• Is Sean Penn the unofficial liaison between Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez? Penn visited Chavez in Caracas on Wednesday and apparently the Venezuelan president told him:

"They gave [Obama] the Nobel Prize — very well, now he should earn it." [Page Six]

• Britney Spears is using Twitter, Twitpic and Twitvid to promote her new single, "3" — there's a micro snippet of the video at the link. [LA Times]
• Ashton Kutcher's best friend is a rabbi named Yehuda Berg from the Kabbalah center. [People]
• Who will host the Oscars in 2010? Hugh Jackman has turned the job down. These are random choices, but I'd love to see Amy Poehler or Wanda Sykes. Or both. [Variety]
• Nanny Stephanie Santoro says that Jon Gosselin was suicidal at the thought of Hailey Glassman breaking up with him: "He said he was going to kill himself… He said he was going to end it all … he couldn't handle it anymore." Breakdown in 3…2… [Radar Online]
• Jon Gosselin plans to publicly apologize "in a sacred space to those whom I have hurt" at the West Side Synagogue in NYC on Sunday. [Page Six]
• Meanwhile, word is that Jon Gosselin/Nadya Suleman show is "definitely on." A source says:"Both Jon and Nadya are each looking at bringing in close to $1 million for doing it." [Gatecrasher]
• Did you see Derek Jeter kiss Michelle Obama the other night? [NY Post]
• Another day, another Michael Jackson money problem. This time it's Leonard Rowe, who says he was MJ's manager of the singer. He's filed a creditors claim for $51,218. [TMZ]
• Wow, John Landis — who directed the "Thriller" video — says Michael Jackson's estate owes him for $400,000; a production company which dealt with the "Thriller" video says it's owed more than $1,000,000; and the producer of the "Thriller" video wants more than a million as well. [TMZ]
• By the by, the Michael Jackson movie will be up for Academy Award consideration. [Mirror]
• Joe Jackson says Michael Jackson is "worth more dead than when he was alive." [NY Post]
• Taylor Squared: Going strong. [Page Six]
• Wait, what? Ne-Yo sings on The Princess And The Frog soundtrack? How very Jazz Age New Orleans. [ONTD]
• Amanda Peet was burglarized by a sassy character. [Page Six]
• Heroes is winding down; low ratings has NBC thinking a "final chapter" is the next way to go. [NY Post]
• Charlize Theron will star in Mad Max: Fury Road. That's right, a new Mad Max flick! No word on whether Mel Gibson is involved, but Brit cutie Tom Hardy is in the flick. [Variety]
• Reese Witherspoon will star in and produce a screenplay called Rule #1 — about a New York woman who befriends a Puerto Rican girl with attention deficit disorder. [The Hollywood Reporter]
• What the world needs now: Men In Black 3. [Reuters]
• David Spade got $200,000 for that Tommy Boy DirecTV commercial with the late Chris Farley. [Page Six]
• Sad face: Dennis Hopper has prostate cancer. He's canceling all travel plans to focus on treatment and is in a "special program" at USC. Be well! [AP]
• Jackie Collins listens to Mariah Carey, John Mayer… and Jay-Z. [Independent]
• "Whenever I'm in the recording studio or rehearsing and I'm not convinced about the way it sounds, I know because my body doesn't react to the music. So I always ask, Hey, am I moving? Are my hips moving? My hips don't lie." — One of 10 answers to 10 questions for Shakira. [Time]
• "I know it gets sensationalized when I say, 'I was very close to death', but I was. It was a scary time. It's scarier since people like Michael Jackson and Heath Ledger have been popping their clogs. pretty much thought 'Is this worth it?' It was obviously not making me happy. The definition of insanity is repeating the same things and expecting a different result. At the time I thought, with the kicking and the rehab, maybe there's other things in life?" — Robbie Williams. [News.com.au]
• "I haven't gone back since because I'm afraid… I'd never get sober for one thing, and to have to run around in a dress. . . it's cold up there!" — Mel Gibson on why he hasn't returned to Scotland since Braveheart. [Daily Mail]
