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We knew Paul Newman was ailing when he retired from acting last year, but the diagnosis only trickled out in the last day or so in reports suggesting the 83-year-old Oscar-winner (and former chain smoker) is suffering from terminal lung cancer. The Dish Rag picked up the story last night at the LA Times:
Posted by Clem Bastow at 11:49 AM on June 10, 2008
As newspapers have become more and more hip to the whole internets thing, it's been fun keeping tabs on who's reading what, such as News.com.au's "most clicked" articles round-up at the end of last year (which revealed its readers were more interested in levitation and aliens than politics).
'Most read' lists are a fairly telling portrait of a readership, so it was rather amusing to see what the Brisbane Times browsers were hitting this morning (via the 'Readers' most viewed' pane at the bottom of TheAge.com.au's front page):
It is probably funnier - in that whole inter-state-rivalry way, at least - when you see it up against the Sydney Morning Herald and Age top fives, which feature the new iPhone, soccer, politics and the price of living.
It's good to see that our friends up in sunny Queensland are keeping the dream alive for all those who think stories about dead men killing their wives, cancer-causing blowjobs and dogs choking on cane toads are what real journalism is all about!
· Tyra dubs Carnie Wilson's tabloid-documented weight battles "Carnie Wilson's War," mainly because every paparazzi shot of her eating an ice cream cone also features Tom Hanks engaging in witty repartee from behind a highball glass. [Tyra Show]
· The Golden Girls (minus Estelle Getty) reunited last night for the TV Land Awards. You know which episode was on the other week that we had totally forgotten about? The one where Rose thinks she's HIV positive for 72 hours, and Sophia draws an "R" on her coffee mugs! [Mollygood]
· What Hollywood's Next A-list feature would be complete without James McAvoy's overexposed turtle-face? [EW.com]
·We've seen some sexist attacks on Sex and the City, but this clucking SATC slumber party takes the cake. That said, we watched it for way longer than was really necessary. [YTMND]
· The LAT visits the set of Bitch Slap, a C-movie production proudly keeping the Russ Meyer aesthetic alive. [Hollywood Backlot]
·2 Girls, 1 Cup, and 1 Birthday Cake that will probably yield a record amount of leftovers. (Caution: Contains convincing icing-simulated poo.) [flickr via B3TA]
Posted by Clem Bastow at 11:09 AM on June 10, 2008
You'll forgive the slight tardiness of this Winegums report; the mule I employed to bring me Amy news while I was on a long-weekend holiday got stuck in a ditch and had to be airlifted back to Melbourne.
In any case, Blake Fielder-Civil has (wisely) pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and grevious bodily harm - charges that he had previously denied.
This means we could be seeing an awful lot less of him (and an awful lot more of Winegums' daft "<3 BLAKE" badge and hair-clip, natch):
Fielder-Civil, 26, of Camden, North London, admitted causing grevious bodily harm to James King, 36, of the Macbeth pub in Hoxton, north London, last summer.Hmm, not sure where to place my bets on this one - when he was initially locked up, it looked like Amy was really getting her shit together; now, not so much.The reporting restrictions also covered the allegation that Mr King could have been subjected to intimidation or duress.
Both causing grevious bodily harm and perverting the course of justice carry a maximum sentence of life in jail - although a British court has never given a sentence of more than 10 years for the latter.
Amy is said to be desperately worried that Blake, who she married in Miami last year after a stormy relationship, will receive a long jail sentence.
Those crazy kids!
Posted by Clem Bastow at 11:01 AM on June 10, 2008
For those of you who aren't rabid followers of either a) Girls Aloud or b) the British tabloids, you may be interested to know that Cheryl Cole of said girl group was recently cheated on by her no-good husband, footballer Ashley, and has spent the ensuing months wandering around looking gaunt and sad while the tabs sympathetically charted her weight-loss (etc).
The Girls are now on tour and it seems Ashley is trying to make it up to his estranged wife, though probably not in the most thoughtful way possible. Here, let the Mail subeditors paint you a picture:
Even better is the pic in the article, which shows Cheryl backstage, looking at the bunch of chintz as though Ashley had actually sent a basket of beheaded kittens and puppies.
Will they get back together? Will the balloons and flowers be enough to mend their ailing marriage? Only time and approximately 128 The Sun/Daily Mail/News Of The World articles will tell!
Posted by Clem Bastow at 10:54 AM on June 10, 2008
In the scheme of things, Magda Szubanski (last spotted in the all-star cast of Guys & Dolls, doing a totally bewildering drag king act) is not really a regular guest star of the celebrity gossip pages, so it's nice to see that when she does appear in Confidential (et al), she does it in style - having a riotous night on the tiles at Melbourne gay institution, The Market!
Not content with being a wallflower, she was constantly in character when approached by the boys to do her Sharon Strezlecki all night, and came back with some great one-liners.Don't worry, you didn't read that wrong - evidently Magda and Sharon are considered to be two separate identities by the Confidential crew, like a better looking and more friendly version of Two Face.Magda lapped it up, but Sharon was left dumbfounded by the amount of shirtless men there were in the room and couldn't believe that finally, albeit at a gay bar, she was getting attention.
