Yesterday's announcement of a Royal pregnancy from Kate Middleton has led to a flurry of speculation about the Royal baby.

Perhaps the most interesting speculation so far has revolved around Middleton being admitted to hospital for deep stomach pains. A report from the Telegraph theorized this could be a sign of twins:

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What makes the Editor of Vogue qualified to be the Ambassador? Hundreds of thousands of dollars, to start.

President Obama is reportedly considering appointing Vogue  Editor-in-chief Anna Wintour as the U.S. Ambassador to either Great Britain or France, according to ABC News. 

Wintour, who was born in England, was a major fundraiser for the President during the campaign, hosting multiple fundraising events.

She's considered a "bundler," an individual who uses their connections to raise huge sums of money for a candidate. 

Wintour has been a longtime Obama fundraiser.

She raised between $100,000 and $200,000 from her friends for his 2008 run for the presidency, and this time raised at least a half of a million dollars for the re-election bid, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Personally, Wintour has given $99,250 to Democrats since the 2008 cycle. 

Bundlers frequently wind up with diplomatic posts like these.

Telecom executive Thomas Gips was named ambassador to South Africa after bundling money in 2008. OpenSecrets has a big list of other donors/bundlers who got ambassadorships in 2009.

This is far from an exclusively Democratic Party thing.

Gov. Chris Christie got his job as U.S. Attorney for the State of New Jersey after being a Bush bundler in 2000, and appointing bundlers to easy ambassadorships is very common.

Representative-elect Anna Wagner of Missouri was a Republican fundraiser for Bush, and that got her the Ambassadorship for Luxembourg.

One thing to bear in mind is that the ambassador to France does not need to be a particularly adept foreign policy professional. It's not hard to maintain good relations with France.  That being said, as the chief of a major publication, there's no reason Wintour wouldn't be as qualified as anyone else.

This isn't the ambassadorship to China, Iraq, Libya or any sort of country where diplomatic relations requires training. 

Rewarding high profile donors with these positions is a classic way to reward well connected supporters. Indeed, a lot of the skills needed to raise that kind of scratch — graciousness, charisma, personality — are the exact kind of skills needed to serve as Ambassador to a friendly nation.  

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Johnny Depp is rumored to have bought a lavish 20,000-square-foot mansion in Nashville for $17.5 million, according to The Real Estalker, a celebrity real estate gossip blog.

This tidbit comes from one of The Real Estalker's anonymous sources. There are no property records or contracts to show it's a done deal.

But the house was so wild that we couldn't resist taking a peek inside.

It has four bedrooms, nine bathrooms, and sits on nearly 48 acres of land.

Depp bought another mansion earlier this year in Hollywood for his ex, Vanessa Paradis. That beauty cost him $4.4 million.

Welcome to Franklin, Tenn.

The house was built in 2001.

The current owners are asking $919 per square foot.

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Disney lost its ongoing dispute Monday with "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" series producer.

The 9th Circuit Court denied the mouse house's request for a new trial regarding its $319 million dispute with Celadon who produced the ABC hit.

Back in 2010, Celadon accused Disney of underpaying them for the show by charging merchandise distribution expenses. In response, Celadon was awarded nearly $270 million for a breach in its license agreement before $50 million in interest charges were added.

Disney made motions for a new trial in 2010; however, they were later denied.

In its fourth quarter SEC filing, The Walt Disney Company announced they didn't forsee the Millionaire lawsuit affecting the company. 

"Although we cannot predict the ultimate outcome of this lawsuit, the Company believes the jury’s verdict is in error and is vigorously pursuing its position on appeal, notice of which was filed by the Company on January 14, 2011 ... On October 10, 2012, oral argument on the appeals was held. The Company has determined that it does not have a probable loss under the applicable accounting standard relating to probability of loss for recording a reserve with respect to this litigation and therefore has not recorded a reserve."

According to the ruling, two factors in a vague contract hurt Disney: 

• It never outwardly explained merchandising deduction costs
• It had a difficult-to-interpret network licensing claim that said Celador was to receive sums from both ABC and Buena Vista Television (BVT) and then solely BVT.

