• 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]

[New York, December 2. Image via Splash.]

• Madonna and Alex Rodriguez are "quietly" shopping for a love nest in Manhattan. Is this relationship really real? And why so quick on the rebound, your Madgesty? [Page Six]
• Neither Angelina Jolie nor Brad Pitt can really cook. Angie's "signature dish" is cereal. Brad says, "I can rock a Sunday BBQ but that’s as far as my culinary talents go." [The Sun]
• Barack Obama will almost certainly be Barbara Walters' "Most Fascinating Person of 2008." [Rush & Molloy]
• Beyoncé, blue? Back in 1999, after Destiny's Child changed group members, and the former members accused her father of failing to share profits, Beyoncé felt that everyone blamed her for the group's troubles. She says, "For a couple of years when I was 19 I suffered depression." [Daily Express]
• Check out Beyoncé on the cover of Giant. [Concrete Loop]
• Sienna Miller and Balthazar Getty want to do a film together? Is this a joke? [The Sun]

• Amy Winehouse sent X Factor judge Louis Walsh a green tie and shamrock cufflinks as a thank you for being nice to her goddaughter Dionne, who visited the show. The gift came with a handwritten note. A source says: "I very much doubt that Amy wrote it herself as at the end of note there was just a scrawling signature in completely different writing." [The Sun]
• Kate Moss and Jamie Hince had a "scuffle" over their holiday plans: Kate had scratches on her cheek; Jamie had a black eye from her chunky ring. [Page Six]
• OMFG: Gossip Girl's Ed Westwick and Jessica Szohr (Chuck Bass and Vanessa) were seen "canoodling" at the Dallas airport on Sunday night. [Page Six]
• Did anyone see Nastia Liukin on Gossip Girl last night? [LA Times]
• Speaking of Gossip Girl, Kelly Rutherford, aka Lilly van Der Woodsen, is expecting her second child. [ET]
• Gwyneth Paltrow is still with Chris Martin; the rumors that she'd shacked up with a real estate billionaire appear to be false. [Rush & Molloy]
• This reporter is shocked that there are dozens of Facebook groups dedicated to "bullying" Nicole Kidman. One is called "Am I Taking Crazy Pills or is Nicole Kidman the Worst Actress in the World?" and another is "Nicole Kidman Looks Like An Alien With Foetal Alcohol Syndrome." The writer claims, "She is hard-working and dedicated to her family and hasn't a hint of the prima donna about her, they say." [News.com.au]
• Kanye West was playing his new album for the band Keane so loud that he blew up the mixing desk. [The Sun]
• Try to picture Keanu Reeves on a panel with Caltech researchers. It's happening Friday; he's discussing his flick The Day The Earth Stood Still and how "science in the movie meshes with real world scientific research." [UPI]
• The new season of American Idol will be "more real" and "intimate" and "raw," "letting the kids be more emotional." Somehow, Paula Abdul plays a role in this. [MSNBC Scoop]
• You know how Peaches Geldof was working on a magazine? It's called Disappear Here and it will be distributed free on Thursday, in "secret places" in New York. [Gawker]
• News you can't use: Clay Aiken is a "hands-on dad." [People]
• Lost fans: There's a casting call out for a father and son who speak Arabic… Sayid backstory plotline alert! [EW]
• Former UCLA Medical Center employee Lawanda Jackson pleaded guilty Monday to selling confidential info about Farrah Fawcett's cancer battle to the National Enquirer. Plus, she used her boss's password to access the medical records of dozens of patients, including Britney Spears and Maria Shriver. She'll be sentenced in May. [Yahoo News]
• Parminder Nagra, who plays Dr. Neela Rasgotra on ER — and whom some may recall as "Jess" from Bend It Like Beckham, is pregnant with her first child. The baby daddy is boyfriend James Stenson, a photographer, with whom she's been for 7 years. [Us Magazine, UPI]
• Courteney Cox Arquette will be on three episodes of Scrubs, starting January 6. Matthew Perry will also show up on Scrubs, later in the season. [People]
• Eva Longoria smokes. [Perez Hilton]
• "Michael Phelps has turned into a party and poker animal, surrounding himself with bimbos and booze." [Page Six]
• M.I.A. is expecting a B.A.B.Y. and is keeping B.U.S.Y. — she has 3 songs on the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack and launched N.E.E.T., a record label to bring politically charged music to the mainstream. She says: "I think my baby is going to start off making club music. That's all I've been listening to. Of course, you never know. When you want someone to do something, it ends up doing the opposite. It might end up being an accountant." [USA Today]
• Uma Thurman's parents unknowingly hired Tanya Hollander — who is accused of booking call girls at Eliot Spitzer's fave escort service — to manage their upstate yoga center. [NY Post]
• Mariah Carey's husband Nick Cannon has purchased a million dollar ski chalet for Mimi in Aspen. Joint bank account though, right? [Mirror]
• Gabrielle Union says the rumor mill helps her dating life: "Ludacris and Hill Harper are two of my closest male friends, and people always said we were all dating. It's like they were blocking for me. I could date the people I wanted to date and no one ever knew because they thought I was, as somebody said, 'sucking face' with Hill Harper." [Daily Express]
• Ellen Page's Oscar nomination is not enough to get her membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences — the peeps who vote on the Oscars. [NY Mag]
• Cate Blanchett: Getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this Friday! [Daily Express]
• Akon's trial for endangering the welfare of a minor — stemming from when he threw a 15-year-old kid off the stage in a 2007 concert — has been postponed until December 17. [Perez Hilton]
• Donald Trump's brother, Robert, is getting divorced from socialite and major philanthropist Blaine Trump. [NY Post]
• Naomi Campbell's Russian billionaire boyfriend punched a photographer in the gut. [Page Six]
• We haven't seen Cher in a while, because she's been in Nepal working with orphans. [Page Six]
• Hear Helena Bonham Carter's voice in an MTV ad about domestic abuse. [Guardian]
• Singer Bryan Adams has called the cops over a mother and son stalker team. The pair — possibly from Romania and suffering psychiatric problems — have been following Adams for weeks. [The Sun]
• Did the fact that Axl Rose went "missing" for two months cost Guns N' Roses the number one slot on the charts? [The Sun]
• The set used for the British TV show The Office was destroyed after a massive explosion and fire. [Daily Express]
• "Some people talk about their personal lives a lot. I try not to, unless it's more of a generality. I don't want to broadcast my personal life because I feel it's off-putting. People are like, 'Oh, shut the fuck up. Cry me a river.' Who wants to hear the reality, really? You can't win." — Kate Bosworth. [Daily Expess]
• "I sit with my investors and business managers and accountants looking at the numbers and I’m like, 'Yo, the values of stocks in different areas that I invested in are decreasing!' So I take the loss like everybody else…I’m waking up in a room that was previously Mike Tyson’s bedroom, a fighter who earned over $500 million in his actual career, and when I purchased his house from him he was in bankruptcy…If that’s not a strong enough reminder for you, I don’t know what’s going to remind you to be aware of where you are financially and make conscious decisions…" — 50 Cent, in Forbes. [The.Life Files]

[New York, November 20. Image via Splash.]

