It doesn't seem like that long ago that "Star Trek Into Darkness" was one of J.J. Abrams' trademark mysteries wrapped up in an enigma. Of course we know all about the secrets of the sci-fi sequel and who certain distinguished British actors were playing and how they might relate to previous sequels in the series.

Ok, so now we can actually say it. Benedict Cumberbatch was Khan. We can finally talk about that openly without any worry of Bad Robots descending upon us for being big fat spoilers.

To celebrate the new freedom and the release of "Star Trek Into Darkness" for digital download, we're excited to bring you an exclusive behind-the-scenes featurette about Khan and how Cumberbatch won the role of a Sikh character originally played by a Latino man.

"Originally, what we thought of was 'Who are the actors that we thought would feel as we did with the first film, in the spirit of what had come before?' Damon [Lindelof] mentioned Benedict Cumberbatch, and I watched him and he was so not the Khan I knew at all," Abrams explains in the featurette.

"On that level, I thought, 'We are definitely going to get in trouble.' Fans would say, 'Oh, he looks nothing like him. It makes no sense.' The truth is, if I think something is good, that supersedes everything. This felt like the righteous way to go because he was so damn good."

Even if he was "so damn good," Cumberbatch was kept in the dark as much as we were before agreeing to appear in the ...

It's been almost four years since Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift at the Video Music Awards, drawing the ire of world leaders, epically-maned millionaires and Michael Jackson's dad, and becoming the inspiration for a truly massive Internet meme in the process.

Yet, despite all that time, and with innumerable Internet fads coming and going since, it seems that Taylor's still making jokes about "Imma let you finish," as evidenced by her recent gift to tourmate Ed Sheeran: A jar of homemade jam she labeled with a none-too-subtle reference to Kanye's onstage rant ("this is the best JAM OF ALL TIME," she wrote).

And while we realize she's been pretty busy over the past four years, we can't help wonder: Has Taylor been near a computer at any point since the 2009 VMAs?!?

If she hasn't, well, there's been plenty she's missed, and since she's seemingly getting into canning and preserving these days, we've come up with a whole list of potential products she could make. These are Taylor Swift's homemade jams of woefully outdated Internet memes, complete with her handwritten notes.

» "Ed -- Have you seen this cat! He looks so grumpy! --T"

» "Ed -- You probably think this is Strawberry Jam, but it's really Rick Astley singing 'Never Gonna Give You Up!' -- T"

» "Ed -- I like turtles! -- T"

» "Ed -- Yesterday was Thursday, today is Friday, tomorrow is Saturday, and Sunday comes afterwards! -- T"

» "Ed -- This Snowy Owl can't believe what it just ...

Mark it on your calendars, Britney Spears has big things planned for September 17. The singer launched a countdown clock on her official website this week, leading fans to speculate that something major is about to happen.

The message on her site simply reads, "All Eyes On Me," giving no real indication of what the pop superstar might have up her sleeve. However, she has been working on her follow-up album to 2011's Femme Fatale, and over the course of the last week has teased that something big is on the horizon. So, it's possible the news is music-related.

On August 14, she tweeted, "Patient kiddies! It's coming MUCH sooner than you think ;)" and then one day later she added, "Spending some Q T in rehearsals today. 8 count after 8 count... #FeelingIt."

Earlier this month, she tweeted out a for this album release, which includes A-list help from producers and songwriters including William Orbit, Sia, Hit-Boy and will.i.am.

"We need to talk about what she's excited about in life. I gotta talk about the things that hurt her. I gotta talk about the things that make her concerned; she's a mother," will.i.am told Rolling Stone earlier this spring of working with Spears. "I gotta talk to her about all the things that her fans want to talk to her about. I gotta be the vehicle between her and her fans. We can't do another song about going on the dance floor. Really? Didn't we see a bunch of Britney doing that already? Don't we want ...

Lady Gaga is ready for you to give her your applause when she takes the stage at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards this Sunday. The Mother Monster is slated to open the VMAs with the debut performance of her lead ARTPOP single, "Applause."

With only days until the show goes live from Brooklyn's Barclays Center, Gaga told NYC radio station Z-100 on Tuesday morning (August 20) that she is taking some cues from her just-released for the performance.

"I am opening the show. Well, yes, I'm dancing and what you see in the video is where I am now with my body," she said. "I'm dancing 'til my feet bleed every day to make sure I give the fans a performance that they won't forget."

Fans gathered in Times Square on Monday to see Gaga premiere the video for "Applause." And as soon as they saw the clip, they were hoping that some of the clip's looks, such as the clamshell bikini, would make it into her performance on Sunday.

"The one thing I will tell you about the album, that I love more than anything, is I really composed it with the producers DJ White Shadow, Zedd and Madeon to be played from start to finish," she said of ARTPOP. "You can stop, of course, and you can shuffle if you like, but I designed it so the tempos really feel like you're at the nightclub."

Gaga joins an A-list lineup of performers at the VMAs, including Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Kanye West ...

Maybe baby North has him in a sharing mood, but typically press-shy Kanye West will make a rare TV interview appearance on Friday, just two days before he makes history with his seventh
 MTV Video Music Awards performance.

West, who years ago declared a moratorium on interviews, giving only a handful since then, taped a chat with his baby's grandma, Kris Jenner, on Monday, for the Kardashian family matriarch's syndicated talk show, "Kris."

According to US magazine, the show will air on Friday and feature Yeezy discussing two-month-old North and his relationship with Kim. West will be among a galaxy of stars performing at Sunday night's 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, alongside Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and more.

The magazine reported that the intensely private West is "really bringing it" in the interview, during which he says he's "so in love" with Kim that he considered taking up sports; Kardashian dated NFL player Reggie Bush and was briefly married to NBA power forward Kris Humphries. The hour-long sit-down also reportedly has West talking about his struggles with the press and addressing President Obama's comments last month about how celebrities like Kim and Kanye have changed the idea of the American dream.

"There was not that window into the lifestyles of the rich and famous," Obama said. "Kids weren't monitoring every day what Kim Kardashian was wearing, or where Kanye West was going on vacation, and thinking that somehow that was the mark of success."

Alas, curious fans will ...

It had been a minute since many fans had seen Foxy Brown up close and personal, but that changed this past week when the Bedford-Stuyvesant femcee made a tearful appearance on "RapFix Live," as part of the unofficial kickoff to the 2013 VMAs in Brooklyn.

Sitting alongside fellow Brooklynite Big Daddy Kane, Foxy told host Sway that temporary hearing loss was only one of the issues she'd had to deal with in her career, which dates back to her breakthrough 1996 debut, Ill Na Na. Coping with rap's "rumor mill" has also come with the territory.

"I've been dealing with that since I was like 15-years-old," she admitted with a laugh.

One of the recent rumors has had her potentially joining independent powerhouse Rostrum Records, home to acts like Wiz Khalifa, Mac Miller, Boaz and Chevy Woods. Talk that Foxy could join the label began to swirl back in July when she posted a photo of Rostrum Vice President Arthur Pitt. The photo's caption read "LOL!!! MY RUSSIAN DUDE ARTIE PITT LIKE FOX SIGN THE DOTTED LINE!!!!!"

Foxy addressed the ensuing speculation on "RapFix Live," saying, "There have been offers, of course. I've only been signed to one label my entire career, which is Def Jam."

The rapper in fact signed a distribution deal with E1 Music in 2007 for her Black Rose Entertainment label, but failed to put out an LP during its duration.

"My bar is set so high that any label that I go to now has to be an incredible situation for me — financially ...