• "When I did my first album, I was marketed as the singer who would appeal to your grandma. But as each record arrived with more power and confidence, I began to sound younger and younger. Some singers start out as young punks and then make a classics album later in their career. With me, it has been the other way round. I feel as if I've finally started acting my own age. I'm the Benjamin Button of pop. It offends me when people think I only listen to Frank Sinatra. I was born in 1975 and I never wanted to be part of the Rat Pack. As a kid, my biggest idol was Michael Jackson. As a teenager, I wanted to be one of the Beastie Boys." — MIchael Bublé. [Daily Mail]
• "I always felt like the male from the time I was a child. There wasn't much feminine about me. I believe that gender is something between your ears, not between your legs. That is something I discovered in the early '90s. It was just a long process of being comfortable enough to do something about it." — Chaz Bono loves being a man. [People]
• "I was tempted to do it. But I couldn't take it. One smoke of pot and I fall asleep. I don't get much out of it. But that's beside the point. My kids were saying, 'Daddy, you have to try!' That's when I shut down. These were mushrooms ... I said, 'Listen, I didn't go through a sex change operation to direct all these women's movies so don't get me started.'" — Ang Lee wouldn't take acid to direct an LSD scene. [Independent]
• "I just drank an iced tea here with lunch. If next year they say iced tea is worse than steroids, I'll probably quit drinking that too. But at the time it was legal, just like drinking an iced tea is legal. The baseball players, the football players, the hockey players - everybody I knew in every professional sport was using it to up their game, or to heal injuries, or to stay at their peak. And everybody thought it was safe." — Hulk Hogan talks about steroid use in his new book. [Time]
• "I hate them!" — Paris Hilton on the Teen Thieves, who stole clothes and jewelry from her home. [Page Six]
• "I have lots of original ideas that maybe will get made. But everyone... Even if you bring them the most obscure movie that nobody's ever heard of — they want to remake that." — Rob Zombie, who reworked Halloween and Halloween 2 and may remake The Blob, calls Hollywood a "scared town." [CNN]
• "America's the only country where people have said that the New Zealand accent sounds posh or sexy or exotic. Anywhere else, it doesn't. That's why I've been spending a lot of time here." — Flight Of The Conchords' Jemaine Clement. [NY Post]
• "As the mother of my kids, I won't slam Dina personally. But she has expressed to me that Lindsay is in dire, dire need of an intervention. And Lindsay needs to see that her mother is either lying to me or lying to her. Dina says positive things about Samantha when she's talking to Lindsay, but then when Dina talks to me, she blames Lindsay's downfall on the Ronsons. If Dina and her cohorts want to continue lying, I could [keep exposing her] for a year - on so many different subjects. My lawyers told me to keep every single conversation - and I did." — Michael Lohan is taking voicemail tapes to Entertainment Tonight. [Perez]
• "If I go back to my black neighborhood, they'll rob the [bleep] out of me." — Tracy Morgan, promoting his memoir, I Am the New Black, at Barnes & Noble. [Page Six]
• "I always felt that I wanted to help women, period. As a child I [saw] women really, really suffer terrible, terrible situations, and I vowed as a child to want to do something — anything — that can help them have better self-esteem so that they don't have to be subjected to men that wanted to kill them. In my music, that's what I've been doing in my career, and now through FFAWN I'm doing that. I guess what got me through when I was young was something I guess a lot of people don't have and that was just the will. ... I don't know what was driving me. I guess it was something in me did want to die — you know, I guess my spirit didn't want to die, but my physical body definitely was at some point was like I gotta get out of here. ... My physical body was contemplating suicide and all this other crazy stuff, and my spirit is what saved me, I believe." — Mary J. Blige, at the official ribbon-cutting for the Mary J. Blige Center for Women, which was made possible through Blige's Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now (FFAWN), design house Gucci and Westchester Jewish Community Services. [CNN]