[New York, November 20. Image via Splash.]

• Diddy likens himself to Obama. Speaking of his new fragrance, "I Am King," he declares, "When you see Barack Obama, you see a strong, elegant black man and when people see my ad, it's almost like that's the trend." [WSJ]
• "Mr. Obama sometimes wears jeans, as he did for a rally on Oct. 28, but his jeans are the loose, jingle-the-change-in-your-pocket type. He belts them at the waist, and when he wears them with white sneakers and a windbreaker, one could almost say he had stolen the look from Jerry Seinfeld’s character on the television series." — Cathy Horyn. [NY Times]
• Meanwhile, Donna Karan is rarin' to dress Michelle. “It’s not about her clothes, it’s really about who she is, and her passion for children, culture and wellness. I’m hoping to get to work with them — it would be my dream. They are so committed to ideals that are much in alignment with mine.” [WWD]

• Rumor has it that Pamela Anderson will be in a Vivienne Westwood campaign! But before she gets too excited: it's set in a trailer park. [New York Magazine]
• The Crocs bubble has officially burst. [Reuters]
• Gwyneth breaks it down: "Personally, I like to stick to the classics in both my everyday life and in the evening. Whether I am going to meet friends for dinner, a cocktail party or a bigger event, the most classic of classics, the little black dress, never fails me. I have found a few great ones in all different price ranges and each has amazing versatility. It could be Zara, it could be Balenciaga, but a well-cut, well-proportioned black dress has gotten me through many a fashion crisis." She pairs them with my betes noires, booties and gladiator boots. [Goop]
• We're reserving judgment on the new Diane Von Furstenberg blog: "The blog will be updated daily and will include news, shots of new items, horoscopes, cultural advice, and personal photos and posts by the Diane herself." [Fashionista]
• Ed Westwick's K-Swiss ads further remind us that he is no Chuck Bass. [Just Jared]
• Tartan is back. Why? Because apparently "plaid equals happiness." The Times suggests "a plaid scarf over a checked shirt and a plaid sport coat, topped with a tweed driving cap." [New York Times]
• Comme des Garcons for H&M is here. Shop at your own risk. [Sassybella]
• Wall Street Journal guy discovers there is no warranty on running shoes. [WSJ]
• Teens are apparently unembarrassed to dress exactly like Gossip Girl characters. [Portfolio]
• Ew. Is Vuitton bringing back the Stephen Sprouse graffiti bag? [Fashionista]
• They're refusing to confirm that Madonna's their new spokestar. [WWD]
• Stuart Weitzman plays a lot of ping pong. [Fashion Informer]
• (designer) Sienna Miller, for her part, enjoys Monopoly. [WWD]
• Dior Homme goes all porn-y for their new campaign. [NY Magazine]
• Uniqlo sells the new bra top through profiling: "20- to 40-year-olds were filmed answering a range of questions, from their favorite food to what they liked about Uniqlo products, and the answers were then played on a microsite for like-minded women. Filtering criteria allowed visitors to find women of a similar height, weight and shape and see how they answered the questions." [AdAge]
• Simon Doonan gets Tom Brokaw to unveil the Barney's Christmas windows. "I wanted someone with a little bit of gravitas to cut the ribbon," quoth he. [Style.com]
• Perry Ellis is pessimistic. [WSJ]
• Urban Outfitters, at least, is up! [WSJ]
• Marc Jacobs: "I've had boyfriends who were media whores, and, God bless them, they were great people." [New York Post]

[New York, November 12. Image via Splash.]

• Sean Penn: Lousy gay lover! Diego Luna was asked about kissing Sean for Milk and said, "It was...dry." He added: "I guess he was thinking about Franco." But costar James Franco claims kissing Sean was "fine." Not hot, steamy, fun. Fine. [E!]
• Britney's youngest son, Jayden, has been released from the hospital. He was rushed to the emergency room on Sunday is because he had an allergic reaction to something he ate. The 2-year-old had hives, was itchy and irritable. The family is "just not sure" what triggered the reaction. [Page Six, TMZ]
• Madonna had a dinner party at her apartment and invited her non-Kabbalah friends, so they could meet her "friend" Alex Rodriguez. [Mirror]
• Madonna let Guy see his sons! There's a picture of Rocco and David at the airport, hugging Guy. Apparently Madonna has a list of demands that Guy must meet while the kids are with him in London. It includes a ban on TV, non-organic food and clothes not sent by her. For some reason, can't you picture Guy getting the kids hopped up on sugar and Disney cartoons? [Daily Mail]
• People and Us Weekly put Barack Obama on their covers, and those issues sold extremely well. America wasn't interested in Jennifer Aniston or Suri Cruise last week? Really? [MSNBC]

