arrivals for Capitol File magazine’s pre-gala dinner at Donovan House — only about 300 VIPs (celebs and elected officials) are invited.

There’s a long way to go before Tuesday, though: Oprah is throwing a private dinner at a secret location (check back for updates on this one); MoveOn.org is throwing a party Saturday Jan. 17 that will have Rosario Dawson and Michael Stipe in attendance; and a pre-inauguration bash at Ibiza put together by the hip-hop caucus is expected to bring in Mary J. Blige, Common and Nelly.

1. More Entertainment stories
   1. Autistic ballerina dances her way into hearts
      

      In a popular YouTube video, the beaming little ballerina dances an entire four-minute routine seemingly perfectly, matchin...

   2. Every on-screen drink in 'Mad Men' in 5 minutes
   3. See the 'Dancing' stars' most memorable moves
   4. Emmy's biggest snubs? Cranston, Hamm, more
   5. 'Toy Story' toys burn up in prank on mom

Video: Sasha Fierce goes to Washington The big stars for Sunday night are Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez, who will be headlining the DNC Hispanic Caucus Gala at Union Station and Alicia Keys will be at the Four Seasons Georgetown for the Hip-hop Caucus' "Dreams of My Father" inaugural ball.

Get excited for inauguration eve: The Huffington Post is hosting a ball at the Newseum that has a ridiculous guest list: Halle Berry, Sheryl Crow, Tom Hanks, Ed Harris, Ron Howard and too many others to list right here.

Keep checking back over the weekend, this is just an early look. I’ll be bringing you daily updates on everything celebrity taking place in Washington.

Jim and Pam are Valentines
Slideshow: Celebrity Sightings Based on what’s leaked so far, we know that there’s a big surprise in store for Jim and Pam on the “The Office.”

What that surprise is is anyone’s guess at this point, but Jenna Fischer (Pam) spilled some details of the Valentine’s Day episode for Self magazine.

Fisher accepted the magazine’s challenge to leave her BlackBerry behind for one day, and said, “I loved it… I chose the day we shot our Valentine’s Day episode: On the show, Jim and Pam go to lunch with Phyllis and Bob Vance … it turned out to be one of the most fun shoots of the year.”

Donna Martin returns
It took long enough, but Tori Spelling finally confirmed that she’s returning to “90210” and her former co-star Jennie Garth says she’s happy about working together again.

“We’re very excited,” Garth told Life & Style at the People’s Choice Awards in L.A. on Jan. 7. “I couldn’t be more excited to have anyone from the original cast walk through the door. I just miss them. It’s not the same for me without them, and I’m sure it’s not the same for a lot of the fans of the original show.”

Garth adds that Jason Priestley, Brandon Walsh on the original show, is returning, not to act, but to help out behind the camera. “He’s coming to direct,” reveals Garth.

Weekend box office
If you’re looking to kill time before Tuesday and you want to help me improve my as-of-now losing prediction record at the 2009 box office, you’ll be among those who are going to see “My Bloody Valentine.”

It opens in about 2,500 theaters, and according to the studio estimates that are floating out there, “Valentine,” which is offered in 3-D, is actually not expected to come in first — it’s expected to come in second after Clint Eastwood's “Gran Torino.”

I don’t see this happening because forecasting generally isn’t accurate when it comes to horror films (or at least I’m hoping it’s not in this case). The other notable releases, “Hotel For Dogs,” and “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” both open in 3,000 theaters.

More on President-elect Barack Obama | Tori Spelling

Courtney Hazlett delivers the Scoop Monday through Friday on msnbc.com.