[Los Angeles, October 19. Image via Getty]

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 19: Scenic artist Gayle Etcheverry completes the painting of the Oscar Statues in preparation for the Governors Awards and the 82nd Academy Awards at a secret location on October 19, 2009 in Northern Los Angeles County, California. (Photo by Kristian Dowling/Getty Images)

Smile Pinky is about five-year-old Pinky and 11-year-old Ghutaru, who live in rural India and are ostracized and ridiculed because of their cleft lips. Nearly 4 millions children around the world have cleft palates, which can be repaired in an hour-long procedure that costs about $250. In the U.S. the condition is usually repaired before children are three months old, while in poor countries children usually deal with the condition for the rest of their lives, according to The Non-Profit Times.

The American charity Smile Train pays local doctors in 75 developing countries to perform surgeries to correct cleft palates at no cost to the child's family. Smile Train co-founder and president Brain Mullaney said in the past decade awareness has been the organization's biggest problem, so three years ago they came up with the idea of making a film about their work. They chose Mylan, who directed The Lost Boys of Sudan, to direct the film Smile Pinky.

The charity has already made back more money than was put into the film, and after it won this year's Academy Award for Best Documentary Short, the organization received more publicity than ever before. The traffic on Smile Train's website doubled after the Oscars, and online donations doubled for a week and a half after the win. "Every Oscar changes a career. This Oscar can change millions of lives. Our goal now is to turn this Oscar into a million smiles," said Mullaney.

