Friday, March 28, 2008
Another Australian Publication Bites The Dust
4:46PM Clem Bastow | New Woman, the mag that was never quite saucy enough to muscle in on the Cosmo/Cleo crowd, not fashionable enough for the Marie Claire/Harpers Bazaar crew, and not quite grown-up enough for the Women’s Weekly audience, is set to close at the end of April.
Since publishing behemoth ACP took over Emap Australia’s titles last year, they have apparently noted New Woman’s “challenges”, which in mag publishing trade-speak essentially translates as “it’s fucked”.
ACP Magazines chief executive Scott Lorson said ACP had made the decision to close down the magazine “sooner rather than later”.
“The title has enjoyed some success in the past, but has struggled to establish a unique and sustainable position in the highly competitive women’s lifestyle category,” Mr Lorson said.
“When we purchased the Emap business, we were aware of the significant challenges facing New Woman.”
Don’t be too quick to shed a tear for the staff, however, as ACP are particularly good at absorbing and reabsorbing staff from one magazine to another – witness the career trajectory of, for example, Mia Freedman (through the revolving doors of Cosmo, Dolly and so forth) and Paula Joye (from Cleo to Madison) and Bronwyn McCahon (Cosmo to Dolly and back to Cosmo). More » 
Amy Winehouse Round-Up: Winegums Forgets To Remember Her Husband
4:22PM Clem Bastow | Looks like all this worry about her scabs and fish’n'chips and whatever else has left our Winegums a little scatterbrained and Her Blake Incarcerated has fallen wayyy to the bottom of the “to do” list.
(Well, “to do” is probably an unfortunately live metaphor, but you know what we mean.)
It seems “poor” Blake sat around like a puppy in a shop window when prison visiting hours ticked around, but wifey was nowhere to be seen.
Disorganised Amy Winehouse failed to turn up on time to see her beloved husband Blake during visiting hours at the north London prison he has been remanded to.
The singer’s chaotic lifestyle has taken a toll on her timekeeping, as well as her terribly scabby skin, which looked worse than ever when she stepped out today in the hope of seeing her incarcerated husband.
It’s true, her face is looking a little worse for wear, but if she really was turning into one of those characters out of a Government ’say no to drugs’ campaign, wouldn’t she be scabby all over?
Maybe she just went to see Priscilla Presley’s cosmetic surgeon?? More » 
Girls Aloud: Coming To A Big Screen Near You?
11:41AM Clem Bastow | One thing we have been hoping the whole Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana et al phenom might bring about is a return to the good old bad old days of “official” movies put out by pop groups. SpiceWorld, Head, er, the rest of them, there’s nothing better than a bunch of pop stars doing their best method acting while surrounded by slightly bewildered celebrity cameos.
Well, it looks like we may get our dying wish, with the news that Girls Aloud are quite keen on the idea of doing their own feature. We’re just not so sure about the vibe they’re thinking of going for:
Kimberley Walsh said: “We want it to be a Friends and Sex And The City kind of thing, all morphed into one.”
Man, we love SATC, but combined with a) Friends and b) Girls Aloud’s delusions of dramatic grandeur, we’re not so sure about it.
What would’ve been better would be if they proposed a heart-wrenching drama about a bunch of girls from the commission flats who band together to give it one last shot at stardom before the ranga of the group dies of a Fatal Illness backstage after they’ve won their first Brit Award. With Ray Winstone and Judi Dench as Sarah Harding’s alcoholic parents and special guest starring a fake-tanned Clive Owen as Ashley Cole. More » 
Leona Lewis Needs Throat Op; Cosima Sends Moral Support
11:31AM Clem Bastow | Leona Lewis, the UK X Factor winner whose stardom really eluded us for a long time (people were saying she was the new Whitney/Mariah/Aretha, we were like, “whut whut?”) is the first British female artist to hit the top of the US charts in 20 years – but her more pressing concern involves probable surgery on her throat.
In rather old-fashioned fashion, Leona may need to have her tonsils out!
Feel free to make an inappropriate Bleeding Love joke here.
She said: “I’ve had tonsillitis for the whole of the past week. I’ve been desperately trying to get better.”