• Will a Barack Obama documentary sweep the Emmys? It's co-produced by Ed Norton… [LA Times]
• Malia and Sasha Obama might get to visit the set of Hannah Montana! "The invitation is there," Billy Ray Cyrus says. "The Hannah Montana film comes out in April. Maybe something might happen around then. Maybe not. I don’t know… I have got to keep a secret." Uh, too late! [Access Hollywood]
• Michelle Williams' dad, Larry Williams, a prominent stock market trader, has agreed to return to the U.S. to face tax evasion charges. He's been in Australia, though he's actually a resident of the Virgin Islands. He possibly owes $1.5 million in unpaid taxes. [Yahoo News]
• Here's a snippet from the Blake Lively interview in W magazine: "Lively doesn’t even attempt to hide her glee at all the freebies foisted upon her, from designer dresses and diamond bangles to an utterly insane number of pricey purses. 'I probably have, like, 60 gorgeous bags,' she says. 'I have a closet with my really sharp, fancy, nice ones—the ones that go with my Valentino pumps, for example. And then I have a closet with the ones that are a little more rugged-feeling, the kind that go with my Belstaff motorcycle boots.'" [W]
• Juliette Lewis met Ed Westwick and said, "Who is this guy?" Someone's not watching Gossip Girl. He's Chuck Bass! [Rush & Molloy]
• The creators of Gossip Girl say the show is like "a chess game." See, "Chuck and Blair are the king and queen. Everyone else, except Serena, is a pawn.” Hmm, isn't the show more like Trouble, what with the pop-o-matic dice and the moving in circles? Wait, what was the question again? [People]
• Amy Winehouse "lost it" after finding out Blake Fielder-Civil contacted the "other woman" when he got out of jail. Blake Formerly Incarcerated says, "She hasn’t dumped me. We both love each other and will be together for ever. We have spoken on the phone and I’m expecting a visit from her any time now. We can’t wait to be back together." Keep hope alive! [The Sun]
• When asked about the rumors linking him to Evan Rachel Wood, Mickey Rourke said, "She's a good friend, that's it. Tell that faggot who wrote all that shit in the paper I'd like to break his fucking legs." Whoops! Mickey's sorry! Rourke has released a statement which reads, "I want to sincerely apologize for the derogatory word I used. It was insensitive and inappropriate of me and I am deeply sorry that I may have offended anyone." [Yahoo News via E!]
• Nicole Kidman was on Oprah yesterday, and at O's urging, she pulled out a picture of her baby, Sunday Rose. [Perez Hilton]
• Speaking of Nicole, something is up with her new flick, Australia. The studio forced director Baz Luhrmann to change the ending, but don't click unless you want to know, this entire article is a spoiler alert. [LA Times]
• Mariah Carey's demands for the World Music Awards: A £100,000 private jet transport to the ceremony in Monte Carlo and a £10,000-a-night penthouse suite at the exclusive Hotel de Paris for two nights. Plus! VIP treatment for her 15-member entourage. [Daily Mail]
• Mariah was on Simon Cowell's X Factor over the weekend, and some people are saying it was one of her worst performances ever. Click for video and judge for yourself. (My 2¢: Her voice is not what it used to be.) [The.Life Files]
• Blind item! "Which proud new papa isn't much of a family guy? The handsome actor, notorious for having a roving eye, was spotted leaving a downtown hot spot with the beautiful bartender." [Rush & Molloy]
• Evan Rachel Wood claims the Obama camp wanted Marilyn Manson to play for Barack. A spokesperson says, "That it not true." [Yahoo News]
• Isaiah Washington is speaking out about Brooke Smith being fired from Grey's Anatomy: "I looked at a brilliant actress, whom I have adored since I first saw her in Silence of the Lambs. For her to be treated this way, I find very interesting. The fact is that, just before the holidays, you have a mother, a wonderful actress removed from a steady income without the proper reasoning behind it…You look at the way another consummate professional [is] being treated because her character, her story line [has] potentially made producers uncomfortable. Now that I see what they're doing to a show that I love and I care about, I think it's disgusting. The fact that Shonda has been put in this position is extremely unfair. It's unfortunate because it was probably, at the time, the most progressive show on television. Now I see it [being] systematically torn apart. Bring Burke back!" Yeah, that's right, Burke. Not Brooke. He's talking about himself, you see. [Perez Hilton
• Oh dear: Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt will guest star on How I Met Your Mother. Well, at least Heidi's psuedo-employed after losing her fake job. [E!, People]
• America Ferrera will star and executive produce a drama called American Tragic, about a young war vet who sets off across the country with a buddy to find redemption. Ferrera will play his wife. [Variety]
• Queen Latifah will host the People's Choice Awards on January 7. [Variety]
• Are Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel getting married or not? (Seems like "not.") [MSNBC]
• Tim Robbins is still battling the New York City board of elections. Did he show up to the wrong polling place? Or did they change his location without him knowing? [Page Six, NY Times]
• Regis Philbin gave his old elementary school $1.5 million in 2005; it's since been shut down. Think he wishes he had the cash back? [Page Six]
• Will Eminem's new CD come out on time? There was a December due date, but a source says, "He is being a perfectionist and is completely obsessive-compulsive about this album. There's a 50-50 chance it will be done by the end of this year - but most likely it'll be the first quarter of next year." After this long, why rush? [Page Six]
• NBC's Medium returns in January with new castmember Tracy Pollan, aka Mrs. Michael J. Fox. [EW]
• In Roger Moore's memoir, you learn that that during the filming of Live and Let Die, his first Bond flick, he had kidney stones, so he took a painkiller, methylene, that both knocked him out and turned his urine blue. He woke up in the middle of the night, mistook his closet for a bathroom and peed all over his clothes, "dying them a delightful azure." [Time]
• Kelsey Grammer on Sarah Palin: "I don't know that she doesn't know that Africa is a continent… And if I read it in the New York Times, I have to get a second source." Damn librul media! [TMZ]
• The Dallas reunion was a Texas-sized mess! Hundreds more people than expected showed up for Saturday night's barbecue and cast reunion at Southfork Ranch; angry fans complained they didn't get the access to cast members they'd paid $500 to see; while others got close to the stars without paying. [Yahoo News]
• By the by, Mayim Bialik, the star of '90s sit com Blossom, had a baby about a month or two ago. Her second child, a boy named Fred. [TMZ]
• Former boy band mogul, Lou Perlman, is discussed in a new book, and the consensus is the dude is "creepy" and tried to "wrestle" with the boys he managed. Perlman's currently serving a 25-year jail sentence for conspiracy, money laundering, etc. [Rush & Molloy]
• Actress Gong Li: Being called a traitor, because she's decided to become a Singaporean citizen. (She was born and raised in China.) [Breitbart]
• Tony Dow, who played Wally on Leave It To Beaver, will have one of his abstract sculptures on display at the Louvre. Upgrade! [Yahoo News]
• Headline of the day: "Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham wants to play a song for President George W Bush called 'Treason.'" [Telegraph]
• WTF. Another William Shatner video, in which he talks shit about George Takei. [Perez Hilton]
• James Cromwell, who starred in the Babe movies, is recovering from a broken collarbone and partially deflated lung after falling off of his bicycle in an L.A.-area canyon on Sunday. He should be out of the hospital now. That'll do! [AP]
• Geri Halliwell has dumped her "toyboy" lover, dancer Ivan "Flipz" Velez. He's devastated. Maybe his new middle name will be "Mopez." [Mirror]
• Here's a rare photograph of Marilyn Monroe in stockings and garters. [Telegraph]
• Chris March of Project Runway was interviewed by a snarky New York magazine editor and wasn't really amused. The writer was mocking Seal's facial scars, though, so: Team March. [NY Mag]
• Beyoncé says offers have come in from magazines wanting wedding pictures and it's "crazy money that's just ridiculous." Don't worry, B is classier than that: "It's so not worth it. If anything, if you wanna put something out, then put it out, not for (money). We worked really hard at keeping it private. I've always been this way, and he's always been this way, so that's why we complement each other. We always knew that it would be private and quiet, for all the right reasons." [AP]
• Here's a lovely poem Chuck Norris has written about Barack Obama's "political stink." It rhymes! [E&P Pub]
• "He’s never let himself become a lost cause. He’s hardcore and very strong. Off-duty he flies his own plane and helicopter and he insists on doing as many of his own stunts as possible. It’s him riding the bikes and throwing the punches — he doesn’t palm it off to a stunt man." — Jamie Milnes, Harrison Ford's personal trainer, on working with him for Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. [Telegraph]
• "I thought it would be easy to cast a Bond girl, because there are so many beautiful women in this world. But not many of them can act. Their acting needed to be really strong and three-dimensional. Historically, the role of women in the world has changed. You can't have someone in a Bond film just as a sex object. [But] they have to be sexy and beautiful. That's what people expect, and that's what Bond is about." — Quantum Of Solace director Marc Forster. [Esquire]
• "I call her 'The Mouse.' And The Mouse holds on to the edge of a chair now and is gaining the confidence to think, 'Maybe these legs belong to me.' I keep telling Nicole that it's a bad sign, because once those legs gain confidence, then they're out of here!" — Lionel Richie on 10-month-old granddaughter Harlow. [People]
• "She taught me the importance of looking good and feeling good but also that beauty comes from within, because it fades. I looked at her like a therapist and a makeover queen –- the perfect glamorous smart woman. People would walk in, talk to her and tell her their issues and they'd walk out feeling and looking like a new woman." — Beyoncé, on her mother, who owned a hair salon when B was a kid. [People]
• "It's cool when you have a movie where you can show another side of yourself, like this one does. The movie is not going to be successful, I don't think. It's not the usual Van Damme action movie, so I'm not really kicking butt. People who know me, they know my story, that I came with nothing and because famous with martial arts. I did the movie because it felt good to do something like that. [I won't do a reality show because] I don't want to expose my family or even my animals to the cameras all the time. You can't even go to the toilet because they shove a camera up your butt. I would probably throw the camera out the window. They did approach me once, though — the channel with the guy with the long hair. Gene Simmons? [Checks with son.] No, it was Ozzy Osbourne, who's a big teddy bear. A letter came to my desk and he wanted to know if I'd do a reality show. Bad or good, only God should know what you're doing at all times." — Jean-Claude Van Damme. [WSJ]
• "It was OK. I wasn’t into the waif thing. She kind of looked like my nephew. I mean she’s beautiful – she’s a very pretty nephew – but I’m more into curvy women." — Mark Wahlberg on posing with Kate Moss in those 1992 Calvin Klein ads. [The Sun]
• "I'm running a business. And sometimes being the boss of your own empire and creation, you have to be assertive. Being a female, that comes with being labeled a 'bitch' and given titles that men wouldn’t receive. But if that’s what I’m going to be called by being assertive and knowing who I am and what I want out of life, so be it. I wear that label proudly." — Christina Aguilera in Rolling Stone. [MSNBC]
• "I apparently offended some animal lovers. Um, really people? I love animals as much as anyone, I don't eat pork – so for those of you fighting that good fight against me ... shut up! I was just pointing out the fact that people in California seem to care more about animal rights than human rights … I'm not running around killing chickens for fun or firing a slingshot at a squirrel." — Samantha Ronson, resonding to people who were offended by her Prop 2 vs. Prop 8 post. [People]
• "[I said] 'Sen. Obama, when you were in school in Boston, did you encounter any racism?' And he said something really interesting. He said, um. He said, 'I'm Kanye West.'" — Sarah Silverman. [Page Six]