In the film, Pinki travels three hours on foot with her father to the G.S. Memorial Hospital in Banaras after hearing about the free surgery from a social worker who visited her village. Pinky's life changed dramatically not only because her surgery was successful, but because of the fame the film brought her. She and her father attended the Oscars with Mylan, the Los Angeles Times reports. "She and I walked down the red carpet holding hands — I said, if you get nervous squeeze my hand and I'll squeeze yours," said Mylan. "We kept squeezing." Pinky met the stars of Slumdog Millionaire Anil Kapoor and Iffran Khan, who were seated a few rows behind her, and had them translate into Hindi when Mylan asked if she wanted to go sit with her dad.

Like the Slumdog stars, Pinky has become a celebrity back home too. She and her surgeon, Dr. Sudbodh Kumar Singh, met with the Indian prime minister's wife and Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai. Pinky's family got a new house, her village was given a new well, and soon the town will get electricity and a paved road. Both Pinky and Ghutaru received scholarships to better schools.

The film reaching millions of HBO subscribers in its initial airing tomorrow, and then in many repeats throughout the month, will likely bring in many more donations to Smile Train. "You're always sort of hoping this will happen, but it's never a guarantee," said Mylan. "Documentaries need what studio commercial films have: They need publicity and distribution, but then they just go on and on." The new donations have already given many people working with Smile Train hope that they can provide operations to the 1 million Indian children still living with a cleft. Dr. Singh said the film is, "bringing so much good for so many children. They are all getting treatment because of her. . . . If we do 100,000 a year, we can clear it out [in India] in 10 years."

Smile Pinky premieres on June 3 at 7pm (ET/PT). We will be watching on Wednesday night and posting about the film on Thursday. Check out the trailer below:

Charities Riding On Awareness After Slumdog, Smile Pinki [The Non-Profit Times]
HBO Climbs On 'Pinki's' Smile Train Saga [The Los Angles Times]

On a side note, anchor Robin Roberts telling the interpreter he can stop signing right after Matlin explains that she's never let being deaf hold her back is a nice touch. Clip at left.

The answer? Of course not! Haskins breaks down the onslaught of coverage, in the clip below.

Sarah Haskins in Target Women: Oscar Ex-Plosion [Current]
Earlier: Sarah Haskins Calls Out Jez Commenters
Condoms, Cleaning Supplies & Crap: A Q&A With Sarah Haskins
Sarah Haskins Worries That Ann Curry's Life Is In Danger
New Year, New You: Sarah Haskins Teaches You How To Diet
Sarah Haskins Wishes You Happy Period Control
Sarah Haskins Targets The View
Sarah Haskins Has A Problem With Marketing Family Meals To Moms
Brides, Botox & Yogurt: Sarah Haskins Targets Those Who Target Women

• Shh! Owen Wilson and Kate Hudson went on some kind of super secret date in Paris. Don't tell!

As you may recall, Owen and Kate were an item in 2006; she broke up with him in 2007 and he allegedly attempted suicide shortly after. [The Sun]