You can read the full ruling HERE.

SEE ALSO: 13 things you don't know about 'The Walking Dead' >

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Some are blessed with the come-hither eyes and powerful voice boxes to become global pop sensations.

Others are blessed with facial features uncannily like global pop sensations — like Michaela Weeks, who has earned 300,000 pounds ($483,000) as a Britney Spears impersonator, reports British newspaper, The Sun.

Like Spears, Michaela started her performing career at age 16, when she entered a look-alike competition.

The 24-year-old former waitress lost, the newspaper says, but was invited back the following year — when she won her category, and was soon signed to several agencies and performing a tribute act around the world.

Michaela landed in a music video last year for British indie band The Kaiser Chiefs (alongside Lady Gaga and Beyonce impersonators), and in 2010, even graced the official website of the real Spears, when she was selected among other look-alikes for a special on Fuse TV network.

"I bought my first house when I was 19," Michaela told The Sun. "I couldn't believe how well paid just looking like someone else was, and even now I imagine how different my life would have been if Britney had never made it. Being a lookalike has allowed me to spend tens of thousands on sports cars, two houses, clothes, shoes and my pedigree chihuahua, Charlie."

But just as you can get rich off resembling a beloved celebrity, your fortunes can founder when that celebrity stops being so beloved. 2007 was a bad year for Britney (a few stints in rehab, a shaved head, a custody battle, a child abuse investigation, and a dazed performance at the MTV Video Music Awards), so it was a bad year for those who make money off her stardom.

Michaela told The Sun that she was forced to sell her sports car, fell behind on her mortgage, and went through a winter without heat. But thankfully business picked up with the release of Spears' album "Circus" in 2010. And sometimes bad news for Spears is actually a blessing for Michaela — like when Spears stops working out and gains weight, so Michaela can "slack off a bit and enjoy snacking."

Ron Bartels, owner of Lookalikes-USA, who's been in the impersonator business for 28 years, is surprised that Michaela is getting much work at all. He says that he gets just one or two Britney Spears requests a year, when it used to be between 30 and 50.

Bartels once had a Spears impersonator whom he booked across Asia and Europe, but even then she was earning just $20,000-a-year — a nice salary supplement for a woman who waitressed as her day job.

But a couple of Spears impersonators have made headlines in recent years, such as Derrick Barry, who made Sharon Osbourne squeal in 2008 when he performed "I'm a Slave 4 U" in drag on "America's Got Talent," and Lorna Bliss, who gyrated on the "X Factor" judges' table in September in a fishnet body stocking.

A professional resembler also has better prospects across the Atlantic, Bartels points out. "England has a really huge lookalike market. It's a real fad over there, the doppelgangers," he says. "I don't know why, but it is."

One former British waitress, for example, now fetches $1,000 an hour for her resemblance to Kate Middleton.

Presidential impersonators are the real cash cows, Bartels has found, because they have guaranteed mega-fame for at least four years and get more play with big budget corporations, as opposed to bar mitzvahs. Bartels had a Bill Clinton look-alike who pulled in $2.5 million over a year and a half.

Weeks would likely see a big spike in demand, though, if Spears were to (pop gods forbid!) prematurely die. Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra look-alikes saw their bookings multiply by three, four and even five times after those pop icons departed, according to Bartels. But sometimes a tragic death is bad for business (just ask any one-time impersonator of Dale Earnhardt or Princess Diana).

Even if requests for solo Spears acts are minimal in the U.S., she does get some play when customers request whole groups, say Bartels. Groups like "famous pretty blondes" or "famous in the 90s."

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The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show airs tonight. 

The fashion show is the event of the year, and models work out and diet for weeks in advance of the show. Each model has about three people assigned to her: a hairdresser, make-up artist and assistant.

When the show taped a month ago, pictures taken from backstage began to leak. 

See how Victoria's Secret models get ready for the big event. 

Here's the beautiful Lindsey Ellington getting ready.

The scene from backstage is a frenzy of action.

Miranda Kerr gets her hair done.

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In March, James Cameron became the first person to plummet nearly seven miles to the deepest known spot on Earth in a 43-inch wide underwater sphere. 

