This week in Twittering Celebrity twatter we have two very different twittery stories.

Perpetual 12-year old and cougar-lover Ashton Kutcher threatened to quit that Twitter-bitch if they teamed up to do a reality show, ‘cuz you know, Kutcher’s above that sort of thing. Anyone remember “Punk’d?”

CNN reports:

Ashton Kutcher — Twitter’s top tweeter — warned he may pull the plug on his tweeting if the micro-blogging service partners on a reality TV show.

“It’s all fun and games until somebody gets stalked,” Kutcher wrote in a Twitter posting late Monday.

Variety magazine reported Monday that San Francisco-based Twitter.com had partnered with TV producers Reveille and Brillstein Entertainment on an unscripted show that would be “putting ordinary people on the trail of celebrities in a revolutionary competitive format.”

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said there was “no official Twitter TV show” in the works, but “we have a lightweight, non-exclusive, agreement with the producers which helps them move forward more freely.”

Kutcher used Twitter to post a link to a news report about the partnership along with this message: “Wow I hope this isn’t true. I really don’t like being sold out. May have to take a twitter hiatus.”

The actor, who boasts a record 2 million Twitter followers, frequently posts updates that take fans behind the scenes of his life and his current movie production — “Five Killers.”

“Five Killers” director Robert Luketic, who caught Kutcher’s Twitter addiction, also suggested he would disappear from the Twitterverse.

“Ahh yeah. If this is true my shop is closed,” Luketic tweeted in response to Kutcher’s message.

Kutcher challenged CNN last month in a race to 1 million Twitter followers, which he won. His following has almost doubled that in the five weeks since.

His wife, actress Demi Moore, also threatened to shut down her Twitter account, which has more than 1 million followers.

“I hope this isn’t true — if it is, our Twitter time may come to a quick and sad end!” Moore tweeted Monday.

Bitch PUHHHHLLEEEAAASSEE! Ever since Ashton teamed up with that stale botoxed sandwich Demi, he’s been a wet blanket full of twatty-ness. When these two aren’t crying about the non-issues like being “harassed by paparazzi” they are posting gross pictures of Demi’s ass or her missing toof. I can honestly not think of a more annoying couple, and that’s including Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag. *ahem*

Losing Ashton and Demi’s voice in the “twitterverse” would be a Godsend, so please let the stalking begin if that’s what it takes. Two less twits twittering, where’s the downside?

On the upside, it’s nice to hear some celebs are using the blabbering-tool for the good of others. The NIN brainchild, Trent Reznor is using his twittering to help raise funds for Eric De La Cruz, the brother of CNN correspondent Veronica De La Cruz. Eric, who’s only 27, is dying from a rare condition and needs a heart transplant. When Reznor heard about the efforts to help save Eric, he decided to get involved and used his Twitter following to raise donations for Eric. More from BNET:

But, as the De La Cruz family is learning, then there is the power of rock n roll. Trent Reznor, who is better known as Nine Inch Nails and who is currently on a revival tour, found out about Eric’s case and posted via Twitter and the Nin website an offer way too good to refuse.

Donate money to Eric’s cause and you can hang out backstage with Nine Inch Nails during their tour. Over the space of about 48 hours, according to my sources as well as posts on Twitter, the group has raised around a quarter million dollars to help Eric’s chances of obtaining his heart transplant.

That amount is now in the $850,000 range and growing. Click on Trent’s page to learn more about how to help Eric.

Now, it’s no secret I would have had Trent Reznor’s goth babies (’except he’s now engaged, and well, I am married and beyond having bay-beh friends) so I guess you could say I am a bit biased. This however, does NOT mean I am wrong. Twitter (and yes Glosslip has an account in case you wish to follow our occasional tweets) is like any social networking tool, it can be used for good, like Trent is using it, or it can be used to annoy the hell out of people, like Ashton and Demi insist on doing.

The tool is only as good as the tools using it, and let’s face it, Ashton is a complete tool. Also, I CAN’T wait until Demi’s entire face and body collapse under the weight of all the plastic and botox she’s injected into and she finally looks her age. We’ll see how long Ashton hangs around for that nightmare.

Tick tock tick tock…Father Time awaits you Demi

Wow, the slimy tentacle-like reach of Scientology managed to ensnare yet another creative type, bassist Justin Meldal Johnsen. Here’s his Scientology course records.

I was checking over at Enturbulation.org when I discovered this thread.

Now, as anyone who knows me well (all three of you) I am a HUGE NIN’s fan, and have been a fan since Pretty Hate Machine was released back in ‘89. Trent Reznor is one of my idols, and here’s a link to the bio Eric and I did on him for our Encyclopedia of Record Producers book. I am also keenly aware of the fact the Church of Scientology is run by sinister individuals who maintain a cult-like control over the organization and mistreat members and critics alike.

I am hereby swearing to the world at large, if Trent Reznor gets sucked into Scientology by this Justin fellow, who is probably a swell, but mislead, guy — the gloves will be off.