• Is it possible to resign from the human race? Nadya "Octomom" Suleman was offered $1 million to make a porn flick. [TMZ]
• By the by, Nadya Suleman told Dr. Phil that the hospital may not release her kids unless she can prove she can care for them. [LA Times]
• Warren Beatty wants Lindsay Lohan to star in a film he's working on, and to live in his house. Here's to hoping she plays his daughter and not his love interest. [Fox 411]
• There's a warrant out for the arrest of Adnan Ghalib: He's charged with assault with a deadly weapon, battery, and hit and run. And awful facial hair. [TMZ]
• The LAPD is still "vigorously" investigating how that picture of Rihanna was leaked to TMZ. [E!]
• Chris Brown is reportedly taking anger management classes. [Gatecrasher]
• Alex Rodriguez just found an apartment on Manhattan's Central Park West, two blocks from Madonna's home. Be careful: Jesus is watching! [Page Six]
• This was bound to happen: Slumdog, the musical. Proceeds would help fund Mumbai's destitute kids. [Hindustan Times]
• It's cool that housing officials in Mumbai plan to give the Slumdog kids' families some free apartments, even if it is a publicity stunt, but you've got to imagine that the kids friends and cousins are like so, so jealous, no? [The Sun]
• If you were watching the Oscars in Asia, the words "gay" and "lesbian" were censored. Gay Asians are pissed! [AP]
• Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes is going to be a gay ol' time: Apparently Holmes and Watson share a bed. Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law under the covers! [News Of The World]
• Finding Nemo vet Ellen DeGeneres will do another animated flick, Dog Show. Robert Downey Jr. and Tina Fey are the lead voice actors. The plot? A stray dog and her misfit friends "shake up the purebred world" of a Westminster-like dog show. [Hollywood Reporter]
• Will Iman pop up on Project Runway? [Page Six]
• Jay-Z and Khloe Kardashian had drinks and Jay left a $2000 tip. Klassy! [Page Six]
• Chow Yun Fat had eyelid surgery? He says: "As I grew older, my eyelids began to droop. I began going for cosmetic surgery in Hong Kong when I was filming The God Of Gamblers in 1989. If you go to Hong Kong for cosmetic surgery, I can introduce you to the doctor. He's cheap and good." Uh, thanks? [Straits Times]
• A TV commercial in China has David Beckham "talking" about an anti-impotence drug and saying, "It's the secret weapon with which I can satisfy Victoria." They're using celeb faces without permission. [Daily Mail]
• Eartha Kitt was nowhere to be found in the "In Memoriam" section of the Oscars. A fan contacted her rep, and her rep responded: "It was noticed and I'm handling it the best I can. Please continue to send your thoughts to ABC and SAG." [ONTD]
• Eartha Kitt's publicist tells Page Six: "It's clear that [Oscars producers] thought that publicist Warren Cowan was more of a household name." [Page Six]
• Robert Pattinson had better "watch out," because Taylor Lautner, the Twilight/New Moon werewolf Jacob Black, is a "hunk." [MSNBC Scoop]
• Evan Rachel Wood will play Juliet. In Romeo And Juliet. On the stage in Theatre In The Park in her hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina. Congrats? [Mirror]
• Pictures of Lily Allen dressed as a panda and a baby bird just make you like her more. [The Life Files]
• OMFG: Gossip Girl will return to the CW in the fall! So will One Tree Hill, 90210, Smallville, Supernatural and America's Next Top Model. Fate undecided: Privileged. [Reuters]
• Guests were "encouraged" to wear pink at Paris Hilton's second birthday party of the year. [Page Six]
• Jimmy Fallon on Late Night: "I have a realistic attitude about all this. People are going to see me who are awake at 12:30. College kids and prison guards." [The Daily Beast]
• Apparently Simon Cowell's comment about wanting to be frozen after death was a joke. [AP]
• Tiger Woods is talking about being lucky to get to stay home with his wife and kids while recovering from a knee injury and holy crap his daughter is adorbs. [People]
• In Amy Adams's next film, Sunshine Cleaning, she plays a single mom who cleans up crime scenes to make enough money to send her kid to private school. Oh, and she wears $100 jeans. [USA Today]
• Tommy Hilfiger's new wife is three months pregnant. (Tommy's daughter Ally is about to turn 24.) [Page Six]
• LOL: Keith Richards is telling people to sober up? [Page Six]
• Sandra Bullock stopped by Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis to research her role for The Blind Side, a film about a student who left his impoverished life and went to live with a wealthy couple, going on to become a successful football player. [UPI]
• By the by, Sandy Bullock sleeps with three dogs in her bed. [Page Six]
• The Killers are countersuing a former manager in Nevada federal court; both sides seek millions. [USA Today]
• Craig Bierko maybe dated Meg Ryan, Charlize Theron and Gretchen Mol. He definitely had something going on with Janeane Garofalo; he calls her "he" and she calls him "she." [Village Voice]
• If you want to read Mike Leigh's Oscar diary, it is here. [Guardian]
• The lead singer of the Bare Naked Ladies has resigned in a "mutual agreement." [ONTD]
• Blind item: "Which rock star has extra-special house parties? Guests check their clothes at the door, don a robe and indulge in huge bowls of every drug you can imagine." [Gatecrasher]
• "Like we've always said - someone that's good to our Mom, that's very important. And someone that has a good sense of humor." — Nick Jonas, on what kind of girl he and his brothers want. [Mirror]
• "She is pathetic now. Madonna used to be a symbol of rebellion in the '80s, someone who was against religious orthodoxy. Now we have this Madonna who is always preaching kabbalah, trying to teach people how to live their lives" — Camille Paglia in Brazil's Veja magazine. [Page Six]

• At an Oscar party, Madonna congratulated ex-husband Sean Penn on his win. Penn reportedly gestured at Jesus Luz and said: "Thanks. Another kid already?" [The Sun]

