Earlier: Oprah's Favorite Things 2007: The Audience Freaks Out!

• Eminem says Elton John helped him fight his drug addiction. "He had a substance-abuse problem in the past. So when I first wanted to get sober, I called him," explains Em.

• He continues, "He's somebody who's in the business and can identify and relate to the lifestyle and how hectic things can be. He understands, like, the pressure and any other reasons that you wanna come up with for doing drugs. Me and him have had similar lives and stuff. So I reached out to him and told him, 'Look, I'm going through a problem, and I need your advice.'" [The Daily Express]
• Eminem is sending everyone who pre-orders his new album Relapse from the official website a copy of the video for "3 a.m." Also, he Tweeted: "I'm giving away an extra free song with my album if you buy the Relapse CD. I'm still on the run, my darling." [Rolling Stone]
• Hollywood producer Jon Peters' tell-all book will reveal that Barbara Streisand dated Robert Redford, Ryan O'Neal and Kris Kristofferson. [UPI]
• Farrah Fawcett has dropped the lawsuit she filed over the iconic photo of her in a red swimsuit. [TMZ]
• Craig Nevius is suing Ryan O'Neal and others, because he says he was responsible for the Farrah Fawcett documentary that will air tomorrow on NBC, but was pushed out of the project and O'Neal "physically threatened him." [TMZ]
• Kevin and "Aunt " Jodi Kreider, brother and sister-in-law of Kate Gosselin on Jon and Kate Plus 8 say that Jon had to empty his 401K because Kate has been keeping the money they earned from their reality show to herself. [Star]
• In this video interview, Jodi Kreider says, "It's a very sad situation... This is going to affect these children terribly, if she goes for a divorce. I think right now Kate is very lost and very blinded by her actions and what she is doing — [she] is not being a mother that is nurturing and hands on." [Radar Online]
• Jesus Luz's dad says that Madonna and his son are indeed having some sort of commitment ceremony, but it won't be legally binding. "The Kabbalah ceremony (that) will link up my son Jesus Luz and Madonna only confirms that he is extremely happy. I don't know if there will, in fact, be a real marriage between Madonna and my son. It will be a type of ritual, but I do not know Kabbalah (or if the ceremony) will have legal validity." [The Daily Express]
• To celebrate his birthday Robert Pattinson went out to dinner with Kristen Stewart... and his parents, plus a few New Moon crew members. [E!]
• Andre Agassi and Steffi Graff are suing companies that they say illegally used their names in website domain names. [UPI]
• Ashley Olsen posed for a series of "shocking" pictures in V Man magazine, in which her hair is dark and she's wearing a bra top. Mostly they're shocking because she doesn't looks more mature than when she was 8. [The L.A. Times]
• Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament was jumped and robbed by three thugs with knives. The robbers smashed the window of his car and chased after him when he tried to get away. They made off with $7,000 and Ament suffered a laceration on his head, but he's OK and the whole thing was caught on a security camera. [TMZ]
• Glenn Close wrote on the Huffington Post about her trip to prison for The Oprah Winfrey Show to talk about the Puppies Behind Bars program, in which inmates train service dogs. The footage will air on Friday's show. [The Huffington Post]
• Simon Cowell says in an interview with PETA, "I think it's nice that [the Obamas] have made an issue of buying a dog for the kids. What I think would be great would be if they also took in a shelter dog, just from anywhere, to balance it. I'll even pay for the dog food!" [Entertainment Weekly]
• Bette Midler has some unsolicited dating advice for Jennifer Aniston: "She should find somebody who is really hot, who's not in show business. Somebody with a lot of money, and she should live the large life and forget about these a—holes. She's a great girl. She's got everything going for her." Um, thanks? [People]
• In this video a homeless woman defends Katharine McPhee from the paparazzi: [Perez Hilton]
• Katie Price's management company will no longer represent her, but they're sticking with her husband Peter Andre, who recently announced he's divorcing her. [Mirror]