Researchers studied the television viewing habits of 718 adolescents ages 12-17. Among those 718, 58 girls became pregnant over the course of the three-year study, and 33 boys were responsible for getting someone pregnant. "About 25 percent of those who watched the most [sexually explicit shows] were involved in a pregnancy, compared with about 12 percent of those who watched the least," the Post notes.

Researchers would not call out specific shows for particularly salacious episodes, but they did say that Sex and the City, Friends, and That 70s Show were among the programs watched by the teens involved in the study. Anita Chandra, one of the behavioral scientists who conducted the research, tells the AP, "We're not saying we're establishing causation, but we are saying this is one factor that we were able to prospectively link to the teen pregnancy outcome." Chandra also stresses that the sex on many television shows is problematic for teens because it is shown without consequences. "If teens are getting any information about sex" on these programs, Chandra says, "they're rarely getting information about pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases."

Laura Lindberg of the Guttmacher Institute finds the study overly simplistic. "It may be the kids who have an interest in sex watch shows with sexual content," Lindberg says. "I'm concerned this makes it seem like if we just shut off the TV we'd dramatically reduce the teen pregnancy rate."

All the experts concur that parental involvement helps reduce the risk of pregnancy in teens, regardless of whether or not those teens are watching high schoolers give each other BJ's on the new 90210. But Chandra did find that TV has become significantly more sexually explicit in the last few years. Simultaneously, after almost 2 decades of decline, teen pregnancy rates increased in 2006. Is there a chance that those horny Gossip Girl teens really are influencing real life adolescents negatively?

Study First to Link TV Sex To Real Teen Pregnancies [Washington Post]
Study Links Teen Pregnancy To Sexy TV Shows [AP via Yahoo]
Sex on TV Increases Teen Pregnancy, Says Report [Time]

Earlier: Teenage Pregnancies On The Upswing. Is Angelina To Blame?

New York, November 1. Image via Bauer-Griffin.

[Blake Lively & Penn Badgley shooting "Gossip Girl," New York, October 29. Image via Splash.]

• Kate Moss' line for TopShop sells out in 15 minutes! "Crowds of young women, who started queuing at 7.45am, scooped up the must have designer gear without even trying it on. " [Daily Mail]
• Rachel Weisz on method acting:"We were talking about the character of Penelope when I suddenly ran upstairs and brought down these old boots. They’re basically a cross between a clown boot and a Victorian lace-up boot....They suit Penelope because they don’t go with anything, they’re really clumpy and they gave me a funny walk. The character came entirely out of those boots — I wear them in every single scene!" If shleppy shoes equal verite, color me Stella Adler! [ElleUK]
• Piaf-impersonator Marion Cotillard signed by Dior. [WWD]
• Lagerfeld descends upon the Green Mountain State. He'll be the cadaverous one in the high collar who calls you "demode." [Fashionista]

• Peter Som leaves Bill Blass. “This was an extremely difficult decision for me...At this time, however, I have chosen to focus on my own namesake collection and the development of the Peter Som brand.” [WWD]
• NARS sells condoms. With Orgasm blush, natch. They also hedge their bets with a "ways to say no" package which, yes, also comes with the blush. As long as you have Orgasm! Sales benefit Amfar programs to promote global safe sex education initiatives. [BeautyAddict]
• Louboutin ups the ante with an 8" heel. The truly fashion-forward amongst us sigh up for stiltwalking, purchase matching Uncle Sam outfits. [Guardian]
• Way to de-sexy underwear moddles: "According to Make Me A Supermodel stylist Tiana Wallace, just one slice (of bread) wedged in the front of a pair of briefs is the secret ingredient to achieving the sought-after "smooth look.'' The crumb potential sounds uncomfy! [News.com.au]
• As elections approach, American Apparel amps up its "Legalize LA" campaign. [Reuters]
• Bluefly.com introduces shop-by-character Gossip Girl pages. Best part? You can skip the tedious "say-you-love-me-first" plotline! [Extra]
• Want to see something weird? Warning: there's music. [Live Science]
• Levi's introduces the new "Ultimate Lift 544 jeans." To wear with the new ass bras, perhaps? [WWD]
• Estee Lauder is up, but cautious. [Reuters]
• Did Paul Smith plagiarize this artist's work? [Flight404]
• Just in time for the recession, Tom Ford introduces $9,240 fur boots "calculated to appeal to wealthy glam junkies and luxury ski freaks in places like Aspen and Gstaad." Barf. [Luxist via New York]
• Even Rachel Roy can't find anything in picked-over NYC thrift stores! [FabSugar]
• Just in time for Halloween, Beyonce grotesque distorted by Armani photoshoppers! [Photoshop Disasters]
• U.S. retailers cut orders, unsurprisingly; designers worry. [WWD]

• The latest on Madonna: Her rabbi wants her to mediate towards a swift divorce resolution, using a round-table of Kabbalah leaders instead of going to court. It's either genius or a really bad idea. [Daily Mail]
• El oh el. Headline of the day: "Guy Ritchie Cancels Madonna's Order To Fill Swimming Pool With Kabbalah Water." [Telegraph]
• Jennifer Aniston's rep won't clarify whether Jen's dinner with Gerard Butler was business or personal, saying, "It doesn't matter what it was; it is no one's business." Some of us are curious, okay? [E!]
• After suffering a terrible tragedy, is Jennifer Hudson's career at a crossroads? [AP]
• For some reason, Tiffany "New York" Pollard made a video message for Jennifer Hudson: "God is on your side. I'm praying for you." [The Life Files]
• Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul send thoughts to Jennifer Hudson and family. [People]
• What recession? Beyoncé and Jay-Z plunked down $70,000 on a new dining table. Not a dining room. A table. [E!]