• Sean Penn skipped the Milk party, by the way. Why wouldn't you go to the bash for your own damn flick? [Page Six]
• Was Ben Stiller's Joaquin impersonation the only amusing part of the Oscars? [NY Post]
• Kate Winslet was psyched at the Vanity Fair party: she "cradled" her statue and shouted "Wooo!" at all who congratulated her. [Gatecrasher]
• Since receiving it, Kate Winslet has not put her Oscar down. [Daily Mail]
• Jennifer Aniston wouldn't let John Mayer pose for a picture with "backstage beauties" at the Oscars. Or, you know, people want you to think she is keeping a tight grip on this one. [E!]
• Sienna Miller was at Montblanc's/UNICEF dinner in Hollywood and came out of the men's room followed by a "short, straggly haired gent whom she didn't speak to again that night." [Gatecrasher]
• Are Evan Rachel Wood and Marilyn Manson back on? She was seen with him right before the Oscars. [Page Six]
• Prince's Oscar party: A "disaster." [Page Six]
• Will Billy Crystal host the Oscars next? Fox's Roger Friedman thinks so, since Crystal isn't working on anything else. [Fox 411]
• Madonna who? Gwyneth Paltrow is becoming BFFs with Jay-Z and Beyoncé: Her kids call him "Uncle Jay." [Page Six]
• Eminem is suing Universal Music Group — the world's largest music company — over how much he is entitled to when his tunes are sold to third-party distributors. [The Wrap]
• There was a hearing in the Britney Spears restraining order case yesterday; Dad Jamie Spears claimed that Britney has been talking to Sam Lutfi and Adnan Ghalib on a pre-paid cell phone. Danger, danger! [TMZ]
• Victoria Beckham's carbon footprint? Huge. [Guardian]
• Three words: Kathy Griffin memoir. [NY Observer]
• Parker Posey is a big tipper. [Page Six]
• Lily Allen wants to star in Miss Marple. She also wants to sing for and appear in a Bond film. She's a lady with dreams! [The Star]
• Stevie Wonder is in Washington to receive the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from the Library of Congress; the ceremony will happen later this week at the White House and Barack Obama will present the award. Signed sealed delivered, it's his! [USA Today]
• Pix of the Slumdog cuties at Disneyland! [Extra]
• Here's a story about how the Slumdog kids are hometown heroes. "The whole country is happy about this. They are very happy that a boy from the slums is also now a star. I'm also very happy," said Mohammed Ismail, the father of a 10-year-old who appeared in the flick. [NY Post]
• A Tennessee teen who got raided last Fall for hacking Miley Cyrus's Gmail account also hacked other celebrity accounts and MySpaces for a spam scheme that earned him $110,000. [Wired]
• Jennifer Love Hewitt is so obsessed with Audrey Hepburn that she dressed up as the actress for her 30th birthday. Nice tiara. [E!, IDLYITW]
• Some dude in Seattle collects celebrity-autographed yarmulkes, and 32 of them will be displayed at the University Of Washington. [UPI]
• Charles Barkley was sentenced to 10 days in jail yesterday, stemming from a December DUI in which he told cops he was speeding because he was on his way to get a blow job. (Note: That excuse does not work.) [E!]
• Kate Beckinsale has some instant noodles named after her: Steak and BeckinsALE. What an honor? [The Sun]
• The author of gay comic book Hair-Raising Adventures of Jayms Blonde says Adam Sandler ripped off his idea and turned it into You Don't Mess With The Zohan. No one should be claiming credit for Zohan, though. [NY Daily News]
• Is U2 getting £1million in free advertising from the BBC? [Daily Mail]
• Regis Philbin's son Danny tried to kill himself with a pill overdose after splitting with his wife. [Perez Hilton]
• New couple: Elle Macpherson and Brit designer Oswald Boateng. [Gatecrasher]
• A martial arts instructor is suing Tito Jackson over unpaid debt. Is that family a magnet for trouble? [Mirror]
• Blind item! " Which billionaire's son is a scary misogynist? When women balk at his less-than-gentlemanly pickup lines, he calls them bitches and shouts a threat or two." [Gatecrasher]
• More blind items! "Which actor snorted cocaine in the bathroom during an Oscar after-party, while a slimmed-down stoner actor smoked pot outside with his pals? Which morning cable TV show hostess took off a week recently to get her eyes done and her breasts enlarged? Which aviation honcho is trying to knock down rumors he shacked up with a young hottie who works for him while his pregnant wife was back home and clueless?" [Page Six]
• "It's not up to me, but I'm sure we would (have him on SNL) if he had another hit single. We don't care about scandal. We just care about what brings us ratings!" — Kenan Thompson on Chris Brown. [MSNBC]
• "Possession of pouty lips and carefully contrived tousled hairdos doesn't exempt them from associating with the reporters and fans who made them famous." — from a rant against Angelina and Brad snubbing interviewers on the red carpet. [NY Post]
• "It doesn't cost $500 to cut my hair. Have you seen my hair? I don't even have that many strands. If for some reason i decided that I was going to throw $500 away on a hair cut I would pay for it myself, however - I have a great exchange going with my hair dresser - I make him cds - he cuts my hair. Yay! cheap and cheerful!" —Samantha Ronson, shutting down a report that Lindsay Lohan pays for Sam's $500 hair cuts. [MSNBC]

• Would Kate Winslet pose for Playboy? Will Angelina adopt Miley Cyrus? Was Natalie Portman flirting with Robert Pattinson? Wherever the stars go, dirt is sure to follow.

