• Has Lindsay Lohan turned over a new leaf? She says she's "going to India soon, before Thanksgiving hopefully," to film a BBC documentary on the trafficking of women and children.

• She says her mom is nervous about her trip, but she wants to go because, "I think it's important to have a voice when you have one." [Radar Online]
• Michael Lohan was on the Maury Povich show today trying to reach out to Lindsay. First he insulted her, calling her a "hollow person," then said there is "nothing left in her" and he "couldn't even look at her." He added, "I hate to speak out publicly like this..." As TMZ notes, this episode was called, "You're 14 ... Stop Lap Dancing and Trying to Get Pregnant"? Video here: [TMZ]
• When asked if she's excited that police have caught her alleged burglars, Lindsay said, "[That's] the most awkward question you could possibly ask. Yeah, I'm talking to the detectives, but it's nobody's business but my own." [E!]
• The father of Alexis Neiers, one of the four teenage girls arrested in connection with the recent celebrity burglaries, says, "She was in the wrong place at the wrong time, associating with the wrong people. She got sucked into this. We're standing by her. I'm sure [the case against her is] going to be thrown out of court." [People]
• A source claims Sienna Miller and Judge Law have been going on romantic dinner dates while they're both in New York performing on Broadway. A spokesman confirmed that they have met up, and the source says, "Sienna had her heart broken by Jude, but she was young and it was the first time she'd fallen in love. What people don't realise is that they always remained close, so who knows where this will lead to next." [Ok]
• Kate Gosselin's brother Kevin Kreider, his wife, Jodi Kreider, and attorney Gloria Allred are campaigning for a federal law to protect kids in reality shows. Jodi says the "Balloon Boy" story "makes it very clear that parents and people will do whatever they can do get on a reality show, kind of thinking that's a great way for quick fame." [CBS News]
• More weird Heene footage: in a video from about 10 years ago, Richard Heene tries to shove a cigar into his infant son Bradford's mouth so he can take a picture of him "smoking" and holding a beer bottle as Mayumi protests in the background. [TMZ]
• Lady Gaga says that when Beyonce called her and asked if she wanted to be in her video for "Video Phone" she said, "'What do you want to do?' And I'm like, 'I don't want to show up in some frickin' hair bow and be fashion Gaga in your video.' I said, 'I want to do you.'" She added, "I want to do my version of Beyoncé... So the whole time I was learning the choreography they were calling me Gee-yoncé." [MTV]
• Picewell Forbes publicly apologized for causing a mistrial in the John Travolta case. He didn't say who told him Pleasant Bridgewater had been acquitted but said, "My statements were reckless and interfered with the course of justice in that case and were further capable of bringing disrepute to the whole administration of justice." [AP]
• Michael Jackson's kids are having their own private screening of This Is It tonight. [TMZ]
• The Ali Forney Center, the nation's largest organization for homeless LGBT youth, has received a gift of $300,000 today from Bea Arthur's estate. The organization plans to buy a building to house 12 children whose families have thrown them out for being gay and name it in her honor. [Towleroad]
• Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner went right back to work after their wedding on Sunday, but they are planning a honeymoon in Africa for December. [People]
• Madonna and her four kids visited the orphanage in Malawi where her son David lived before she adopted him. [AP]
• Akon jumped off the stage and into the crown during a Melbourne concert last night to break up a fight. His promoter says, "The thing that I saw, and I was standing right next to him … He walked to a girl (involved in a fight) and walked to her and held her face and said, ‘You're better than that.'" [The Australian]
• Joe Francis is suing Brody Jenner and his girlfriend Jayde Nicole for battery, assault, negligence, slander, libel and false light. He claims that he only pulled Nicole's hair during their bar altercation in "self-defense" because she hit him in the head, threw a drink at him, and yelled "I'm going to kill you!" for no reason. [TMZ]
• The DA will not file charges against Joe Francis, Brody Jenner, or Jayde Nicole for their bar brawl. The D.A.'s report supports Francis' claim that the surveillance video shows that Jayde "appears to have acted without immediate provocation." Doesn't Girls Gone Wild count as provocation? [TMZ]
• Willem Dafoe says Tim Burton talked to him about playing The Joker in Batman, but he turned the role down and it went to Jack Nicholson. [Daily Express]
• At the link, Lost executive producer Damon Lindelof answers questions about the show's final season. [USA Today]
• On Thursday, Ante Up For Africa, a charity founded by Don Cheadle, is holding its second annual celebrity poker tournament to raise money to bring peace to Sudan. [CNN]
• Uh, wow. Author Martin Amis says he doesn't understand the fascination with Jordan because, "She has no waist, no arse ... an interesting face ... but all we are really worshipping is two bags of silicone." [The Telegraph]
• According to the Jonas Brothers' mom, Denise Jonas, "Nick is working on a solo act—it's called Nick Jonas and The Administration. Shhh! He's at the photo shoot for the album cover right now." [Parade]
• Taylor Lautner says he was motivated by "the movie and the fans," to put on 30 pounds of muscle for New Moon. "But I don't want to become known as just a body... If I had to choose, I would never take my shirt off again in a movie, but I guess that's not very realistic. I certainly won't be asking to do it, though." [People]
• "I'm always going to miss Oasis. It was my fucking thing, you know what I mean? It's who I am. But it's only a name," says Liam Gallagher. "Getting away from the whole Oasis thing is going to be a good thing I suppose. I don't want to do anything solo. I want to be in a band. But we can do things a lot differently these days. It'll definitely be rock 'n' roll." [The Sun]
• Mary-Louise Parker says adopting her 3-year-old daughter Caroline Aberash in 2007 was the "best decision I've ever made. She says, 'I love you, Mommy' and asks, 'Do you love me so much? She has a little bit of a speech delay; Amharic was her first language she heard. But she's really indomitable. She's really strong and she's like a little warrior. She's really amazing." [People]
• Q: What advice did your mom give you about dressing? Jane Lynch: "I like to wear my pajama bottoms and sweatshirts out to get coffee in the morning. She said to always dress like someone is going to take your picture, and every day is an opportunity to make an impression." [N.Y. Magazine]
• In a phone interview Tank Jones, Levi Johnston's manager, said of Levi posing for Playgirl, "He's pumped! He's ready to shock the world. The hell with fifteen minutes... As a matter of fact, when I picked him up, he came out the house naked. I said 'not now!'" Then Levi took the phone and said, "I just get naked. That's what I do." [Us]