• Things were so "lively" that the cops showed up at Kate Hudson's Halloween party at about 1 a.m. Oh, and did you know that Gerard Butler came dressed as a cowboy? An insider says: "All the girls at the party were lining up to talk to Gerard. He left with two very sexy vampires." [Page Six]
• Jessica Biel: "So many friends are getting married and I'm like No! I'm resisting for now." Sorry, Justin! [Mirror]
• The top-earning dead celebrities include Elvis, Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, Heath Ledger, Albert Einstein, Aaron Spelling, Dr. Seuss and John Lennon. Marilyn Monroe is number 9 and the only lady on the list. [Forbes]
• David Beckham rented a flat in Milan and it's awfully close to the red light district. [The Sun]
• Remember Jessica Simpson's flick, Major Movie Star? It never opened in the US, but it debuted as the number one film in Russia. It's called "maybe one of the worst films ever made," which is saying something. It will have a November premiere in Bulgaria, where it might be box office gold! [Fox411]
• Alert! "There is absolutely no validity to the rumor that The Bonnie Hunt Show is in trouble or about to be canceled." You may now return to your regularly scheduled ennui. [E!]
• Katy Perry posed with a knife and some anti-knife group freaked out, so now she has posed with a spoon. [Mirror]
• Last week, Gossip Girl creator Cecily von Ziegesar said that she doesn't like the character of Vanessa in the TV show. Now, Jessica Szohr, who plays Vanessa, says: "I think Vanessa’s much softer than she is in the books. She steps up to [the girls] on the Upper East Side, but she’s too soft in certain situations. But who knows what’s to come in the next 10 episodes? I feel like she keeps getting left by these guys, and she’s always there to help take care of everyone, which is really sweet of her. But I think she needs to step up and be like, 'Screw all you guys. I’m going to Brooklyn and finding a hot guy!'" [MTV]
• Will Trista and Ryan return to reality TV? Do you care? [People]
• Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens are on vacation in Hawaii and you are not. See pictures of the teen dreams strolling on the beach. [NY Post]
• Blind item! "It seems the star of a certain hit series has, to quote my mole, 'a lot of rules' about the conditions under which he will work. None of his castmates like this — it's diva antics, of course — but only the show's female lead has the clout to say she won't put up with it. As a result, the two have gone from acting in few scenes together to acting in none whatsoever. (In fact, despite a story arc that would have made it nearly impossible for their characters to logically avoid one another, so far this season, they haven't crossed paths once.) So, guesses as to the identities of the Mr. Big whose Method is so maddening and the one costar with the stones to rock the boat? I'll give you one more hint, then you're on your own: The show has, I hear, 'already lost one actress' at least in part due to conflicts over Mr. Man and his master thespian baggage. Your turn. Who are the players in this frosty backstage drama?" [EW]
• Tracy Morgan says his character Biscuit is "just me, as a child, with a chip on my shoulder, because my dad wasn't around..." [NY Times]
• Oh, yuck: Remember how Julianne Hough from Dancing With The Stars went to the hospital with stomach pains? It's her appendix, and that sucker's gotta come out. [AP]
• By the by, Kim Kardashian thinks Brooke Burke will win DWTS. [People]
• Karina Smirnoff from DWTS wants Cloris Leachman to win. "She's got so much to offer, and she's so witty and charismatic," Karina says. [Yahoo News via E!]
• Cloris Leachman responds to those who find her antics annoying: "If I've made people mad, I'm sorry. All my life, I've been a cut-up. I'm just having fun." [MSNBC]
• LL Cool J was the opening act on Janet Jackson's tour, but he quit. She had to reschedule dates because her migraine-associated vertigo forced her to cancel some shows; he had scheduling conflicts. Now he needs an around the way girl. [AP]
• The crappy financial climate is a bad time to market a film where a pretty white lady loves to buy things. Will people go see Confessions Of A Shopaholic? [Jossip]
• Elle Macpherson denies that she is romantically involved with former drug trafficker Brian Burgess. [Telegraph]
• Natalie Portman will star in Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, a Don Roos-directed adaptation of an Ayelet Waldman novel. [Variety]
• Paris Hilton: Maybe going to space on the Virgin Enterprise Rocket. She says: "What if I don't come back? With the whole light-years thing, what if I come back 10,000 years later, and everyone I know is dead? I'll be like, 'Great. Now I have to start all over.'" [Perez Hilton]
• El Debarge is in jail, feeling the beat of the rhythm of the night. [StereoHyped]
• Jamie Oliver has landed a deal to design kitchens, gardens and restaurants on a multi-million dollar development in Dubai. [Mirror]
• News that you can't use: The Jonas Brothers may be directed by the Farrelly brothers in a film called Walter The Farting Dog, based on the book. [Ain't It Cool News]
• The trial against Keanu Reeves — a photographer who fell while shooting him claims the car knocked him down — has begun. [USA Today]
• Will Russell Brand get fired by the BBC for making prank calls? [Telegraph]
• Sophia Bush is dating James Lafferty. That's her costar from One Tree Hill. As you may know, her ex-husband, Chad Michael Murray, is also her co-star on One Tree Hill. These people have a small, small world. [Just Jared]
• Prepare yourself: Michael Jackson will go on a 30-city tour in 2009. [Perez Hilton]
• Natalie Cole has been struggling with hepatitis C; this headline reads, "Dialysis in the day, concerts at night." [LA Times]
• Annabeth Gish of Showtime's Brotherhood has a new baby boy, Enzo. [People]
• Bob Geldof has been awarded an honorary doctorate for his contribution to music and humanitarian causes. [BBC News]
• Led Zeppelin on the road! Oh, without Robert Plant. [BBC News]
• Al Gore and B.B. King: Being honored by the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. [UPI]
• "Often I think people haven't experienced the high pressure of a filming schedule. It isn't all celebration and glamour and glitz. The public see all the red carpets and the gossip columns and the fashion side of things. But actually it's very, very, very long hours, quite high risk and expensive, and everyone has to commit. So it's always a huge achievement when anyone makes it look easy making a film." — Ralph Fiennes. [Telegraph]
• "It's funny how things can change. My wife has brought a balance to my life that I could never have described to anyone. She’s the giant beam that I walk across and holds me up. But she’s also my safety net in case I fall. Being married has changed my life more than I could have imagined." — Pete Wentz. [The Sun]
• "Honestly, I'm a wreck, every time I see a camera, I'm a wreck. I don't tend to react as though 'I have to do this, it's my job.' I am reacting as a woman who is five-foot-one whose space is being invaded by a bunch of men whose aggression I can literally feel. In L.A. it is even worse because they are running red lights behind you, and I worry all the time about something terrible happening, someone getting hurt because of me, how I could ever possibly live with that. I can't imagine what it would be like to have kids in the back seat and have to go through this and pretend for their sake that you are not scared." — Ashley Olsen. [Daily Express]

On the set of Gossip Girl, Brooklyn, October 24. Image via Bauer-Griffin.