• Steven Speilburg says he created the video game "Boom Box" because he wanted a game that all of his seven children could play. He said he plays just about every video game that comes out and is a big fan of the Wii. "It's been very, very good for a parent like me who wants our kids not to be couch potatoes, but to get up and move their bodies around more," said Spielberg. [Reuters]
• James Tupper says of his newborn son with Anne Heche, "It's a bit like having an unreasonable employer. He doesn't give breaks." [People]
• Survivor winner Richard Hatch has been moved to a halfway house from the federal prison where he was serving his sentence for not paying taxes on his $1 million prize. [Yahoo]
• Hugh Jackman says he wasn't uncomfortable while giving his son "the talk." He said, "My dad never ever did it with me so I was very adamant that I was going to do it with my son." Jackman also told his son, "You just got to respect girls. But he goes, 'Dad are they hot, though?' That's what he always wants to know. I try to tell him that he not use me to get to them." [People]
• Shanna Moakler, who quit the Miss California USA organization because of Carrie Prejean called Ryan Seacrest's radio show this morning when she was very upset. You can listen here: [Perez Hilton]
• Morrissey has cancelled another show, but it's still not clear what illness he's suffering from. [BBC]
• Martin Scorsese may want Leonardo DiCaprio for the upcoming Frank Sinatra biopic, but the studio wants Johnny Depp. We don't see either in the role. Suggestions? [Deadline Hollywood Daily]
• Scotland Yard officials are considering cutting back on police protection for junior members of the royal family because the bill comes to £50 million a year. [The Daily Mail]
• Janice Dickinson attacked the paparazzi last night. You can check out the video and decide whether you think she was on something or not. [Perez Hilton]
• DMX was released from jail today after serving 90 days for cruelty to animals, possession of narcotic drugs, theft and possession of marijuana. [TMZ]
• Kevin Smith discussed why he decided to direct the film A Couple of Dicks, starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, Which he didn't write. He says, "After Zack and Miri - or after, rather, the collapse of Zack and Miri - I was just like, I don't feel like writing anything right now. I read it and I was like, this is like Lethal Weapon with 40 percent less action, which is something I can get my head around. On 30 Rock, one of the posters in Tracy's office is for a movie called Black Cop / White Cop, so when it was announced people were just like,"It's Black Cop / White Cop!" But it's not race-specific. It's not, "He's a white cop who plays it by the book. And he's a slaphappy black dude who's gonna teach him how to misbehave and be a real cop!" It's two guys who are longtime partners who kind of depend on the friendship." [New York Magazine]
• Mariska Hargitay is on Capitol Hill with her family for the second day in a row. [Politico]
• Dateline is devoting an entire hour to Taylor Swift later this month. Remember when that was a new show? [AP]
• In her Goop newsletter, Gwyneth Paltrow advised that people should play Coldplay if they are looking for good party music. "Gwyneth Paltrow is not a music expert but is an avid listener and knows how to get down," she wrote. [The Daily Express]
• There's more talk about cougars here from Vivica A. Fox, if you can stand it. [CBS News]
• Tori Spelling says when she was pregnant she was afraid of having a girl. "It turns out that Stella is a total mama's girl," she says of her 11-month-old. "For all my fears, without my even trying, Stella wants her mama. When she is in [husband] Dean's arms, she lunges for me the way Liam did for him." [People]
• Here's Winona Ryder's secret to looking young, according to a friend: "She is a very healthy eater, and I think that is a big part of it," says Collea. "It sounds boring, but the girl eats a lot of salads. And you know those giant Big Gulps cups that most people fill with soda? She's got hers filled with water." [People]
• Roadside Attractions bought the worldwide distribution right to Good Hair a documentary Chris Rock made about African-American hair culture after his daughter asked him, "Daddy, how come I don't have good hair?" [Variety]