• Whoopi Goldberg on Patrick Swayze:

"Patrick was a really good man, a funny man and one to whom I owe much that I can't ever repay. I believe in Ghost's message, so he'll always be near." [Extra]

• Jennifer Grey on Patrick Swayze: "When I think of him, I think of being in his arms when we were kids, dancing, practicing the lift in the freezing lake, having a blast doing this tiny little movie we thought no one would ever see. [He was] a real cowboy with a tender heart. It was not surprising to me that the war he waged on his cancer was so courageous and dignified." [People]
• Dirty Dancing's choreographer, Kenny Ortega on Patrick Swayze: "The planet has lost a big heart. And I, a forever friend." [People]
• Twitter tributes to Patrick Swayze here. [NY Daily News]
• Kanye West got a talking-to from Taylor Swift's mom backstage at the VMA awards; a source says she "tore into" him after he interrupted Taylor's speech. Additionally, it was Beyoncé's dad, Matthew Knowles, who arranged the moment in which Beyoncé gave Taylor another moment in the spotlight. [People]
• Here a source claims that the Beyoncé/Taylor Swift moment "was all Beyonce's idea. Kanye embarrassed her by bringing her name into it. She wanted to make it right." [MSNBC Scoop]
• 50 Cent on Kanye West's outburst: "We know Beyoncé's great. Nobody's confused in that area…" Fiddy also says: "I wish he would come take one of my awards so I could black his eye in front of everybody." [ONTD via Much Music]
• Did President Obama call Kanye West a jackass? All signs point to yes, but "off the record." [Politico]
• Anna Wintour went to the US Open and left with a tennis ball in her purse! [Page Six]
• Diddy caused a ruckus at post by standing in the street after a VMA party. [Gatecrasher]
• In this video, Michael Jackson admits that he was on pain medication and spent A LOT of time under the influence of prescription drugs in 2003. [The Sun]
• Russell Brand and Katy Perry made out. Pass it on. [Page Six]
• Kim Cattrall spills about Sex And The City Deux: "Expect lots of fun," she says. And: "It was so much fun to relive the wild and crazy fashions of the '80s. I absolutely loved the four different looks of all of us. We were all so uniquely different that we all couldn't stop admiring our different looks. There was lots of laughing, and it was a blast! Working with the three women is so easy. I mean seven years of doing the series and the first movie and now two years later being back feels like being home. It's so much fun. There is a saying that you can't go home again but on Sex and the City, you can." [People]
• This report says that Sex And The City 2 will see Carrie pregnant; a commenter snipes: "Isn't she like 123 years old by now? And Big should be reaching 156. Why would they have a baby? I hope this isn't the case." [Gatecrasher]
• LOL: Jon Gosselin was overheard saying "please write something nice about me" at an In Touch party. [MSNBC Scoop]
• Mr. Big, aka Chris Noth, is engaged, and it's not to Carrie: Noth has proposed to partner Tara Lynn Wilson, with whom he has a 19-month-old son. [Ok!]
• If you missed Lady Gaga and date Kermit the Frog on the red carpet at the MTV Awards, there's video here. [MTV]
• Kelly Osbourne's dropped about 14 lbs. in just three weeks, thanks to insane training for Dancing With The Stars. She says: "It's so amazing, I've tried so many stupid fad diets to try to lose weight, when all I needed to do was start dancing." And: "‘I'm actually really small, I just photograph fat." [Daily Mail]
• Colin Farrell says he's psyched to have a new kid on the way: "I'm very excited man! Very! There is nothing more exciting really." [People]