The goal of the expedition, called the Deepsea Challenge, was to collect samples and video footage from the sea floor. 

The Oscar-winning director had to get flexibly fit in order to squeeze his 6-foot-2 frame into the compact personal craft. 

Holly Bik, a postdoctoral researcher in marine genomics at the University of California Davis tweeted some news about how he accomplished it from a panel discussion at the American Geophysical Union conference today, Dec. 4: 

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New York's Gabriel Sherman reports that Fox News is scaling back airtime for Republican pundit Karl Rove, in what appears to be a reprimand for Rove's meltdown during the network's live election broadcast. 

Sources told Sherman that Fox News chief Roger Ailes has ordered his staff to bench Rove and his fellow GOP pundit Dick Morris, two of the network's most vocal partisan voices whose predictions turned out to be spectacularly wrong. According to Sherman, producers must now get permission before booking Rove or Morris on Fox shows. 

The move comes as Fox takes steps to rehab its image in the wake of Republican defeats this November. Rove, in particular, has been widely mocked by members of both parties, both for his onscreen tantrum and for the abysmal performance of his American Crossroads super PAC. 

According to some reports, Rove's meltdown angered Ailes, who had explicitly warned his staff to hold it together on Election Night. 

Now here's why Rove could be the first casualty in the Republican Civil War > 

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The fiscal cliff has gone mainstream.

Andrew Kaczynski points us to this new Simpsons clip of Springfield billionaire C. Montgomery Burns explaining the fiscal cliff.

Here's Mr. Burns:

SEE ALSO: The Ultimate Guide To The Fiscal Cliff

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hugh Hefner and Crystal Harris are again taking steps toward the altar, more than a year after the centerfold canceled their previous engagement and was branded a "runaway bride" in Playboy.

The couple obtained a marriage license Tuesday at a courthouse in Beverly Hills.

Harris called off the couple's previous engagement in June 2011, prompting Playboy to affix "runaway bride" stickers to an issue introducing her as Mrs. Hefner.

Celebrity website TMZ first reported the couple's license. It says they reunited earlier this year and plan to wed on New Year's Eve.

LA County Recorder Public Information Officer Elizabeth Knox says the license is valid for 90 days.

The Playboy founder has been married twice before. His spokeswoman Teri Thomerson didn't immediately return a message Tuesday.

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Britons woke up yesterday morning to gleeful headlines declaring that the former Kate Middleton, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, is pregnant.

It was, of course, something British tabloids already knew — every time the Duchess turned down a glass of wine in favor of water or happened to rest her hand on her stomach, she was instantly and obviously pregnant.

But this time around, she actually is. However, the happy couple was forced to explain to the salivating British press much earlier than they had wanted to after Kate, possibly between six and eight weeks pregnant, was rushed to hospital with severe morning sickness. And that’s got everyone speculating in a totally new direction — could she possibly be having twins?

The medical term for what Kate’s going through is “hyperemesis gravidarum,” and it’s typically caused by an uptick in baby-growing hormones; it’s also more common among women who are pregnant with multiples. However, The Daily Mail, normally one of Britain’s most excitable tabloids, had to go and rain on everyone’s baby parade when it cautioned that only a “tiny excess” of women who deal with the condition actually go on to have multiples. (So maybe hold off on buying those “Thing 1” and “Thing 2” onesies.)

But it could still happen — and in the event that Kate does have twins, or even triplets, who gets to ascend the throne? According to Josh Voorhies at Slate, “it’ll be a flat-out race down the royal birth canal” — meaning that whoever gets born first gets the crown. Voorhies also highlighted that under Britain’s new succession laws, it doesn’t matter if the firstborn is a boy or a girl; British Commonwealth leaders agreed in 2011 that males and females have equal rights to the throne.

But there’s another wrinkle! According to Britain’s NHS, just about half of the twins and nearly all of the triplets born in the UK were delivered via caesarian section — so the future King or Queen of England could actually come down to doctor’s choice.

More From Mental_Floss:

What Causes Morning Sickness?

If You Touch A Baby Bird, Will Its Mother Really Abandon It?