• It's Flo versus Clo! Florence Henderson has been watching Cloris Leachman on Dancing With The Stars and says: "I hope the audience doesn’t think all older people act like her. I love Cloris, but sometimes she acts like she’s not all there, or she’s wandering around the ballroom acting silly." Flo also says Leachman “is given a lot of leeway because of her age." Stop drinking haterade, Mrs. Brady. [LA Times]
• Additional DWTS gossip: Apparently Maksim Chmerkovskiy thinks Cheryl Burke and Lacey Schwimmer need to slim down: "When I first saw these women this season, I said, 'Guys, you know the camera adds 10 pounds.' You have to do something about this." [LA Times]
• Oprah is being sued by a Louisiana man who claims she and an attorney made false statements that led the FBI to arrest him on extortion charges. Wiretapping, defamation, it's a mess. [Yahoo News]
• If Obama wins, will Oprah be appointed as the Ambassador to Britain? [Times of London]
• Did Gossip Girl's Taylor Momsen get a "life threatening" throat infection because she is too damn thin? [E!]

• Are you "uber-organized, hypersensitive" and located in New York? Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester needs a personal assistant. [NY Mag]
• Britney's victory in her driving without a license trial "closes a chapter on her past troubles," says her lawyer, who is paid to say such things. [People]
• Britney posted a picture of herself and her boys at a pumpkin patch on her website. [ET]
• Here's more on Fashion House, Bravo's Project Runway knockoff. [Page Six]
• Katherine Heigl on adopting a Korean baby: "It's definitely something we've talked about and want to do." [ET]
• Not only have Lindsay Lohan's Ugly Betty episodes been cut from 6 to 4, she is being cut out of some of the episodes they have already shot. [Perez Hilton]
• Oh, and Lindsay doesn't have any more roles lined up after Ugly Betty. No movies, no nothin'. [MSNBC]
• Check out Beyoncé looking rough, in character for Cadillac Records: [Just Jared]
• Jeremy Piven's on the cover of Page Six Magazine. The notorious womanizer is apparently looking to "settle down." [NY Post]
• As Raffaello Follieri was hauled off to jail, he made a statement: "I just hope that some day those who have been hurt by my action will one day forgive me." Which loosely translates to: "Sorry, Anne Hathaway. I fucked up. Can I call you when I get out in 4½ years?" [Daily Mail]
• Justin Timberlake's not the only one in the relationship who can sing: Jessica Biel grew up doing musicals and has recorded vocals for the Easy Virtue soundtrack. Apparently she has a great voice. [E!]
• Amy Winehouse was interviewed by a French TV crew via intercom at her house. She only talked about Blake Incarcerated. [Perez Hilton]
• Madonna is undergoing intense Kabbalah "anger management" to deal with her rage against Guy Ritchie. Not sure what that entails. Snapping the red string? [The Sun]
• Meanwhile Guy Ritchie looks pretty damn happy these days. [The Sun]
• Janet Jackson and Jermaine Dupri made a YouTube video in which she announces that she's feeling better. Then Dupri jokes: "Baby, they say you broke up with me because I threw up on you." [People]
• Heather Mills has already spent £10 million of her divorce settlement. It's been seven months. [The Sun]
• Gisele Bundchen's naked and covered in vines in ad ad campaign to save the rainforest. Hopefully it's not poison ivy on her crotch. [Mirror]
• Whoa: A 3-D live action rock 'n roll musical about Cleopatra, directed by Stephen Soderbergh and starring Catherine Zeta-Jones. Either the worst or the absolute best thing ever. [Variety]
• Headline of the day: "SOMEWHERE THERE'S A LANDFILL FULL OF EDDIE MURPHY'S UNDERWEAR." [Janet Charlton's Hollywood]
• Is Lily Allen's new song about cocaine? Lyrics: "I’m not trying to say that I’m smelling of roses/but when will we tire of putting shit up our noses." [The Sun]
• Bjork! In the news: She's campaigning for a more environmental approach to Iceland's natural resources. [ITN]
• Miley Cyrus on that 20-year-old model she's been haning out with, Justin Gaston: "He's been a really great friend more than anything." When asked if they are dating, Miley said: "Maybe. Maybe not." [People]
• Uh-oh, Miley got a lecture from her dad. She's supposed to be focusing on her career, not boys. Someone has to be the cash cow in the family! [The Sun]
• Ali Lohan has applied for a work permit in L.A. As a minor, she needs papers so she can get her singing career going. Apparently she's already been recording in, um, a hotel-casino in Vegas. [TMZ]
• Paris Hilton and Jordan met in London. The Four Horsemen were seen on the horizon. [The Sun]
• Macaulay Culkin: Coming to TV. Upcoming NBC drama Kings will also star Ian McShane. [EW]
• Bianca Jagger's been evicted from her rent-stabilized Manhattan apartment. Someting about being on a tourist visa and claiming it as a "primary residence." A Park Avenue space for $4,614 a month doesn't really sound like a deal. [AP]
• If you were hoping for a wax figure of Zac Efron you're in luck. He's at Madam Tussauds in Las Vegas. [UPI]
• The Bonnie Hunt Show: doomed. [Jossip]
• Check out this Happy Days inspired Obama ad. [BoingBoing]
• Chelsea Handler's show, Chelsea Lately, is being renewed through 2009. [MediaWeek]
• Caroline Rhea gave birth to a baby girl on Monday: Ava Rhea Economopoulos. "We wanted the shortest first name possible, since her last name is the alphabet," says the new mom. [People]
• Been caught stealing? Jane's Addiction will perform for the second time this year. Reunion in the works? [Reuters]
• Isaac Hayes left nothing to Scientology in his will. [Fox 411]
• Please please please let me get what I want: A Morrissey memoir! [NY Times]
• Speaking of which: A Smiths reunion? [The Sun]
• During a concert, Jay-Z dedicated "99 Problems" to McCain and a "homegirl," described as "the one who says 'You betcha.'" [ABC News]
• Heidi Klum wearing Rami Kashou! [Blogging Project Runway]
• Little Britain's Matt Lucas divorced his husband; now they're in a custody battle over the dog. [The Sun]
• A man sued along with Jay Leno over a car dealer has killed himself. [TMZ]
• Debra Messing likes being a redhead because she never got any work as a brunette. [Daily Express]
• "This (rumor) has been floating around for a while. I've seen different notions of it. I doubt it'll be me and Brad. I know Brad can't sing. Reznor would be about the right vibe for it, I guess." — Ed Norton, on the rumor that there's gonna be a Fight Club musical with music by Nine Inch Nails star Trent Reznor. [Daily Express]
• "I was being objectified, but actually that’s not a bad thing to feel. I knew exactly what was going on when I did that shot. There’s a conscious decision to everything I do. For me to say, 'Oh, God! I didn’t realize that would happen!' sounds incredibly naïve. I look at that picture, and my only thought now is that I certainly don’t look like that anymore. For Quantum of Solace, I made a decision that I wanted to get bigger and get muscles, because Bond is older and has probably been training." — Daniel Craig, on the infamous swimsuit shot from his first Bond film. [Just Jared]
• "Obama would be the better Bond because — if he’s true to his word — he’d be willing to quite literally look the enemy in the eye and go toe-to-toe with them. McCain, because of his long service and experience, would probably be a better M (James Bond’s boss). There is, come to think of it, a kind of Judi Dench quality to McCain." — Daniel Craig, in Parade magazine. [MSNBC]
• The kids are my priority, so it's possible that from now on I will make fewer movies. I may even stop altogether. I no longer have the ambition I had in my 20s." — Angelina Jolie. [People]
• "Usually people fall in love and everything revolves around the ritual of marriage. Children are an afterthought. We did everything backwards. But sooner or later, it will be the kids who ask us. They see films and start asking questions. Such as, 'Why are Shrek and Fiona married and you're not?'" — Angelina Jolie. [Rush & Molloy]
• "He's got to be that guy that we all just secretly want to live his life. Even if it's just for a week I mean wouldn't that be incredible? If you had to pick one person he would be the guy for me, I would want to be him for a week." — Charlize Theron on Richard Branson. [The Star]
• "Hearst Corporation, which my family owns, continues to host parties even as it folds magazines like CosmoGirl. It seems excessive… At least Hearst recently cancelled the company Christmas bash. It's time to work through this crisis, not party through it." — model and heiress Lydia Hearst. [Page Six]
• "I am constantly surprised by this huge country. It’s like a never-ending novel with each page more exciting and bizarre than the last. Don’t get me wrong, I have always loved London, it’s a city where being unusual is accepted. I grew up there, walked its cobbled streets and frequented its infamous haunts. The skies are always grey and the weather is freezing but the place is alive and vibrant with culture. The decision to leave my homeland was difficult but I’m happy I made it. New York is where I finally feel at home. Driving over the Brooklyn Bridge at night in a yellow cab and gazing out over the tops of the skyscrapers, there’s no place I’d rather be." — Noted poet, Peaches Geldof. [Daily Express]
• "I knew the Geldof girls from years ago through their dad Bob, so I've seen them grow up. I think Peaches is just working out her way in the world. If she's happy being married then that's great. It's good to be crazy and make mistakes when you're growing up. Then when you're 80 you can look back and laugh." —Geri Halliwell. [Mirror]