• Ricky Gervais has a crush on Rob Lowe. [Mirror]
• Brittany "Bre" Scullark from America's Next Top Model was arrested in New York on Monday for picking up some woman's laptop at a Starbucks — thinking it belonged to a family member — and then cursing out the woman. [TMZ]
• "Jessica Simpson sees dog snatched by coyote and appeals for its return on Twitter (does she think the offending beast can read?)" [Daily Mail]
• Sean Penn and hot model Jessica White: Still on. [Page Six]
• The Seinfeld reunion is really an "anti-reunion." [Reuters]
• Kim Kardashian will appear on the new Fox sitcom Brothers, opposite Michael Strahan and Daryl "Chill" Mitchell. "Even though I'm playing myself, you kind of have to play it up a little bit," Kim says. "I always get a little bit nervous because I am new to acting and I respect it so much, so I just want to do it justice." But, um, you're playing yourself. [People]
• The scene: A VMA party. Champagne! Celebrities! Stephanie Pratt's credit card: declined. [Page Six]
• A New York theater doing The Piven Monologues, comic look at the star's case of mercury poisoning, has received a cease and desist letter from Jeremy Piven. [Page Six]
• Jane Fonda has penned a HuffPo essay about her letter protesting the Toronto International Film Festival's decision to showcase and celebrate Tel Aviv. She writes: "As I said in my recent blog, the greatest "re-branding" of Israel would be to celebrate that country's long standing, courageous and robust peace movement by helping to end the blockade of Gaza through negotiations with all parties to the conflict, and by stopping the expansion of West Bank settlements. That's the way to show Israel's commitment to peace, not a PR campaign." [Huffington Post]
• "It's the last leg of Eddie Izzard's 43 marathons in 51 days. How did the less than athletic comic pull off such a feat of endurance?" [BBC News]
• Home Depot will start selling Martha Stewart stuff in 2010, when her deal with K-Mart ends. [Reuters]
• The late Bea Arthur was remembered at Broadway's Majestic Theatre on Monday. [NY Post, People]
• At the Bea Arthur memorial, Rue McClanahan told a touching story in which Bea said: "Rue, I love. Betty White's a cunt." [Page Six]
• "A famous celebrity raped me and Peter knows who it was. It was years ago before I was with Pete, and my friends and family knew about it at the time." — Katie "Jordan" Price. [Daily Mail]
• "I think music piracy is having a dangerous effect on British music, but some really rich and successful artists like Nick Mason from Pink Floyd and Ed O'Brien from Radiohead don't seem to think so. These guys from huge bands said file sharing music is fine. It probably is fine for them. They do sell out arena tours and have the biggest Ferrari collections in the world. For new talent though, file sharing is a disaster as it's making it harder and harder for new acts to emerge. I don't think what's out there is perfect. It's stupid that kids can't buy anything on the internet without credit, forcing them to steal Mum's credit card or download illegally." — Lily Allen. [Telegraph]
• "No one was injured. In fact, the only one who seemed irritated by the whole affair was a tiny Jewish woman who kept saying, 'I don't care who is in the limo. I have somewhere to be!'" — Joan Rivers, whose limo sideswiped a bus yesterday. [Page Six]
• "I hate when celebrities make a big deal of themselves. When I talk to Diddy, I'm just like ‘Hey Sean, no big deal.'" — Jon Gosselin. [MSNBC Scoop]
• "He slapped me once but he got hit on the head three times by me… [I] was horrified he spit on me, in my face." — Whitney Houston, on Bobby Brown. [NY Daily News]