(Special thanks to Rich, the wind beneath my wings/Pot Psychology life partner, for giving me such an awesome birthday present.)

[Los Angeles, February 3. Image via INF]

• Jennifer Lopez attended the Latino Inaugural Gala on Sunday and said of Barack Obama: "He is the biggest star here, even though it's chock-full of celebrities." Well, yeah. [People]

• Aretha Franklin warmed up for the inauguration with a Martin Luther King Jr. Day concert. She's gonna bring it today. [AP]
• Brad Pitt is psyched today! He says of Barack Obama's inauguration: "It's a new era for us - it reconfirms the original ideals of America. We're very excited about what the future holds. You see people look invigorated at home rather than the cynicism for the last 10 years." [Mirror]
• Ellen Burstyn says: "If you're only going to do one inauguration in your life, this is the one." [USA Today]
• Moby is in D.C. for the festivities, especially since he loves MoveOn.org. Apparently he DJ'd a party and the power went out, but then "hope" brought it back on, or something. [Politico]
• Isaiah Washington was one of the many, many celebs at the Huffington Post party. The place where you could see John Cusack hop a barricade to kiss Marisa Tomei. Washington got "star struck" by meeting Christiane Amanpour. [Politico]
• The Root Ball had Oprah, Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee and Chris Tucker, among others. David Gregory was seen dancing to Biz Markie. [WaPo]
• Ben Affleck is in D.C. where he says he'll "camp out" to get good seats. [MSNBC]
• Also in town: Ron Howard, Tom Hanks, Tina Brown, Sharon Stone. [WaPo]
• Want to know where the celebs will be tonight? There's a rundown of the balls and which stars are expected here. [Page Six]
• Serena Williams is at the Australian Open, but is following the Obama news on TV. "This is an amazing moment for American history. Even yesterday, the United States being Martin Luther King's birthday. To have his birthday and Obama's presidency fall so close to each other… This morning, I was watching on the TV before I went out to play. I looked at my arm, and I practically had chill bumps." [AP]
• Quincy Jones, Grammy Award-winning producer and composer, is now a newspaper columnist. [Reuters]
• Remember Vogue's tabloidy December issue with Jennifer Aniston on the cover, and the line, "What Angelina did was very uncool"? The mag sold an estimated 465,000 single copies of the issue, outselling the December 2007 issue by nearly 65,000 copies. Anna Wintour knows what people want. [WWD]
• Paris Hilton is at Sundance, though she seems to have no interest in movies. Her sister, Nicky has been avoiding her, and Paris has been ditching her MTV BFF Brittany Flickinger for Danity Kane singer Aubrey O'Day. [Page Six]
• Paris Hilton swears her airhead image is just an act. "I'm a lot more serious and shy...and if I'm not out, having to be, you know, 'on', I'm at home just chilling and wearing sweat pants." Plus! She's totes an artist: "I have a room in my house where I paint. I've been offered an exhibition, which I might do next year." [The Sun]
• Maybe it's the Utah altitude? Paris was seen sucking face with MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe at a Sundance party. [Gatecrasher]
• Lily Allen texted a nude picture to Ricky Wilson, the lead singer of the Kaiser Chiefs, by accident. A minute later Wilson got another text which read, "Sorry, wrong Ricky." Says Lily: "That was really embarrassing. I was completely topless." She claims she meant to send the snap to Rick Astley, yukyuk. [The Sun]
• In this video, Lily Allen talks about how she doesn't like how the world is so obsessed with celebrity culture, aesthetic beauty, money and consumerism. "And yet I'm a little pop star consumer," she muses. [Pop Dirt]
• Pete Doherty says of his buddy Amy Winehouse and her Caribbean vacation: "She had gone deeper and deeper into a black place. She needed a bright light. And that bright light turned out to be the sun." Profound! [ONTD]
• Meanwhile, Amy Winehouse has met a new fella in St. Lucia: A clean-cut tennis instructor. Love means zero! [The Sun]
• Amy's dad says: "Stories about my troubled daughter are selling newspapers and magazines. They don't want her to get better. But she is better. They didn't see her lying in bed for days in a dark room. She was close to death twice. We have been working a lot to get her to where she is right now." Liquored up in the Caribbean? Really? Guess it beats cracked out in Camdentown. Oh, and there's a documentary in the works, called Saving Amy. [Perez, People]