And today's teens don't just want to ogle the wealthy; they want in on the action: The new tween-friendly flagship Juicy Couture store in New York offers $328 rhinestone-encrusted cashmere hoodies. Are kids today learning that money makes everything better?

Ms. La Ferla interviews Juliet B. Schor, a sociology professor at Boston College. She claims: "We are living in an era in which emulations and aspiration has upscaled very significantly. The media tells us, 'Anybody can succeed. You just have to have the right clothing, the right friends, the right décor.'"

Cintra Wilson attempted to shop at the Juicy Couture store, which embodies the spoiled brattitude that is so hot right now. She writes: "Juicy is posing as disestablishment chic. It is putting food coloring in its blond hair and driving to the underage punk show in Dad’s Lexus. Juicy is de-punkinated punk that rarely verges into the naughty."

Little girls have almost always dreamed of being princesses, but there's something disturbing about the ways they're going about it these days. Sleeping Beauty and Snow White were kind to animals and never flashed their crotches when getting out of a car; Little Orphan Annie was just as charming and popular when dressed in rags as she was when she became an heiress. She certainly never got carted away to jail by the cops. But these stories about the younger generation are worrying: If all of their idols shop for a living, they confuse expensive with stylish and think that money and happiness are the same, aren't they in for a rude awakening when they get old enough to pay the bills?

Markets Stall But Spoiled Always Sells [NY Times]
Rhinestones Are A Tween’s Best Friend [NY Times]

LATOYA: Good Morning! I got a Gold Machine in my hand and I'm ready to face my day. And if I'm not ready, I'm totally faking it.

MEGAN: It would be a good morning, if I was still sleeping and under my covers. Otherwise, I'm only willing to admit that it's morning.

LATOYA: Morning is a start. Hey, did you check out my new favorite project, YA for Obama? Young adult writers really know their shit when it comes to politics. (Okay, yes, I am an adult reading YA Lit, and yes, I too miss Fine Lines. Lizzie, come back!!!)

MEGAN: There is no YA lit shame on Jezebel! I only don't because it would require that I buy a book, which I'm sort of loathe to do.

LATOYA: Scott Westerfeld's post, "Do the Math" was an amazingly clear breakdown of how economically fucked we get during Republican administrations. That's what you get for not investing in humans! Oh, and buy a damn book — they're seven to ten bucks. You can also get the at the library, but there's a long wait.

MEGAN: $10 buys me a bottle of wine. I have priorities, sort of like how Republicans have priorities. Only mine include maintaining a certain BAC level and not leaving a cute pair of shoes behind, and the GOP's include trying to prove we could've won in Vietnam even if requires sacrificing more American lives and cutting taxes for rich people, even if it requires running up huge deficits to maintain the spending they insist they swear they don't like.

LATOYA: Speaking of shoes, guess who else is on YA for Obama? Gossip Girl!

Is Barack Obama a Nate, a Dan, a Chuck, a Serena, or a Blair?
Barack Obama. First of all he’s adorable. You know his older daughter’s friends all have crushes on him, as do his wife Michelle’s friends. Okay, as do I. Actually, I have this little fantasy where Barack I go to Barneys and right away he’s mobbed by the gay men in Cosmetics so he’s wearing Carolina Herrera cologne and a Kiehls cucumber eye masque. He buys me a sweet little gold Me and Ro bracelet before we head into the men’s department to get him a new suit. Of course he already knows he looks best in dark gray and he picks out a pink shirt which make me love him even more and then he picks out the most unboring pair of shoes they have because his taste is impeccable and oh where did they find this guy because he’s just… perfect!

Okay, it's not exactly the hard hitting political discourse we were looking for, but I'll take what I can get.

MEGAN: I do feel her on the shoes thing, a man in ugly shoes is soooo Washington. This is my favorite line, though, and a reason to watch Gossip Girl if I ever heard one:

Wily, conniving, backstabbing, flamboyantly dressed Chuck. No way is Barack Obama a Chuck. Chuck would eat him for breakfast and spit him out into one of those monogrammed scarves he wears all the time.

LATOYA: Chuck is obviously a lobbyist. No offense, friend. You're a fly lobbist, you don't count. And you weren't there long enough to sell your soul.

MEGAN: Oooh, good call. And no offense taken, though I didn't have monogrammed scarves. I did indulge my shoe obsessions more.

LATOYA: But you know people that did. And those annoying ass monogrammed Brooks Brothers bags.