Earlier: The Internet Celebrates The Feminist Legacy Of Bea Arthur

Because America is both a melting pot and a fairly young country, our shared culture is pop culture; we are influenced, informed, and ultimately reflected by television, movies, music, books, etc. And Bea Arthur's work on both stage and screen was defined by much more than her deep voice and deadpan delivery. It played an important part in our social change.

1.) Maude
The Tony and Emmy-winning actress worked in show business for most of her adult life, but it wasn't until she was 50 that she really made it big — in what she refers to as her "middle-aged Cinderella story" — starring in Maude (a spin-off of All in the Family) that ran from 1972 - 1978. In the title role of Maude Findlay, Arthur played an outspoken liberal feminist and civil rights activist, and the show was far ahead of its time, addressing topics of menopause, alcoholism, plastic surgery, and most notably, abortion.

During the first season, in a two-part episode titled "Maude's Dilemma," 47-year-old Maude discovers that she's pregnant. She and her husband and her adult daughter (Adrienne Barbeau) weigh her options, and ultimately, Maude terminates the pregnancy — a first for network TV. Although abortion was legalized in New York, where Maude was set, the episodes were broadcast in November 1972, two months before Roe v. Wade was decided. Two CBS affiliates refused to broadcast the program. Here's a clip:

Although Arthur enjoyed the role she played, she didn't enjoy another—that of a champion of the women's movement—thrust upon her, saying in a 2001 interview, "They just assumed I was the Joan of Arc of the women's movement. And I wasn't at all. It put a lot of unnecessary pressure on me."

Later in life, however, Arthur adopted some of the language of feminism when discussing the breakup of her second marriage, which she blamed on her dedication to her career. "I don't think I ever truly believed in marriage anyway. I guess marriage means that you're a woman and not a . . . person."

She elaborates on that — and the social importance of Maude — here, in this interview for The Archive of American Television.

2.) Sex and the Single Senior
Playing Dorothy Zbornak in the hit sitcom Golden Girls (which ran from 1985 - 1992), Arthur, and her costars Rue McClanahan, Estelle Getty, and Betty White, achieved on prime time TV what seemed to be the impossible: Showcasing post-menopausal women as trendy, funny, and sexual. Way before Sex and the City was lauded for its portrayal of strong female friendships and the discussion of shopping-bag swinger lifestyles over brunch in NYC, Dorothy, Sophia, Blanche, and Rose talked about their very active sex lives over plates of cheesecake in Miami. In this clip, the girls go out to buy condoms to prepare for a romantic cruise they're about to embark on with their boyfriends:

All four actresses on the show won Emmys for their roles, making it the first time since All in the Family that a sitcom had an entirely award-winning cast. (You can read an oral history of Golden Girls here.)