• SNL's Fred Armisen and Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss: It's on. The two were spotted canoodling. [Page Six]
• Hugh Laurie's Playboy interview touches on his house in Hollywood, depression, Facebook, his similarities to his character on House and the suicide pact he made when he was 15. [ONTD]
• Page Six has a bone to pick with Sean Penn. [Page Six]
• A one hour as-yet-untitled TV documentary about Spongebob Squarepants is in the works. That's right: Spongebob. [UPI]
• Meanwhile, Russell Simmons is working on Spongebob bling. [Gatecrasher]
• While filming the upcoming miniseries The Last Templar, Mira Sorvino broke five teeth trying to kiss Scott Foley on a speedboat. [Page Six]
• There's a hearing in the Roman Polanski case tomorrow, not that the director will be in the country. His lawyers are using information from the HBO documentary Wanted and Desired to try and get the case dismissed. [AP]
• Look for Kevin Kline, Paul Dano, Katie Holmes and John C. Reilly in The Extra Man, a comedy to begin filming in New York next month. [Variety]
• Aww, adorable pictures of Michael Stipe and his photographer boyfriend! [Perez]
• News you cannot use: Coolio has had crabs twice, and only once from a female. [The Sun]
• Jailed Boy George has been signing autographs for inmates who "demand" them. [Daily Mail]
• Blind item! "Which eccentric actor got his start in the biz by letting directors in where the sun don’t shine?" [Gatecrasher]
• James McAvoy hates overexposed Hollywood stars and thinks they're not thespians: "I just know so much about them. So how can I accept them in a role? There are just some people, they're not actors to me. They're chip paper. Just glossy paper. If I'm in a film, or a telly, or a play, then why should people come and see it? Because you know, they can just pick up some fucking rubbish magazine, and see me in that." [Daily Express]
• Olivia Newton-John says positive thinking helped her beat breast cancer: "I was terrified of chemotherapy, and nearly didn't have any. But my best friend Nancy reminded me that I had a little girl who needed me and that I had to take every chance I was given to beat the cancer. So rather than thinking about the toxins going through my body, I visualised a stream of pure gold. That night, instead of going to bed feeling lousy, I went to the cinema with Nancy." [Daily Mail]
• "I'm not so afraid of getting old, I'm more afraid of how I'll go. Fire and tight spaces don't appeal. A shark would be interesting." — Brad Pitt. [Reuters]
• "The one thing we have to offer, we are peddling joy with both hands. You come to our show and you will leave a happy camper. In a downturn, people need a few laughs. I know that sounds corny, and I can imagine some old-timer saying it. (But) I'm always happy to be uplifted when I go to a show. People look forward to it during the hard times. If they're looking forward to it, we got it." — Bette Midler on her Vegas stage show, The Showgirl Must Go On. [UPI]
• "[Antidepressants] are something I’ve tried that has helped. They’re probably good for my work because they help with confidence, and confidence is the prerequisite of all successful endeavors. But then again, as I said, I get suspicious if things start to feel too easy or comfortable, so that’s not a perfect solution either. Pharmaceuticals do raise the question of who we are as human beings. What are moods and feelings if we can change or even do away with them? Does that reduce the essence of who we are? Then again, I tend to overthink these things. I overthink everything, I think. But if your eyesight fails, it’s okay to wear glasses or contact lenses, is it not? If you feel cold, you put on a sweater. Is that changing the nature of who you are? No." — Hugh Laurie. [ONTD]
• "I didn’t go to acting school so I didn’t know that’s what I wanted to be. I came from a background of lawyers and academics and we just didn’t watch films in our household. I had no idea who Maggie Smith or Gary Oldman or any of these people were." — Emma Watson. [Daily Express]
• "I know the studio is gobsmacked by its success, and a lot of the critics have been surprised, but I wasn't. It was a no-brainer. I knew it would do well because it was aimed at an audience that has been neglected in recent years in film offerings - women. They are the last group anybody ever cares about." — Meryl Streep, on the commercial success of Mamma Mia, which has made almost $600 million worldwide. [Telegraph]