A representative for the 22-year-old singer has confirmed she may be forced to have surgery, adding: “Leona would like to reassure fans this is a routine operation which will not affect her voice. She has sought specialists’ advice.”
So, in other words, she has nothing to worry about? If anything, not having the surgery is probably worse for her!
Sounds like The Sun et al need a basic course in anatomy – one doesn’t sing with one’s tonsils, dearies. Maybe Leona can swing herself an ice cream or Jello endorsement deal during her recovery? More » 
When Kenny Met Taarna
11:12AM Seth | Yesterday, we promised you a brainmeltingly awesome new thing, and dare we say, you got it. We only wished the entire episode could have existed inside the cat-pee-induced, hallucinatory world of Heavy South Metal Park [South Park] HuffPo’s Allison Hope Weiner, who’s dutifully provided us with every juicy tidbit to emerge from the Pellicano trial thusfar, may be subpoenaed by the defence. That could transform her into the Hollywood Wiretapping Trial of the Century’s own Judith Miller, Patron Saint of Source Protection. [THR ESQ.] Will Paul Giamatti’s next role as a U.S politician require him to wipe his arse with the historical document John Adams helped create? [Vulture] As Kate Bosworth giggled with Paul Shaffer, UTA wept. [DHD] If you live in the Hills, a blog called The Daily Coyote isn’t something you’d likely need or want. For everyone else: Look! Coyotes! Daily! [The Daily Coyote] More »
10:27AM Seth | Lindsay Lohan will return to the feel-good realm of cold-blooded murderers she’s already explored in such previous cinematic outings as Chapter 27, I Know Who Killed Me, and Confessions of a Teenage Homicidal Maniac, as E! News is reporting the actress has signed on to play Manson Family member Nancy Pitman in Manson Girls. So invested is the actress in getting the details just right, expect to see her on red carpets and at area hot spots in the coming weeks sporting styles from the period, with the word “PIG” smeared across her forehead in what we hope will only be pig’s blood. [E Online] More »
10:27AM Seth | Lindsay Lohan will return to the feel-good realm of cold-blooded murderers she’s already explored in such previous cinematic outings as Chapter 27, I Know Who Killed Me, and Confessions of a Teenage Homicidal Maniac, as E! News is reporting the actress has signed on to play Manson Family member Nancy Pitman in Manson Girls. So invested is the actress in getting the details just right, expect to see her on red carpets and at area hot spots in the coming weeks sporting styles from the period, with the word “PIG” smeared across her forehead in what we hope will only be pig’s blood. [E Online] More »
Judy Greer Forced By Movie Producers To Dye Her Hair In Deference To Jennifer Aniston
10:12AM Mark Graham | Judy Greer has been orbiting around stardom for the better part of the last 10 years. And although she’s had a couple of delicious supporting turns over the years (13 Going On 30, Adaptation, Jawbreaker), she’s never quite broken through into the leading lady category … until now. Ashton Kutcher picked her to be the lead of his new ABC comedy, Miss Guided, and now the lovely and talented Miss Greer is getting her first taste of hitting the promotional circuit as a star. And guess what? She’s eating it up. She was as giddy as a school girl during her appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman last night, but also managed to rein in her emotions enough to tell Dave a funny story about how she’s still forced to endure some of the humilities that the Hollywood machine puts second fiddles through. More »
Kate Bosworth: ‘No Sober Sex Scenes For Me, Thankyouverymuch’
9:50AM Molly Friedman | This may shock many of you, but we’ve been hearing rumours for years that giving girls a few drinks can make them feel more romantically adventurous. And, according to People, this very rumour was put into action when 21 star Kate Bosworth shot her love scenes with co-star Jim Sturgess. As she recently admitted at a New York screening, “We were both so drunk…Jim and I became such good friends, we decided to have a couple of drinks, loosen up and go for it.” Which got us thinking: seeing as how Kate’s been required to do the whole sex scene thing with quite a few actors over they years, what other combination of sedatives, drugs and drinks must she have had to pop and sip in order to get down and dirty with the likes of James Van Der Beek and (gulp) Kevin Spacey? More »