Of her role on the show, Arthur said, "It's very nice to have women realize that women our age can be attractive and well groomed and wear fabulous clothes and earrings, and have a sex life." Interestingly, when GG first premiered, Dorothy was about the age of Kim Cattrall in the SATC movie.

3.) Breaking the Mold
Having reached the crest of her career in middle age, and being 5'9, with a baritone voice, Arthur was not exactly the ingenue. With her trademark, cutting one-liners, Arthur was way too salty for the sugar-and-spice female stereotype. Instead of fighting the aging process cosmetically, she used it to get a laugh and earn a buck, as seen in this Golden Girls clip.

She carried the same attitude later on in her career, as well, as seen in the TV Land show Back to the Grind in 2007. (Clip below.)

4.) Gay Icon
In addition to her work as an animal rights activist, Arthur involved herself in AIDS awareness, speaking at many events. (She once said, "Of course I have gay friends — doesn't everybody?" and when lesbian rumors surfaced, she responded, "I think it is because of the voice, but who cares?") Episodes of Golden Girls and Maude both addressed the subject of homosexuality, but this '70s performance, featuring Arthur singing about drugs with her friend Rock Hudson, stands out the most.

5.) Ribald and Refined
While a lot of the humor on Golden Girls was assuredly bawdy, Arthur pushed the envelope for a joke in real life, too. We leave you with her dramatic reading from Pamela Anderson's novel Star Struck, regarding anal sex.

Cheers To 'Maude' Bea Arthur [NPR]
Here's Looking At You, Bea Arthur [USA Today]
Beatrice Arthur: A Towering Comedic Talent From Another Era [LA Times]
'Golden Girls': A 20th Anniversary Oral History [EW]

Earlier: Bea Arthur: Golden Bitch
Bea Arthur Does Carrie Bradshaw In Old Lady Version Of Sex And The City

"I don't think anybody thought that it was okay to be a feminist back when she was doing Maude," McClanahan tells Entertainment Weekly, "And I'm sure that [show] released a lot of inhibitions.I know The Golden Girls certainly did because I've got fan mail saying "Thank you for allowing me to act and dress like I feel." Because in those days, when you were over 50, you were supposed to be wearing certain types of clothes and behaving a certain way. And women were writing saying 'Thank you, thank you, thank you for the freedom, for the release, for the permission.' And I'm sure Bea got that same kind of fan mail, too."

Arthur, who passed away yesterday at the age of 86, is being celebrated across the internet, with various tributes pointing out her important role in challenging what it meant to be a woman on television. As James Poniewozik of Time notes: "Spun off by Norman Lear onto her own show, she created a legendary character in her own right by showing Maude wrestling with serious issues for a TV sitcom-alcoholism, drug abuse, and famously in 1972, abortion, as her character decided to terminate a pregnancy late in her 40s. (Even today, it's extremely rare for a TV female lead to make that choice.) What endeared Maude to us, beyond her quick wit, was the fact that she was a person with doubts, not just a paragon of liberal rectitude."

Salon's Rebecca Traister also celebrates Arthur's feminist legacy, noting that the actress consistently challenged the public's perception of women, from her role as "Maude Findlay, the Democratic-voting, women's liberation-supporting, four times married cousin of Edith Bunker," (a character who also had the first prime-time abortion, two months before the Roe vs. Wade decision was made) to her role as Dorothy Zbornak on The Golden Girls a show that Traister praises for "one of the most female-friendly and respectful looks at the experience of aging while female ever broadcast on national airwaves, simply by showing women — living, talking, having sex, making friends, cracking wise, living full lives together with energy and engagement." Golden Girls, the New York Times notes, also provided a platform for the discussion of "serious issues, especially those involved with aging, but also matters like gun control, gay rights and domestic violence."

Perhaps Arthur's most lasting legacy will be her undeniable presence: through her quick wit and humor, she was able to bring her audience along, drawing them into discussing issues they might have otherwise shied away from. "[Thirty-seven] years ago she showed me how to be very brave in playing comedy," McClanahan recalls, "I'll miss that courage. And I'll miss that voice." So will we, Rue. So will we.