[Los Angeles, January 15. Image via INF]

• Video has leaked from tomorrow's episode of The View in which Barbara Walters asks Tom Cruise, a friend of John Travolta, about Jett's death. Tom gets emotional and insists Scientology is not to blame. [TMZ]

• The Travolta family is reportedly holding memorial service in Ocala, Florida this afternoon for Jett. It will take place at the Travolta's home, where fans have already started leaving flowers and messages of condolence at the gate. [E!]
• Tom Cruise wants to rehabilitate his image, and now says of his wacky antics a few years ago, "There are things that I could have done better." What most rehabilitates Tom in our eyes is that when asked about Suri's birth, he remembers that he has two older children tells a sweet story about when Bella was a baby. [The Telegraph]
• Travis Barker and DJ AM performed together in Las Vegas yesterday for the first time since their plane crashed in September. Understandably, they drove to Las Vegas from L.A. rather than flying. [People]
• In this video, Kid Rock says that the judge who ruled that performing for troops in Iraq doesn't count as community service can "suck my d—-" and adds, "How 'bout you go to Iraq for a while if you're such a badass." [TMZ]
• Pete Doherty hooked up with a series of random girls at a recent gig, and the evening yielded a picture of him making out with an unidentified brunette in front of a portrait of ex Kate Moss. [This Is London]
• The bad economy is no match for the King. Elvis Presley is number one on the Forbes magazine list of the top-earning dead celebrities in 2008. [UPI]
• The police dashcam video of Josh Brolin's Louisiana arrest last summer has been released. Residents of Shreveport, La. were outraged when video surfaced a few days ago of the police using pepper spray on Brolin and a public hearing is being held today to discuss what should happen to the officers. [TMZ]
• Someone broke the passenger side window of Ryan Gosling's SUV in the Hollywood Hills yesterday, but nothing was stolen. [TMZ]
• Poor Bette Midler. She can't move tickets to her Las Vegas show and Cher is selling out all of her performances same venue. [Perez Hilton]
• Kanye West is so excited that his album jumped from #5 to #3 on the U.S. album chart this week he wrote an all-caps blog exclaiming, "ART WINS!!!!!!!!! ART WINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and requested Perez Hilton post the news. [Perez Hilton]
• Soccer hunk Cristiano Ronaldo is fine after totaling his Ferrari by crashing into a barrier in a tunnel near Manchester Airport. His breathalyzer test came up negative, but there is no word on what did cause the crash. [People]
• Though Liev Schreiber admits he and Daniel Craig pushed each other's buttons while filming Defiance he also had kind words for his co-star. "I was really impressed that Daniel Craig was this major motion picture star who didn't go to his trailer in between takes. I'm accustomed to that with A-list actors," said Schreiber. "But Daniel didn't. He sat with us and told stories and we had snowball fights and we bonded." [Parade]
• Is Kevin Costner sick? He was rushed to the hospital on Tuesday after he started feeling so ill and lightheaded while driving that he pulled over and called 911. He was held overnight for tests, but they came back normal and he was released. "He's feeling fine and is back on his feet," says Costner's rep. [TMZ, People]
• TNT has given the green light to two new shows, Time Heals, starring Jada Pinkett Smith, and The Line starring Dyan McDermott [UPI]
• Apparently Brad Pitt was just pretending he needed to grow a mustache for Inglorious Basterds. The head of the film's hair dempartment said he was surprised when Pitt showed up with the 'stache and insisted on keeping it even though it was not true to period. Why, Brad, why? [NY Magazine]
• Artist Alex Gardega is painting a 6-foot nude portrait of Rachel Ray using paprika mixed with oils for her skin tones. Surely there is some profound meaning behind this work and it isn't just weird for the sake of being weird. [Newser]
• Britney's third single off Circus will be "If You Seek Amy," which has an obvious dirty meaning if you listen to the song. Will the song's entire chorus be censored for TV and radio? [E!]
• Jay Mohr has changed his name to Jay Cox Mohr to sh0w his love for his wife Nikki Cox, even though Jay Mohr Cox would have been so much more fun to say. [Dlisted]
• Photos from Verne Troyer's high school yearbook have been uncovered, which reveal that the Mini-Me actor was his high school's prom king. [Dlisted]
• After flying from L.A. to the U.K., Stefanie Powers, the American actress best known for starring in Hart to Hart, was detained by immigration officials over a work permit mix-up and missed her performance as a fairy godmother in a London panto play. [Daily Mail]
• Ana Ortiz of Ugly Betty and her husband Noah Lebenzon, guitarist for the band Half Life, are expecting their first child in July. [People]
• An all new cast of D-list celebs has been assembled for the second season of The Celebrity Apprentice, including Joan and Melissa Rivers, Andrew Dice Clay, Tom Green, and Khloe Kardashian. It premieres March 1, so you'll have to contain your excitement until then. [UPI]
• Winona Judd has signed on to be the new spokeswoman for the diet pill Alli. We do hope she knows about the side effects. [Perez Hilton]
• Stephanie March is returning to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for six episodes, reprising her role as prosecutor Alexandra Cabot. Her character was forced into witness protection program, but this will be the second time she's come back to town, which kind of defeats the purpose of the witness protection program, right?. [Yahoo]
• "I was brought up in a Catholic school and they told me gays were bad, adultery was bad and drugs were bad. At the same time, all my mum's friends were gay, my dad was having various affairs and there were drugs in the house when I was a kid – so it was a bit cruel." - Lily Allen on why she's "confused" about religion. [Word Magazine]

• Drew Barrymore and Justin Long: Dunzo. Sigh. They seemed so ridiculously happy, didn't they? They've been together since August 2007, though they knew each other for seven years before getting serious. Drew's been through so much… Sniff. [Us Magazine]
• Kate Moss and Jamie Hince: Also splitsville! Sob. Now Cher is stuck in my head. [People]
• Matthew McConaughey is a dad! Camilla Alves gave birth to a baby boy yesterday. Matt and Camilla are both "stoked." [Us Magazine]
• Lily Allen is back with Ed Simons from the Chemical Brothers. This is according to diligent reporting by checking their Facebook profiles. [The Sun]
• Oh! And Samantha Ronson bought Lindsay Lohan a $21,000 Cartier ring. It's not an engagement ring, it's a token of her commitment. But yeah. Ah, love. [Mirror]
• James Haven and Maddox Jolie-Pitt visited Angelina Jolie in the hospital over the weekend. Still no twins! [People]
• Amy Winehouse is addicted. To tanning beds. [The Sun]