Trent is one of my heroes, and if it’s not bad enough I’ve had to write of Beck, Will Smith and even Tom Cruise due to their affiliations with Scientology, I just don’t know what I will do. By the way, not so coincidentally, Justin used to be in Beck’s band as well.

Here’s a strange fact for you. Trent Reznor was living in the Sharon Tate/Roman Polanski house while writing his fabulous album Downward Spiral. This is the same house Sharon Tate, her unborn child and her friends were murdered in by the Manson family. Charles Manson became a Scientologist while in prison. While he was rejected by the group for being “psychotic” he was deeply fascinated and influenced by their mind-control techniques, which he then applied to his “Manson Family” who as you know, became murderers under his control.

Weird, but true. STAY THE F AWAY FROM THE KOOL-AID TRENT.

Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails founder and mastermind, has taken his new found label-free life one step further and is giving away his new album, The Slip, for free. Take that Radiohead! Skip the step of guilt-free giving what you *think* the album’s worth, and just give the whole thing away for free.

NIN’s has a rabid fan base and most would gladly pay for the album, but Trent, being the gadfly in the music industry wanted to give back to his fans and what a tremendous goodwill gesture. Click here to download The Slip. Also, for those fans who want something they can touch, Reznor says there will be “physical products” in the July.

No word yet on whether Trent will be allowing me to give him a free back rub. Just kidding, well, not really, but yeah.

NIN’s Trent Reznor is known for battling against the recording industry powers that be. Now it’s over price-gouging his fans. And he’s none too happy about it. In an interview Trent had a few words to say about discovering his latest release Year Zero priced almost $10 more than other new releases:

“I created a little issue down here because the first thing I did when I got to Sydney is I walk into HMV, the week the record’s out, and I see it on the rack with a bunch of other releases. And every release I see: $21.99, $22.99, $24.99. And ours doesn’t have a sticker on it. I look close and ‘Oh, it’s $34.99′. So I walk over to see our live DVD Beside You in Time, and I see that it’s also priced six, seven, eight dollars more than every other disc on there. And I can’t figure out why that would be.”

Tren,t not one to sit back and take it, went a few steps further:

Well, in Brisbane I end up meeting and greeting some record label people, who are pleasant enough, and one of them is a sales guy, so I say “Why is this the case?” He goes “Because your packaging is a lot more expensive”. I know how much the packaging costs — it costs me, not them, it costs me 83 cents more to have a CD with the colour-changing ink on it. I’m taking the hit on that, not them. So I said “Well, it doesn’t cost $10 more”. “Ah, well, you’re right, it doesn’t. Basically it’s because we know you’ve got a core audience that’s gonna buy whatever we put out, so we can charge more for that. It’s the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy it. True fans will pay whatever”. And I just said “That’s the most insulting thing I’ve heard. I’ve garnered a core audience that you feel it’s OK to rip off? F— you’. That’s also why you don’t see any label people here, ‘cos I said ‘F— you people. Stay out of my f—ing show. If you wanna come, pay the ticket like anyone else. F— you guys”. They’re thieves. I don’t blame people for stealing music if this is the kind of s— that they pull off.

Back in the early 90’s, Trent, then an up-and-coming artist, was forced to legally retract himself from his recording contract with TVT records when the label became overly intrusive in the creative process. He eventually started his own label Nothing Records with backing and distribution overseen by major label Interscope Records. Under this seemingly protective umbrella of artistic freedom, Trent recorded his second album Broken to only minor commercial success. Much of that material was created while he was still battling TVT and the tracks are bleak even by NIN standards. His next major release was The Downward Spiral which succeeded in making him a household name and an iconic figure in not just the music industry, but also popular culture. Trent’s brooding nature and sincere angst were the backdrop to the 25th anniversary of the Woodstock Music Festival, for which he was the star feature.

Like the out-of-control crowd and the dismantling of authority at that venue — which spiraled into a dangerous riot — Trent has always railed against those who would take advantage of their position of power. And while some artists talk crap about how unfair the music industry is to their fans, Trent’s the kind of person to put his money where his mouth is. So what’s Trent’s response to the label’s price-gouging his fans?

“I’ve have one record left that I owe a major label, then I will never be seen in a situation like this again. If I could do what I want right now, I would put out my next album, you could download it from my site at as high a bit-rate as you want, pay $4 through PayPal. Come see the show and buy a T-shirt if you like it. I would put out a nicely packaged merchandise piece, if you want to own a physical thing. And it would come out the day that it’s done in the studio, not this “Let’s wait three months” bulls—.”

I like the sound of that. Trent is one of those rare figures who can still remember what it’s like to be a fan, despite being far removed from that aspect. He has always seemed a person of high principles and that is something I can respect and appreciate!

Trent, I would happily pay $10 to $20 for your music, as long as you release it on your terms. Oh, and I will cheerfully bear your children should you need that as well!

Photo source: Rolling Stone.com