MEGAN: Nothing says "dirty unsexy money" like monogrammed cuffs, veneers and a tie tack. And expensive but ugly shoes.

LATOYA: Word! Speaking of conspicuous consumption, looks like Sarah Palin is going to revitalize the economy all by herself! The RNC has spent $150K for clothes and accessories since she started on the campaign trail, about 75K at Neiman Marcus. I guess the Joe Sixpack revolution will be accessorized.

MEGAN: I only ever knew one person who shopped regularly at Needless Markup, and that was my superrich frosh roommate, who also refused to ever clean because she had "people" to do that for her at home. I was supposed to be her "people," apparently, but I don't mind squalor and am extremely stubborn.

LATOYA: I tried to shop there once. That shit did not work out.

MEGAN: She also spent $10,000 at Macy's in Minneapolis, and probably got the same number of pieces as she did for $74K at Needless Markup.

LATOYA: I kept doing the stupid "how many hours worked" calculation in my head, which totally killed the mood.

MEGAN: Palin spent $800 at Barneys, which totally bought her exactly one item.

LATOYA: Well, in her defense, she does look damn sharp.

MEGAN: I know! I have been hating myself for loving her suits lately. But I have also, in my head, been going "That is not Kasper. That is not Tahari. That is not Anne Klein." (Yes, when I used to leave the house, I used to shop for suits a lot.)

LATOYA: I will give Sarah Palin exactly one prop — half a prop for fabulous sartorial skills and a half a prop for using the word "shout out" in a debate. If she drops a "bitch, please" before the election cycle is over, I'll upgrade her to two props. Oh, you wore suits? I guess that's the benefit for being a non government worker in a gov town — I spend money on dress hoodies. Ah, websites...

MEGAN: At this point, if she drops a "damn" I'll be happy. That's how you know her line about not being a Washington insider is true, because everyone here curses like a motherfucker.

LATOYA: You would too, if you saw what we did. Aw man — think good, happy hour thoughts. More news on the bear. Apparently, it was just a prank:

Officials say the students discovered the cub, which had been shot in the head, while camping over the weekend and brought it back to a gathering at an apartment near campus Sunday night. It was during that gathering, say officials, that a student suggested placing the bear at the base of a statue at the main entrance to the campus.

MEGAN: Um, ew. Also, um, ew.

LATOYA: They used the campaign signs to keep the blood from spilling into their truck.

MEGAN: Yeah, that's the part that made me shudder. That and the fact THAT IT WAS A LONG DEAD BEAR. Does not compute. Either the bear was long-dead when they found it, which is like, ew, or it wasn't AND HENCE THE BLOOD and they killed it. It's just too bad that even if they are charged with a felony, they won't be convicted in time to lose their right to vote for McCain.

LATOYA: Just disgusting. It's times like this when I understand PETA, as racist and sexist as they can be with their campaigns.

MEGAN: I don't understand how dumping dead animals — let alone dead baby animals that you and your big boy gun in your big-boy britches so valiantly slaughtered — is a fun "prank." I get equal revulsion, though, when shitty asswipes like noted dirty rim-jobber Michael Savage accuse white Obama voters of being race traitors. I mean, why doesn't he just come out and call us n*****-lovers and be done with it? It wouldn't be my first time hearing that, and GOD KNOWS it wouldn't be his first time using that word.

LATOYA: Oh — I guess y'all don't have reasoning skills either. So only certain less pigmented people have reasoning skills? These circles are getting smaller and smaller.

MEGAN: Well, we don't have reasoning skills because we haven't noticed that we are obviously locked in a war with people of color for hegemony or something. Also, none of y'all really like us anyway.

...it seems to Michael Savage that the only people who don't seem to vote based on race are white people of European origin. That's an interesting observation… So my biggest statement is about Powell, which is that the only people who don't seem to vote based on race are white people of European origin. And, you know, that becomes a philosophical question worth talking about. Why are white people of European origin the only people who don't seem to vote based on race? Is it because they're more tolerant? Is it because whites of European origin are more accepting and more tolerant of other races? I wonder if they're gonna be that way once they find out that not all — let's say, not all people love them as much as they may think.

Also, I hate people WHO refer to themselves in the third person, even if they aren't filthy racist bastards who suck the dirty balls of fetid white drug addicts while furiously whaling away at their own child-sized penises for sexual gratification. That's right, Michael Savage. I've seen you in the alleys off of Dupont Circle. I'm not going to keep quiet anymore.

LATOYA: I swear — I am so done with this damn election cycle and race. Yesterday, I find out that a former KKK member thinks Obama is "a potentially acceptable candidate" and urges people to look beyond skin color. And yet, someone writing for the National Review is still convinced we blacks just stick together, no matter what. She read Vibe, Black Enterprise, and Ebony, and that is definitive proof that blacks are only for Obama and don't know jack about the issues.

MEGAN: I would suggest that KatLo is not a regular reader of any of those magazines and only picked them up so that she could find something to put in her impassioned defense of Rush Limbaugh and also call all black people racists.

LATOYA: And she had the nerve to hail Ward Connerly and John McCain as civil rights leaders. Makes me want to smack someone through a computer screen.

MEGAN: But, Latoya, someone has to stand up for the rights of white people to never attend schools with people of color! It's a principle on which this country was founded! Brown v. the Board of Education didn't really overturn Plessy v. Ferguson, it just found that said facilities provided weren't equal. Strict constitutionalism! Um, I'm trying but failing to come up with other annoying Republican catch phrases that fit. Oh, wait! He's a MAVERICK that wants to shake up the entrenched system!

LATOYA: By denying MLK a holiday.

MEGAN: What did he ever do, anyway? LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act. It took a white President to give black people their freedom and he doesn't get a holiday.

LATOYA: That's because he's a race traitor.

MEGAN: Yes, we must both henceforth swear fealty to our differing melanin levels.

LATOYA: Man, this K. Lo person is annoying. It's obvious she didn't bother to talk to any actual black people before writing that mess. John Ridley already broke this down on the HuffPo:

Conservatives may argue that, well, none of those candidates was even worth Powell's attention. But if Powell is — if blacks are — just going to vote for a "darkie," then won't any "darkie" do?

None carried the black vote to any significance. Certainly not Keyes. Not Wilder and Braun, arguably the most qualified candidates at that time. Jackson had some strong showings, but could not come close to closing the deal.

And what about Sharpton? Shouldn't he be the closest comparison to Obama in terms of blacks just "giving him" their votes? Sharpton, too, gives a good speech and he ran most recently.

In 2004, in the District of Columbia primary, Sharpton came in second to Howard Dean. D.C. at the time was 70 percent minority. Sixty percent black. Yet the minorities and the blacks "gave" their votes to Dean. In South Carolina, only one in five blacks voted for Sharpton.

Clearly — more important, factually — most blacks don't vote for blacks just because they are black.

Yeah, but don't let facts get in the way, K.Lo.

MEGAN: Oh, "facts." Those are biased.

LATOYA: Seriously — like I said yesterday, it's only unfair when you're losing.

[New York, October 21. Image via Splash.]