• In this video taken at an Oscar party, Lindsay Lohan doesn't seem quite right. She talks about her new spray tan line for Sephora, claims she didn't know Rihanna has the same "shh ..." tattoo before she got hers, and says it's "like a woman empowerment thing." [E!]
• In a new video Nadya Suleman and her mom Angela fight about Nadya's decision to have octuplets. We'd ask why they decided to have this very private argument filmed and given to Radar to post online, but did anything about this story ever make sense? [Radar]
• Rihanna celebrated her 21st birthday with friends. They went to see Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail then went to a birthday party in the Hollywood Hills. A party guest says: "She was a bit shy at first and kept her glasses on most of the night. But once she saw her old crew and got used to being out, she really got into it. She was even dancing! ... You could tell she was happy to be out. She needed it." [Life and Style]
• The restraining orders against Britney Spears' former manager Sam Lufti and former boyfriend Adnan Ghalib have been extended until Wednesday so a judge can hear testimony from Britney's dad Jaime this afternoon. [Extra]
• The chief executive of the German studio where The Reader was shot says Kate Winslet them a secret thank you by holding on to her ear during her acceptance speech. [Bild]
• Hugh Hefner is offering Kate Winslet a spot on the cover of Playboy and a nude spread inside. Kate may have won an Oscar, but of course, posing in Playboy would mean she's truly arrived. [The Sun]
• A source who worked behind the scenes at the Oscars says Brad-Angelina-Aniston showdown was a non-issue. "I think it's safe to say that everyone involved has moved on. It wasn't even really a topic of conversation," said the source. However, the camera guy was told to cut to Brad and Angie while Aniston was presenting. "We did need ratings, after all," said the source. [MSNBC]
• Jennifer Aniston is moving to New York. Could it be because John Mayer lives in NYC?! (Nope, she's just in town to film a movie.) [FOX News]
• Miley Cyrus is sad that she didn't get to see Anglina Jolie at the Oscars. Earlier she said of Angelina, "She's beautiful...she could, like, adopt me!" Miley was talking to Ryan Seacrest - could that be why Angie snubbed her? [ONTD]
• Here are some snippets of backstage gossip from the Oscars: in the Spanish bit at the end of Penelope Cruz's speech she dedicated her Oscar to her fellow actors and citizens in Spain and thanked them for sharing in her happiness. There was an audible gasp in the press room when they cut to Brad and Angie while Aniston was on stage. Dustin Lance Black, the Original Screenplay winner for Milk said he wanted to "pay it forward" by giving his pro-gay rights acceptance speech. Tearing up, he told a reporter, "Harvey gave me his story, and it saved my life…I just wanted to tell those kids out there it'll be all right." [Yahoo]
• At the Vanity Fair party Elton John sat in the back of the room with Joan and Jackie Collins, "like a campier version of the Three Musketeers." Madonna hosted a party with Demi Moore at the home of her manager, Guy Oseary. She and Jesus Luz parked themselves on a sofa as Samantha Ronson DJed and Lindsay Lohan danced nearby. [WWD]
• Kate Beckinsale, Victoria Beckham, Sharon Stone, Quincy Jones, Claire Danes, Taye Diggs and Russell Simmons, attended Elton John's AIDS Foundation Oscar viewing party. Guests were talking about the potential actor's strike. [WWD]
• Natalie Portman was reportedly flirting with Robert Pattinson at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party. This information comes from a Pattinson "pal" who added that Pattinson overcame his nervousness with the help of "whiskey and Natalie Portman," so maybe not so much. [E!]
• Sean Penn says he purposely left wife Robin Wright Penn out of his acceptance speech because they both knew there wouldn't be enough time to mention family. [Perez Hilton]
• Nicky Hilton made a citizen's arrest at IHOP yesterday. She was pushed to the ground outside the restaurant by a homeless man. A cop was inside on a coffee break and made a real arrest. [Us]
• Though Nicholas Cage once successfully sued Kathleen Turner for accusing him of drunk-driving and theft in her autobiography, she says they're friends now. [The Daily Express]
• Former Spice Girl Melanie C gave birth to a baby girl on Sunday named Scarlett Starr. [Perez Hilton]
• A court has refused to dismiss Jackson Browne's lawsuit against John McCain for using his song "Running on Empty" in a web video from the Ohio Republican Party. [Politico]
• Debra Messing has dropped Rachel Zoe as her stylist. Cameron Diaz and other clients are apparently "getting very upset" that Zoe's Bravo show is getting in the way of her other work. [NY Magazine]
• John Sayles has been hired to write an HBO series based on the childhood of Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis. [Variety]
• Joss Stone has been dumped by her 19-year-old boyfriend. Supposedly the boatbuilder couldn't take Joss always being away on tour. [The Sun]
• Frieda Pinto will star in Woody Allen's next film. Are Scarlett Johansson's days numbered? [The Daily Express]
• Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin, and Anthony Hopkins will also star in Woody's new film, which starts filming this summer. [Variety]
• Beyonce is holding a "Single Ladies" dance video contest. Contestant must adhere to the choreography in the original video. The winner will get $2,500 in cash and have the video shown on Beyonce's upcoming world tour. Are Justin Timberlake and the guys from SNL eligible? [UPI]
• Amy Winehouse may make St. Lucia her home. She's been there for months and has no plans to return to the U.K. [People]
• Madonna sent boxes of her 3-year-old son David's clothes, toys, and books back to his former orphanage with a label that read "from David Ritchie to friends at Home of Hope – Malawi." The packages also included autographed copies of Madonna's children's book. [People]
• TCM will be playing Ronald Reagan's 31 movies on Wednesday nights in March as part of a tribute to the former president. His daughter, Patti Davis will host. [UPI]
• A judge has granted Peter Falk's daughter a 30 minute supervised meeting with her father. Recently she unsuccessfully tried to establish a conservatorship over her father. [USA Today]
• Deborah Gibson didn't sell her $1.275 million dollar home because she's having money troubles, she's just moving in with her boyfriend. Or so her publicist says. [Perez Hilton]
• Dan Aykroyd says that hopefully, Ghostbusters 3 will be in production by "late fall 2009." Two writers from The Office penned the script and Bill Murray is on board. [NY Magazine]
• An upcoming Grey's Anatomy script makes it seem that Patrick Dempsey is leaving the show, but sources say McDreamy is actually staying. More spoilery details are available here. [E!]
• Rapper N.O.R.E., formerly known as Noreaga, was arrested on Sunday after punching another customer at a Miami Beach Fatburger and yelling, "Do you know who I am?" [Perez Hilton]
• Mickey Rourke says he's getting a new chihuahua this week and he's going to name it Oscar. [Radar]
• Mel Gibson says he called Britney during her crazy times: "She's a nice kid, ya know. She was just going through a rough patch. You see kids that you know in the industry… I just felt like this poor kid she's lining up to be stoned. I just thought, 'I wonder if anyone is reaching out to her,' so I just called her and she's doing great now." Heath also said he thinks he should have called Heath Ledger, which actually would have made more sense than calling Brit since they worked together on The Patriot. [Perez Hilton]