• Wait! Amy Winehouse as Doctor Who? Seriously? [The Sun]
• Ashley Dupré, the high-class hooker of whom Eliot Spitzer was a client, is developing a cable reality series. Hmmm. Possible names: Hookin Ain't Easy, Girl Gone Mild, You, Me & Dupré. Meh. Got anything? [E!]
• Did Nicole Kidman name her new daughter Sunday because Keith Urban has a song called Sunday? Or is it because Nic's Catholic and still bitter about her Scientology experience? [MSNBC]
• Steve-O says that after 115 days of sobriety, he's "back in the looney bin." Uh-oh. [USA Today]
• Pete Doherty missed a £60,000 gig this weekend because his cat went into labor. Kittens! [The Sun]
• Serena Williams's maybe-boyfriend Common was in London where — what a coincidence! — Serena was kicking ass at Wimbeldon. She had a house, he had a hotel room, the whole thing is super hush-hush. [E!]
• Maggie Gyllenhaal checked in with Katie Holmes before she agreed to play the part of Rachel in the new Batman flick. "I wanted to be sure, first of all, that I had her blessing," Maggie says. "And I was assured that I did. I'm a big fan of hers, I think she was really great in the first movie. And yet I felt like it wouldn't have done anyone any good if I tried to imitate her. Really what I decided was that it had to be a whole new woman. If I'm going to do what I do well, I have to be free to do it." [Contact Music]
• Shaquille O'Neal is supposedly getting divorced, and yet he was all hugged up with the wife in the Cayman Islands over the weekend. [TMZ]
• Selma Blair was one of the only Hellboy II stars who didn't have to wear prosthetics or heavy makeup, so naturally, she teased her castmates relentlessly. "On the hottest days, when the other actors [couldn't] breathe in their makeup, I breeze in and say how sweaty I feel in my cotton tank top," she says. I plan to see this movie, and I'm not ashamed to say so. Anyone else? [Page Six]
• Are you interested in Kid Rock's "skanky panky"? Click here, no one will judge you. But it's not that interesting. [Rush & Molloy]
• Psyched about Mamma Mia!? Don't get your hopes up for an ABBA reunion tour. [Yahoo News]
• The Osbournes are coming back to TV! The family will host a prime-time variety hour kinda like Sonny and Cher had. Good idea? [Reuters]
• News you did not need to know: Flavor Flav lost his virginity at the age of six. [Perez Hilton]
• Keanu Reeves' court transcript regarding a paparazzo's negligence lawsuit will be sealed because it's none of your business. [E!]
• Kanye West may be taking anger management courses. [StereoHyped]
• "I thought innocent until proven guilty also applied in U.S. law. It seems sad when, as everybody who has had a drug problem knows, it takes supreme effort to get where I am today. I was really looking forward to doing my first live tour for a decade, and to be told that after all this hard work, I am not welcome in the U.S. for even six short weeks is heartbreaking. I am hardly a threat to national security. I am just a performer trying to do his job." — Boy George. [Newsweek]
• "My life is part humor, part roses, part thorns. I'll come off the stage at Texas Stadium (and) I'm a rock god. And then, an hour and a half later, I'm throwing a football and waiting for a cheeseburger from a truck stop at Carl's Corner, alongside a freeway. That is the balance in life." — Bret Michaels. [USA Today]
• "I don’t expect to ever get married again or have children. I am never at home and every woman gets sick of it… If I was them, I would never put up with me for long — and they don’t." — George Clooney. [MSNBC]
• Bette Midler answered Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire. Her life motto: "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke." [Variety]

Tina Fey (30 Rock), Glenn Close (Damages), America Ferrera (Ugly Betty), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (The New Adventures of Old Christine), Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives), Mariska Hargitay (Law and Order: SVU), Kyra Sedgewick (The Closer), Minnie Driver (The Riches), Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men) and Jeanne Tripplehorn (Big Love): these were the women who were nominated for Emmys, by-in-large playing strong, capable, well-written roles. And what's more, most of these women are, gasp, over 35.