4 Scandals Juicier Than Prince Harry’s Strip Billiards

What Happened To Marie Antoinette’s Children?

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"The Hobbit" has a lot to live up to when it comes out later this month.

The near $250 million budget of Peter Jackson's prequel to the famed "Lord of the Rings" trilogy will set the precedent for the next two sequels for both MGM and Warner Brothers.

However, it's not just Jackson's films that are breaking the bank.

The price at which it costs to produce some of Hollywood's biggest box office blockbusters – and flops – has risen drastically in the last few years. 

Next year, "Iron Man 3," "Oz the Great and Powerful," and "The Lone Ranger" are among the films with budgets north of $200 million. 

We turned to IMDB to find some of the priciest films to ever produce and then formed our own list after adjusting for inflation.

We've also included the original reported and estimated budgets for comparison. A few franchises make it on the list twice.

[TIE] 25. "2012" (2009): $216 million*

Original estimated budget:$200 million

Worldwide Gross: $769.7 million

*All budget estimates have been adjusted for inflation.

[TIE] 25. "Terminator Salvation" (2009): $216 million

Original estimated budget:$200 million

Worldwide gross: $371.5 million

[TIE] 25. "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" (2009): $216 million

Original estimated budget:$200 million

Worldwide gross:$836.3 million

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The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show airs tonight at 10 p.m. on CBS.

This year's event, which had a circus theme, was one of the most elaborate ever. We were there when they taped the show last month and have exclusive images 

The show started with a full-on circus, complete with acrobats, a sword-swallower and a man on stilts. Justin Bieber, Rihanna and Bruno Mars performed.

Despite the huge production, the focus was on the 40 gorgeous models who walked the runway.

Adriana Lima sizzled in red, while Alessandra Ambrosio looked amazing just months after giving birth.

Other favorites like Erin Heatherton, Doutzen Kroes and Karlie Kloss also walked.

Victoria's Secret's Fashion Show program for 2012.

At the Armory on Lexington between 26th St. and 24th St. a Nor'easter struck Manhattan earlier on the day of show time. But that didn't stop people from showing up.

Security was tight.

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While more than 30 women walk the Victoria's Secret runway each year, the brand highlights a few "Angels" whom it grooms to be superstar ambassadors. 

The brand's current favorites are Alessandra Ambrosio, Miranda Kerr and, of course, Adriana Lima. They replaced former icons like Tyra Banks, Gisele Bundchen, and Heidi Klum. 

During its annual Fashion Show, Victoria's Secret made it very clear whom its grooming to be the next superstar: 24-year-old Candice Swanepoel.

Ambrosio and Lima are now 31 and Kerr is 29. While they're still young and beautiful by most standards, that's practically retiring age for a model. 

Swanepoel was the only model to get her own segment on the hour-long CBS special. The piece went into her childhood in South Africa, and how she was discovered (she first acted as a stand-in for the other Victoria's Secret models.) 

"Candice has become a superstar," a creative director raved to the camera. She does have more accolades than many other Victoria's Secret models, with Vogue, Elle, and GQ covers under her belt. 

But some don't see Swanepoel as an appropriate role model. A photo of her looking frighteningly thin went viral last year after someone posted it to Reddit with the caption "makes me want to puke." 

Regardless, the segment highlighting Swanepoel during the most important marketing event of the year shows that Victoria's Secret is serious about making her a major face of the brand. 

Don't be surprised if Swanepoel ends up modeling the million-dollar Fantasy Bra next year. 

DON'T MISS: Photos From The 2012 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show >

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The famous Victoria's Secret Fashion Show aired tonight and included a calendar-themed segment. 

A model represented each month. There was a Valentine for February, a bride for June and a cheerleader for September. 

But when the show skipped from October's witch to December's Santa, Twitter erupted in confusion. 

"What happened to November? Is this a new calendar system I should know about?" tweeted one viewer. 

We were at the show's taping last month and saw Karlie Kloss in a Native American costume for November. 

But after photos of the show began to leak, Victoria's Secret began getting heat for the headdress Kloss was modeling. Some felt it was disrespectful to Native American culture. 