Golden Girls Say Emotional Goodbye To Bea Arthur [Kansas City Star]
Sharp Tongued Sitcom Roles Symbolized Rise Of Feminism [WashingtonPost]
Bea Arthur, Star of Two Television Comedies, Dies At 86 [NYTimes]
Remembering Bea Arthur, Feminist TV Pioneer [Salon]
Bea Arthur, 1922-2009 [Time]
Rue McClanahan Remembers Bea Arthur [EW]
5 Things You Didn't Know About Bea Arthur: A Tribute [Neatorama]

• Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt were married yesterday in front of 200 guests. An airplane flew over the ceremony, spelling out "Spencer Loves Heidi." several times in the air. You know, real subtle like.[People]

• And OMG, you guys, Lauren Conrad attended the ceremony, even though she previously said she wouldn't. That, as Huey Lewis would say, is the power of love. Or something. [USWeekly]
• Betty White has released a statement on the death of her co-star, Bea Arthur who died yesterday at the age of 86: "Bea was such an important part of a very happy time in my life and I have dearly loved her for a very long time. How lucky I was to know her." [People]
• "I was raised in the country. When it was warm outside we were out there in shorts, no shirt, no shoes. I was doing that long before anybody was taking pictures and people like you were seeing it."-Matthew McConaughey [Newsweek]
• Simon Cowell thinks Susan Boyle has her work cut out for her on Britain's Got Talent: "" keep saying to everybody, she's got to win the next stage. It's [up to] her," Cowell says, "She has four weeks to prepare for the biggest time of her life. She's got to sing better than she's ever sung before. But it could all go horribly wrong now because there are so many distractions." [People]
• Jamie Foxx has asked his 14-year-old daughter to write Miley Cyrus a letter in an attempt to make up for the nasty things he said about Cyrus earlier this month. " "I don't want to defend my position as a comedian to be further insensitive to Miley on (U.S. late night show) Jay Leno. We apologised to Miley and reached out to her.. and so we'll move on," Foxx says, "My daughter has written a letter to her. We're going to get that to her and like I said, I don't want to defend it.. you can't defend it." [DailyExpress]
• Ben Stiller has had some pretty bad dates: "The worst? I took a girl to see The Jazz Singer with Neil Diamond. That wasn't a good date movie: 'Orthodox Jew wants to be a singer', you know? I didn't get lucky that night." [DailyMail]
• Salma Hayek held a second wedding ceremony over the weekend, celebrating the day with a masquerade theme. Penelope Cruz, Woody Harrelson, and David Blaine were all in attendance.[DailyMail]
• Pete Townshend wasn't too impressed with Sting's performance in Quadrophenia: "Awful at the time, rather wooden," Townshend says of Sting's performance, "Though I am a huge fan of Sting and the Police as musicians."[DailyExpress]
• Blind Item: "This tweener actor on a hit show needs to get off the coke that was introduced to him by a former tween actor, and now, unemployed drug addict on the same network."[BlindGossip]
• Are the Pussycat Dolls in trouble? Member Melody Thornton apparently took a shot at lead singer Nicole Scherzinger during a recent concert, yelling "Thank you for supporting me, even though I'm not featured," to the fans, while giving Nicole a nasty look. She then pulled a Gretchen Wieners and shouted, "Don't let anyone stomp on your dreams!" [TheSun]
• "You know, how come there are fewer and fewer rock stars, people that a fan can really get into? I mean, I dig a lot of underground music, because there's a sense of community about it. But you get these kids that approach it like it would be cooler to be the guy that does Girls Gone Wild than to be Pete Townshend. That reflects where our society is right now. There needs to be more ambition about being a musician, about what it means to be creating music, about making the record of your dreams."- Billie Joe Armstrong [TimesofLondon]
• "I'm not like all the other celebrities in Hollywood that do a line of coke to lose weight.I could be really skinny, but I don't want to be. I like food. I don't want to be on drugs."-Kelly Osbourne [TheSun]
• Joel Madden was not allowed on a British Airways flight until he covered up his tattoos. [ONTD]
• Beyonce's latest film, Obsessed, opened in first place at the box office on Friday, taking in 11.1 million dollars. [EW]
• Mischa Barton will be returning to television with a role as a "super bitchy model" in a series called A Beautiful Life. "‘It's a younger version of Sex And The City," Barton says. ]DailyMail]
• Mike Judge on his famous voices: "I'm probably pretty close to Hank, I guess, and maybe a little bit of Milton in "Office Space." But when I was doing "Beavis and Butt-head," I kind of felt like after a while I was becoming Beavis, even though I was a lot smarter than Beavis and Butt-head. Or at least I hope I was." [NYTimes]