Posing is an art form, and Hollywood stylists may spend hours with their clients, giving them lessons on, as The Washington Post describes it, "contorting a three-dimensional body, with all of its curves and angles, into a vision of two-dimensional perfection." "This is an actress's image, the way people see her outside that movie," says Jeanne Yang, a L.A. stylist who has worked with Katie Holmes, Salma Hayek and Cameron Diaz. "Those pictures will live forever." While non-famous wives and relatives may be seen slouching down the red carpet like normal humans, even after 45 minutes on the red carpet, you'll be hard pressed to find a photo of a true A-lister not snapped into the "one foot in front of the other, hands on hips" pose. [The Washington Post]

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The Bad:

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The Good:

• Is this leaked list of supposed Oscar winners for real? Most of the "winners" are pretty expected, but there are a few upsets listed as well, namely in the Supporting Actress and Screenplay categories. [Cinematical]

• Kate Winslet may be the front-runner for the Oscar, but it's her parents' approval that means the most: "My dad's an actor and he's very opinionated and has specific tastes so it's not always that they've seen a film I've been in and they have lots of things to say or are extremely moved. They always love everything I'm in because they're my mum and dad. And they always say the right thing but with The Reader they were just so shocked because they just said it's not you, it's not you." [ShowbizSpy]
• Celebrities will have the option to donate their Oscar gift bags to charity: "The spin ... is that the celebrity actually could go around, pick up one of everything and then give it to the charity of their choice," says Gavin Keilly, who runs the GBK luxury lifestyle gift suites, "They won't be taxed on it and now they are doing their part about really making a difference and helping out a good cause, just for a few minutes of their time." [Reuters]
• Someone claiming to be Britney Spears has been leaving messages with an attorney's office, asking for help in breaking away from her current conservatorship situation. Is it Britney? Or just a fake? A source says it's "absolutely not" Britney. [Yahoo]
• Taylor Swift has forgiven the girls who were mean to her in school: "You know, I've kind of let that grudge go," she says, "And I let it go completely when I played a show in my hometown a year after my album came out and [at the signing] after the show, all those girls showed up they waited for three hours in line and they had my shirts on. And I started to realize, wow, we were kids. And you know what? They don't remember it."[RollingStone]
• Breaking the hearts of every boy I went to elementary school with, Danica "Winnie Cooper" McKellar is engaged to marry her longtime boyfriend next month. [OK!]
• Sparkly vampire Robert Pattinson doesn't understand the American drinking culture (or lack thereof): "There isn't really like a pub [culture] in L.A," Pattinson says, "It's just a very different culture. I think people from L.A. don't really understand how it's such a normal thing to be in pubs from a very young age in London. people [in America] just think it's so strange. Like drinking has such a stigma attached to it here. I've never really understood it. It seems so normal to me."[ShowbizSpy]
• Knowing that "Black parachute pants and a Huey Lewis and the News T-shirt," is one of the worst outfits Amy Poehler has actually worn only makes us love her more. [BlackBook]
• Hilary Duff will be making an appearance on The Ghost Whisperer. "JLH's one of my friends, and we were having dinner one night," Duff says, "She's like, ‘Come be on my show. You know, we're almost finished.' I'm like, ‘Give me a part. I'll do it!' And it just kind of came about really naturally and organically like that."[JustJared]
• "One of the hardest things I think for anybody is to sit in the edit room and look at yourself. You're already humiliated by, like, 'Oh, right, I forgot, that's what I look like.' Now you get to see yourself frozen with the worst angle of you face -– and with bad acting on top of it. You want to say, Excuse me, I've just got to go and kill myself."- Demetri Martin [EW]
• Clay Aiken has left his record label. "We were unable to come to terms in a recent contract negotiation, and decided that it was best to move on," his rep says. Surely the Claymates will follow where ever he goes. [People]
• Nadya Suleman faces questions wherever she goes: "Yes, I took my daughter for a girls' day out and needed some lip gloss and stopped by M.A.C. But, they gave me the wrong color. Everyone started
  approaching me in the store asking me how I was going to afford my kids and stuff. Some were really nice."[USMagazine]
• Jennifer Aniston will be attending the Academy Awards and presenting with Jack Black. [E!]
• Meanwhile, celebrities are apparently trying to schedule their red carpet time around the arrival of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie: "Brad and Ange are the dream ticket, as they have been throughout awards season," a source says, "As soon as they step on the red carpet all eyes are on them – cameras too. I know a lot of stars wanting a fair share of the spotlight are making a point of not arriving when Brad and Ange are making the walk up the red carpet. There's nothing worse than being dumped mid-interview for the hot couple."[ShowbizSpy]
• Miley Cyrus is speaking out against people who label her relationship with her father, Billy Ray, as "creepy." "The media has said some stuff about my dad and me being too close and too cuddly for a father and a daughter," Miley writes in her new memoir, "For me and my dad it's not weird at all."[Mirror]
• Sienna Miller isn't worried about getting older: "Recently I found myself thinking, ‘I'm getting wrinkles and things are wobbling - I should go to the gym'. Then I was like, 'f*** it'," Miller says, "It's not where the focus should be right now. LA is a nightmare for that. Young girls in Hollywood are having pre-emptive Botox. I say, let people be young and then be old. I can't wait to be seen as a woman." Um, you're 27, dude. Aren't you already a woman? [ShowbizSpy]
• Conan O'Brien's final show in NYC was last night: he addresses how he'll deal with the move to LA in this clip. [Hulu]
• And finally, another of Mariah Carey's dreams comes true with these three words: Hello Kitty Toilet. [InventorSpot]

First of all, I resent the implication that 99-year-old actress Luise Rainer, who won successive Oscars for 1936's The Great Ziegfeld and the following year's The Good Earth, is "forgotten": the German-born actress, who lives in London, is known and respected by anyone who follows cinema. And it's not like she's pining to be at the Academy Awards: "All that ballyhoo... all these long speeches, thanking the grandparents and the great-grandparents... No, I find it very boring."

Rainer's decision to leave Hollywood was completely her own; she basically told Louis B. Mayer to take a hike.

Mayer said, 'I hear that you want to leave', and I said, 'yes' ,and he said, 'well, we made you and we are also going to kill you'. And I said, ' Mr Mayer, you didn't make me, God made me. And I want to tell you something: You are an old man and I am a young woman – you are dead when I am still full of life and can do whatever I want. He was very upset. I walked out. Finished."

And it's not as though her life was exactly barren after she left movies. Her friendships included Einstein, Gershwin, Frank Lloyd Wright, Jean Renoir and Anaïs Nin; during World War II she was given a commission from Eleanor Roosevelt to gather intel on "troop morale," sharing a military transport with Martha Gellhorn. Bertolt Brecht wrote The Caucasian Chalk Circle as a vehicle for Rainer (although she told him to sod off too when he gave her attitude.) Basically, making films and winning Oscars seems to have been just one chapter in a life full of adventures, and by no means the most important. The notion that someone's life is over after Hollywood, or that they're "forgotten" because they don't care to center a life around Holywood is put to play in a very refreshing fashion by this profile, which ought to be compulsory reading for anyone nominated on Sunday.

Says Rainer now,

"Everybody says, 'you had such a wonderful life'. Well, possibly it was, but I don't feel that I had such a specially wonderful life. I was lucky enough to meet people who were special, and that was the wonderful thing that happened in my life."

Forgotten Golden Girl Of The Oscars [[Independent]