After the snafu, Victoria's Secret released this statement: 

"We are sorry that the Native American headdress replica used in our recent fashion show has upset individuals. We sincerely apologize as we absolutely had no intention to offend anyone. Out of respect, we will not be including the outfit in any broadcast, marketing materials nor in any other way."

Thus, there was no Miss November in the fashion show. 

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Good morning, Adland. Here's what you need to know today:

• Ryan Seacrest seems to be everywhere. He's a TV host, radio personality, as a producer is responsible for shows like "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" and "Shas of Sunset," and has extensive deals with brands like P&G, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft. But that isn't enough for the 37-year-old. Seacrest just bought a marketing company, Civic Entertainment Group, to expand his reach. "Part of my overall goal in the business is to connect content, brands and consumers. I think that this is a great opportunity to do that," he told the NY Times.

• Net-a-porter plans to launch a fashion magazine — a print fashion magazine — in the next 12 months.

• Unmetric, a social media benchmarking company for major brands, announced Unmetric Agency Platform that allows agencies to measure how clients compare to competition on social media platforms.

• LinkedIn and Staples just launched SUCCEED: Small Business Network, a community for small business professionals to connect and collaborate with peers. This comes complete with many features, including a special edition of LinkedIn Today — the site's daily newspaper, essentially — with stories geared towards small business.

• AOL's Advertising.com Group acquiring Buysight Inc., a Silicon Valley ad tech company.

• Publicis Groupe acquired 100 percent of luxury and beauty brand agency AR New York. It will keep its name, CCO and CEO.

• Havas Sports & Entertainment announced a strategic partnership with Benza Promotions & Events, an independent Brazilian experiential marketing agency.

• Mediaspectrum's sales and adwatch cross-platform advertising sales and production solution for media companies are now SAP-endorsed.

Previously on Business Insider Advertising:

• Tim Armstrong Personally Auditioned Dancers For AOL's New Ads
• Walmart Banned Huffington Post For These 5 Reasons
• That Awesome Banned SodaStream Commercial Is Going To Be A Super Bowl Ad
• Lawsuit Alleges American Apparel CEO Shoved Dirt In Employee's Face
• This Is What A Victoria's Secret Sabotage Looks Like
• Want Tumblr Analytics? Here Is The Absurd Price You'll Have To Pay

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The London home in which singer Amy Winehouse died sold for $3.2 million at auction this week, according to NBCNEWS.com.

Winehouse died last year, at the age of 27. Her fans flocked to the Camden Square home to pay homage to the raspy-voiced singer. 

The house spans 2,500 square feet, has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a sound-proof music room, and a gym.

The home was put on the auction block after failing to attract any serious bidders while on the market, according to NBCNEWS.com.

SEE ALSO: Johnny Depp Supposedly Bought This Ostentatious Nashville Manor For $17.5 Million

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Yesterday, Jay-Z uploaded a documentary to YouTube showing a look behind the scenes at how the Barclays Center in Brooklyn came to life. 

Inside the nearly half-hour video, we finally learn more about the rapper's famous subway ride in October to his final concert performance in Brooklyn where he struck up a conversation with an older woman.

It turns out the woman he sat next to, named Ellen Grossman, was unaware of the hip-hop artist's popularity.

"Are you famous?"

Jay-Z answered yes before adding "Not very famous – you don't know me. But I'll get there some day." 

Check out the documentary starting at their conversation below:

Now learn more about Ellen Grossman: Check out some of her awesome art >

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"Rise of the Guardians" is projected to lose $50 million for DreamWorks Animation, an executive with knowledge of the movie's projections told TheWrap.

The company's stock hit a 52-week low on Monday, closing the day down 5 percent at $16.27. In early trading Tuesday, the stock was down slightly from Monday's close.

A spokeswoman for DreamWorks Animation declined to comment on the projected loss for "Rise of the Guardians."

The CG-animated film's failure will be another blow to a company that has struggled to find its footing on Wall Street and may expose cracks in film schedules that are overly reliant on animated fare.