According to the Associated Press, Arthur died peacefully in her sleep after a battle with cancer. "She was a brilliant and witty woman," said her personal assistant, Dan Watt. "Bea will always have a special place in my heart." In ours, too. Thank you Bea, for being a friend, and for bringing such joy and laughter to us all. You will be missed. [AP]


In a small tribute to both Bea and Estelle Getty, here is one of my favorite clips (feel free to share your own in the comments):

• K-Fed is opening up about his marriage to Britney in this week's People. " I never thought that I would get married but it wound up happening. That was a really, really, happy, exciting moment. I pretty much realized that I was giving my life to her, and I was doing it without question," the Fed says. [People]
• Are Kelly Ripa and longtime hubs Mark Consuelos dunzo? The National Enquirer says that the pair is separating. However, it is impossible to tell if Ripa is shedding silent invisible tears under that relentlessly perky facade. [Jossip]
• And get this: Ripa's rep denies all! The flack says, "There is no truth to the story. Their marriage continues to be quite healthy, and the National Enquirer should be ashamed for fabricating such an untruthful story." Isn't that what Madge's rep said six months ago? [People]
• Mark Ruffalo's brother, hairstylist Scott, was shot in the head in Beverly Hills earlier this week. He is in critical condition. [ET Online]

• James Franco is on the cover of this month's BlackBook wearing a leather jacket. He looks totally James Dean and not at all Jason Priestley. [Blackbook]
• Lance Bass thinks Britney is ready for a comeback, but adds, "I don't think she needs any advice from me." We concur! [People]
• Celine Dion was on CBS this morning, dishing about her frozen embryo. "Yes, we do have a frozen embryo," said the plucky French Canadian. "We'd love to extend the family," she continued. "I started to talk to Rene Charles about it. He said 'Can we have four and five?' So if we're blessed again, I will be very happy to come back and do another interview with you and talk about it. I will be the first one to be extremely happy." [CBS News]
• A-Rod will allegedly accompany Madonna on her trip to Brazil later this month for two performances in Rio. They're definitely Madariguez south of the equator. [Perez]
• So, Boy George is on trial for assaulting a male escort, and his lawyers are arguing that George was "too fat" to have perpetrated that crime. Could this case get any more tawdry? [Daily Mail]
• Bea Arthur will be inducted into the Television Hall of Fame on December 9th. I'm sure she'll thank us for being her friends, pals, confidantes, etc. [AP]
• The Gossip Girl producers loved Ed Westwick from the moment he read for the part of Chuck Bass. However, the network was not so pleased. "But he looks like a serial killer!" they protested. Lucky for us the producers won out. Also: the fictional GG kids will go to college next year in the show. [NYM]
• Speidi's wedding rings are literally the ugliest effing things we've ever seen. [TMZ]
• Pete Wentz says baby Bronx was a "happy accident." He tells Details, "I think that certain things happen for a reason in your life, and maybe it was time to put the wild child in a cage." [People]

"I've Had It Goin On Since Before You Were In GrrAnimals!" [5 Resolutions, via YouTube]
Earlier: Bea Arthur And Rock Hudson Gaily Sing About Drugs
Bea Arthur: Golden Bitch

Sniff Swig Puff - Bea Arthur And Rock Hudson [YouTube]

gaily