Are there so many more available roles for women of a certain age on TV because producing a television show is that much cheaper? Are aging bodies less obvious on the small screen, and so they're more acceptable? Are Hollywood honchos just stuck believing that women don't see movies, or that men don't want to see movies with anything but eye candy? It's probably a combination of all of the above, and even though those televised, meaty roles are something to be proud of, there is not a single black actress on the short list for Best Actress Emmy (there are two Latinas: Ferrera and Eva Longoria-Parker).

I know I've said this so many times before, but there is something concrete we can do to help: go see movies made by women, or made with women in respectable roles. I'd tell you to go see something specific this weekend, but the only recent release with a plucky female protagonist is Kit Kittredge, and if you're not a Jezemom, I'm guessing that holds limited interest for you. Sigh. We clearly have a long way to go.

Warner Brothers Decides To Embrace The Women [Deadline Hollywood Daily]
Why Won't Warner Embrace The Women? [Deadline Hollywood Daily]
Warner's Robinov Bitchslaps Film Women [Deadline Hollywood Daily]
Sarah Silverman Lands In The Top 10 List Of Emmy semifinalists For Best Comedy Actress! [Gold Derby LAT]
Looks like Mary McDonnell Of 'Battlestar Galactica' And Elisabeth Moss Of 'Mad Men' Are On The Emmy Top 10 List [Gold Derby LAT]

Earlier: Ultimate Chick Flick The Women Is Finally About To See The Silver Screen

"Anyone who's seen Mean Girls knows what a fierce comic actress she is," Lambert continues, in a well-argued essay lamenting the loss of the Hollywood "comedy of equals."

The Screwball Comedies of the thirties and forties really were a Golden Age of well-matched onscreen couples. Film critics like A.O. Scott and Anthony Lane, and David Denby are not just whistling Dixie when they claim that it was better back then...Women remain a much underserved audience and we deserve much better than How To Lose A Guy Wearing 27 Dresses. I'm just thankful the discussions have finally been opened back up. There are many millions of different modes for being male and female in the modern age. Maybe someday soon we'll get to see some romantic comedies that genuinely reflect that. Lord knows Woody Allen's not gonna make them.

And seriously? What. Happened. In the thirties, tough dames like Rosalind Russell sparred with Cary Grant His Girl Friday while Katharine Hepburn and Cary duked it out in Bringing Up Baby and the Philadelphia Story. One could argue that these films of male and female equals disappeared during the late 40s in the post WWII push to get women back into the kitchen, but uh, it's been 60 years since then.

I imagine film execs think that a "comedy of equals" couldn't sell tickets and so give us movies about equally repellent personalities like that forthcoming Cameron Diaz/ Ashton Kutcher shitshow What Happens In Vegas. Maybe part of the problem is that movie actresses are now solely seen as the sum of their parts (the New Yorker's Anthony Lane on on Tina Fey: "She hasn't yet made up her mind how funny her body is meant to be. She isn't big enough to make a joke of her ripeness, like Bette Midler, but she's no Lily Tomlin, either."). Fingers crossed that Tina Fey and Diablo Cody's successes can help change all that, but it's going to take time.

In Which A Comedy Of Equals Beats A Bromance Every Time [This Recording]
Weekend Results [Box Office Mojo]
Anthony Lane Thinks Tina Fey Is Fat, But Not Fat Enough To Be Funny [Emily Magazine]

Earlier: Baby Mama Is Fertile Ground For Mixed Feelings From Reviewers
Does The Female "Buddy" Movie Exist?

The Good:
They don't call her The Divine Miss M for nothing.

Nom nom Colin Firth and the pretty lady on his arm.

Good for Heather Matarazzo and her girlfriend for keeping it simple.

Words I never thought I would say: Kelly Killoren Bensimon looks fresh, sophisticated, and classic in her exaggerated shirting dress. This is by far one of the best looks of the night: So effortless.

Also, I love Olivia Palmero taking boho chic (a heinous phrase, I know) to the max.

I have no idea if daughter-of-Meryl Mamie Gummer can act, but I totally love how she dresses. In short black she remains cute and sweet.

Sure both Kathy Najimy and Gloria Steinem have been sporting the same look, respectively, for like the past 15 years now — but I wouldn't mind aging like Steinem and stealing her outfit when I do.

Jesus, even Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick turned up looking kicky last night.

Go for the gold, Helen Hunt.

The Bad:
Bernadette Peters is inching dangerously close to pathetic old cat lady in this outfit.

Aw, it's Magda (aka Lynn Cohen)! Only, she looks like she stepped out of a time machine that just returned from 1988.

No Ricki, no Ricki, no!