Produced for a reported $145 million and featuring the voices of Hugh Jackman and Chris Pine, "Guardians" has underachieved at the box office despite getting strong reviews.

Since opening over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, the film has grossed $48.8 million domestically and another $57 million at the foreign box office, according to Box Office Mojo.

In a note to investors Monday, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Ben Mogil changed his rating on DreamWorks Animation's stock from a "hold" to a "sell," citing what he called a "somewhat weak" international opening for the film. Mogil estimated that the film will lose $50 million even after the company reduces its global publicity and advertising budget to $150 million.

Also read: 'Rise of the Guardians' Review: Magic, but You'd Better Believe in Santa Claus

Mogil also argued that the lackluster box office returns for "Guardians" could spell trouble for DreamWorks Animation's upcoming slate of three CG-animated titles -- "The Croods" (opening March 22, 2013), "Turbo" (July 19, 2013) and "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" (Nov. 1, 2013).

"What we take from this 'Guardians' experience is that where once there was an implied domestic box-office floor on a movie from the company, particularly in the 3D era, of $150 million, that is no longer the case," he wrote. "Also clearly no longer the case is the mantra that the lack of competing animated titles will automatically grant a movie clear box office sailing."

There is, of course, hope that "Guardians" will pick up steam from the upcoming Christmas holidays, taking advantage of a relatively paltry set of offerings for moviegoers with young children.

Aside from the 3D re-release of "Monsters, Inc.," there is little to appeal to families over the coming holiday period. And with a holiday-themed plot that features Santa Claus in a prominent role, the movie may be one of the rare films that has legs beyond its opening weekend.

"I can't see anything they can do to try to really tweak the performance of the film, but I also think it would be a little premature of them to announce a write-off," Marla Backer, an analyst with Research Associates, told TheWrap. "Let's see how it plays over the holidays."

Even a late surge, though, may not be enough to pull the picture out of the red ink.

"Guardians" had a modest decline of 44 percent during its second weekend of release, managing only to rack up $13.4 million domestically.

Moreover, as the weeks tick by and a film sticks around in theaters, the box-office split between exhibitors and studios changes dramatically. During an opening weekend on major releases, studios can receive as much as 90 percent of a film's box office at certain theaters, exhibitors have privately told TheWrap.

That breakdown gradually shifts in the theater owners' favor. In the end, studios typically receive 55 percent of a film's receipts. The means, however, that if "Guardians" bucks the odds and attracts holiday crowds, exhibitors who kept the film in theaters could be the big winners.

"Guardians" is the final film that DreamWorks Animation released through its distribution deal with Paramount Pictures. Paramount will receive 8 percent of receipts as a distribution fee. 

Meanwhile, DreamWorks Animation kicks off a new distribution agreement with 20th Century Fox with "The Croods," an animated film set in the prehistoric era. As part of that deal, Fox will receive the same 8 percent distribution fee but will get a lower fee on digital business than Paramount did.

SEE ALSO: The most expensive movies ever made

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For the last week, we've been going through the special features on "The Dark Knight Rises" Blu-ray combo pack.

Turns out Bane almost wasn't the villain in the third film. 

When story co-writer David S. Goyer shared the idea with Nolan he had to convince the director Bane was the right character from Batman's rogue gallery for the final film.

"I first brought up Bane, I think Chris was initially horrified. And I said, 'Hold on, hold on, hold on. This will be the Nolan version of Bane,'" said Goyer. "He's a creepy, very physical character. Somebody who's been physically distorted. I think Chris liked that."

Instead, Goyer has previously said Warner Bros. considered Leonardo DiCaprio – another "Inception" alumn – as the Riddler.

So, what did Nolan initially have against Bane?

The director wasn't impressed by his comic book rendition. 

"His appearance in the comics is very fanciful and wouldn't work, in my opinion, in our world at all," said Nolan. 

Instead, Nolan modelled his final version of Bane around a mercenary since as it was important to him that the villain be both a physical force and a militaristic one. 

Check out more items from "The Dark Knight Rises" special features:

Early concept art for what Bane could have looked like >

How Tom Hardy perfected Bane's voice >

All the special features on TDKR Blu-ray disc >

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