Even thought Chris Brown, Snoop Dogg and Timbaland all released high profile albums this week, the top-selling record at the iTunes store is currently Glee: The Music, Volume 2. The collection, which features songs from the hit TV show sung by the program’s charming cast, features favorites like “Proud Mary,” “Smile” and “Jump” (the Van Halen song, not the Kris Kross tune). The soundtrack album arrives just in time for tonight’s episode of “Glee,” which is the mid-season finale (which features the group’s trip to sectionals). The show won’t return to the Fox lineup until April 13 (after the new season of “American Idol” wraps up — apparently they can’t have too much singing on the air at once), but you’ll still have two albums’ worth of songs from the cast to tide you over until then.

When cast members Lea Michele and Cory Monteith stopped by the MTV Newsroom a few weeks ago, they talked about their favorite tunes that ended up on Volume 2, including a classic by a former Beatle. “We have ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon,” Michele said. “I don’t think you could top that, really. I’m doing ‘Crush’ by Jennifer Paige, a total ’90s throwback. It’s cool because it’s only on the show for two seconds, but on the album you get the whole song.”
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So, BUY the album, and WATCH the Finale! Oh, and participate in the scavenger hunt!

+ Lea Michele, along with Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz from Glee signed books for the 826LA organization, dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

Lea signed The Polar Express and The Giving Tree. You can bid for these books at 826LA’s website.

+ Added a 1996 HQ picture of Lea to the gallery, while she was doing Ragtime in Canada.

+ Join our message board! [and follow us on twitter ;) ]

As you all know, Glee “The Road to Sectionals” on DVD will be released next December 29th, and we’ll be giving away two copies!
To make it more fun, instead of just gathering names and picking one randomly, we’ll borrow the idea from idina-here.com and make a Gallery Scavenger Hunt!

How to play:
1. Find pictures that match each of the descriptions you’ll find in the list below. All pictures must be in LMW’s gallery! (no cheating, we know our gallery)
2. Download the reduced version of the pictures, name each one with the number of item in the scavenger list (i.e. Lea and coffee would be 1.jpg),zip them all together and send them to contest@leamicheleweb.org (just so we are clear: These are thumbnails. This is full version. THIS is reduced version.)
3. Include your full name in the e-mail and if possible your mailing address. This will save time once the winner is picked.
4. Unfortunately, the contest is only open for people in the US or Canada. If you have someone who can receive the prize in said countries and then send it to you, that would be ok as well. And if none of the previous options work for you but you still want to play for fun, go ahead! Just let me know in your e-mail that you’re not eligible for the prize. I’ll post the final list of scores once the winner is announced.
5. Deadline to submit pictures is December 18th, 2009 at 11:59pm ET. Two winners will be announced on the 19th/20th.
6. Have fun!

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Glee > Screencaps > 1.12 Mattress x 282

As ambitious glee clubber and social pariah Rachel Berry, Lea Michele has been called RuPaul, taken more than a few fruit slushies to the face in the hallways of McKinley High and tried romancing her teacher by singing “Endless Love.” The leap into the land of awkward adolescence has been a big one for Michele, the 23-year-old stage actress whose Broadway résumé is all serious drama — she’s been in the sexually charged “Spring Awakening” and the tear-jerker ” Les Misérables.” To get into Rachel’s high-strung head, she dutifully studied Reese Witherspoon in “Election” — “I channel Tracy Flick, yes,” Michele said — but it sounds like all she really needed to do was dig deep into her own aspiring performer days.
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Thanks to sweet_star we have 2 scans of Lea’s page in Allure’s december issue. Check it out in the gallery!

We’ll have the HQ version of this soon!

Public Appearances > True Colors Fund and Broadway Impact – November 29, 2009 x59 [some pictures have been replaced for their hq version]