Ew: It's Jessica Seinfeld. (Oh and also that rich famous dude she married.)

The Ugly:
And today Irina Pantaeva shows up dressed like a ladybug.

[Images via FilmMagic.]

Such devotion is why Canadian reporter Carl Wilson set out to investigate what exactly makes people love Celine in his just-published book Let's Talk About Love: A Journey To The End Of Taste. "It's hard to imagine an audience that could confer less cool on a musician," muses Wilson in his tale of the big voice, the saccharine lyrics, and the insane fans. For months, Wilson listened and listened and listened to nothing but Dion, hoping to overcome his visceral hatred for her and her music and understand what so impassions her fans. His conclusion? "Her voice itself is nouveau riche... a luxury item, and Céline wants to share its abundance with her audience...It deals with problems that don't require leaps of imagination but require other efforts, like patience, or compromise" and while it may be "lousy music to make aesthetic judgments to," it "might be excellent for having a first kiss, or burying your grandma, or breaking down in tears."

Celine Dion, She Went On And On [NY Times]
Taster's Choice [NYMag]

• Britney Spears backed out of recording a duet with Justin Timberlake at the last minute. Says an insider, "She's sick... sick in the head. She needs help. What she's got - and we've heard it's like bipolar disorder - can easily be treated with medication, but she won't do it." If all this is an elaborate plot to promote her appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards, it's working. We're not going to miss that shit. [Page Six]
  
• Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx reminisces about the old days, when he and his buddies would bet on who could have sex with the fattest chick or tag team a mother and daughter. Ah, memories! [Page Six]
  
• Is Marc Jacobs engaged to his boyfriend Jason Preston? A source says Preston was seen "flashing a Cartier ring to his friends, telling everyone he was engaged." [Gatecrasher, 2nd item]

• Blind item! "Which celebrity actress' Xanax prescription is often passed around in Los Angeles nightclubs by an equally famous younger actress, who's friends with her daughter?" [Gatecrasher, last item]
• Tyra Banks has cut her manager Benny Medina,loose. Medina had a bitter legal breakup with former client Jennifer Lopez, but his split with Tyra is said to be amicable. [Rush & Molloy]
• Madonna's husband Guy Ritchie broke his gamekeeper's arm in a "play fight." Ouch. [Rush & Molloy, 2nd item]
• Beyoncé accidentally flashed fans during a fashion line launch in Toronto. Boobielicious? [Rush & Molloy, 6th item]
• OMG, there's video! [Egotastic]
• Lindsay Lohan may not be charged with three counts of felony — meaning she won't do prison time (but maybe 4 days in jail). We'll see! [TMZ]
• Carey Hart — motocross star and husband of Pink — says the reports of him making out with other girls are "just a bunch of trash talk" and a "nasty rumor." He adds, "Everything's fine." We desperately want to believe him. [People]
• Gwen Stefani stayed covered up when she played a concert in Malaysia, because of the Islamic country's dress code. Under Malaysian government rules, a female artist must be covered from her shoulders to her knees. We predict Britney Spears will never play Malaysia. [People]
• Nicole Richie will wait until after she gives birth to get married. "She wants to do it on her own schedule," says a source. "And it will be done because they are in love, not because they are up against some deadline." Also? She needs to do a little jail time. [E!]
• Noted environmentalist Bette Midler cut down more than 230 trees around her property in Hawaii without a permit and was fined $6,500. Whoops! [Yahoo!]
• Are Kate Moss and Pete Doherty back together? Sources say she ignored him while she was on vacation in Spain, but now that she's back in London, it's on — and the two are shacked up in a hotel together. A source also says Kate swears she's "miserable without him and desperately happy with him." [DailyMail]
• Lily Allen supports Amy Winehouse and hopes she gets well. "I've been around enough substance abuse to know it's a serious matter," Lily says. Still, raising your glass to someone who has a drinking problem is a little rude, no? [Mirror]
• Amy Winehouse's entire North American tour is canceled, by the way. [USA Today]
• Jack Osbourne says he'll never sleep with a famous girl again. "They are all insecure, rail thin and obsessed with themselves — I've never met a normal one." We're not sure any famous girls are actually falling over themselves to hook up with Jack, but we respect his statement. [The Sun]
• Paris Hilton is picking up some eco-tips from her new friend, Entourage star Adrian Grenier. He's helping her pick out a home that she can easily convert into an environmentally friendly living space. As long as this friendship stays a friendship, we applaud him. [Showbuzz]