When America was gripped by an outbreak of Brokeback Mountain spotted fever a few years ago—a rare condition characterized by an onset of involuntary gay-cowboy jokes and acute rose-stemming—more than a few of the afflicted (ourselves included) were visited by visions of high-kicking chorus-boys in a Brokeback musical. Now, reports Variety, our rhinestone-studded delusions are not only coming to pass, but they've even gone one gayer, with the commissioning of Brokeback—The Opera:
Posted by Jess McGuire at 10:36 AM on June 10, 2008
Thanks to today's MediaWeek newsletter, I was intrigued to discover that Network Ten is putting up the bucks for a reality show (sorry, "factual program") spin off.
Off the back of an exceptionally successful season of Bondi Rescue, Network Ten has announced the commission of an eight part spin off series, Bondi Rescue: Bali.
A team of lifeguards will be dealt a new set of challenges when they commence a four month stint on Bali's famous Kuta Beach.
Lifeguards featuring in the new series Bondi Rescue: Bali include former soapie star Ryan Clarke "Whippett", team leader Dean Gladstone "Deano", Andrew Reid "Reidy" and Anthony Carroll "Harries" with his infectious smile.
Look, I'm as excited as the next person about the idea of seeing Whippett, Deano, Reidy and Harries pulling people from the swells at Kuta, but the name Bondi Rescue: Bali just strikes me as stupid. Did Bali Rescue not make any sense? It's like calling a show Australia's Next Top Model: Landscapers.
Posted by Jess McGuire at 10:32 AM on June 10, 2008
In celebration of Jason Donovan's recent wedding AND his former paramour Kylie Minogue's 40th birthday, let's go back in time to a period when those two blonde muppets were considered national living treasures and a slice of wholesomeness everyone in the family could enjoy!
It's been 25 years since Terms Of Endearment arrived in the multiplexes of America, turning virtually everyone who saw it into an emotional basketcase. And while the film swept most of the major awards at the 1984 Academy Awards, there was one integral member of the cast who left the L.A. County Music Center that night less than thrilled. That person was Debra Winger, who was none too pleased that her co-star and arch rival Shirley MacLaine took home the coveted Best Actress Award. Not only were the two on-set rivals (one potentially tall tale had Winger farting in MacLaine's face), but MacLaine famously shouted "I deserve this!" when her name was called over Winger's that night.
Posted by Clem Bastow at 10:02 AM on June 10, 2008
Just to give you some cliff notes before the bulk of this story, ironwoman and sometime It Takes Two entrant Candice Falzon once ended up embroiled in "Dunny Gate" (or, my personal favourite, "Dunny Bill Williams") after ending up - ahem - indisposed in a nightclub toilet cubicle with rugby star Sonny Bill Williams and the events of that fateful night have followed Falzon ever since.
Well, perhaps the Government's crackdown on binge drinking has inspired some last minute mea culpa, because Falzon has now decided to blame her behaviour that evening on - you guessed it! - the demon drink!
"I wasn't in a state where I didn't know what happened, but you don't think of how your actions, when you're drunk, can have an affect on your life," she told the ABC.Well, yes, you'd have to be "messy" to end up in the situation pictured above.Close friend Llara Rope , who was with Falzon the night she allegedly had sex with Sonny Bill Williams in a toilet cubicle, admitted the two were "drunk" and "messy".
But what I want to know is, given that all Williams/Falzon limbs seem to be accounted for in the photo, who took the bloody thing? Did some enterprising toilet patron stop mid-slash/bog and stick their camera phone under the door?
Posted by Jess McGuire at 9:53 AM on June 10, 2008
As everyone man and his dog knows, the only way to get over the end of a Serious Relationship is to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and find someone hotter to fondle in as many public places as possible so your ex hears about it within minutes.
So good for you, Daniel Johns - a spunky young catwalk queen ("alien chic" is quite the pants-razzing compliment... I think) will certainly make Natalie Imbruglia jealous and put a stop to those bothersome Paul Mac rumours!
Six months after splitting from his wife Natalie Imbruglia, silverchair frontman Daniel Johns is getting his groove back with one of Australia's top up and coming models.
In our second edition of Living Lohan's most valuable lessons as taught by Professor Dina, we couldn't help being distracted by our studies in good parenting by upcoming rapper Ali's sudden, unexpected and quite exciting new personality. Did the former zombie-ish little Lohan really just throw a fit? Yell at the almighty Dina? As captivated as we were by this week's tips from Dina, lovingly crafted by Defamer Video Vixen Molly McAleer, we must note our newfound appreciation for this screaming version of little Ali. It's like, we can't put our finger on how exactly she's changed but, oh wait! Yes, she's showing her very first signs of Becoming Lindsay. Finally, the process begins. With that, we present three rules of manicured thumb we learned from the big D last night:
We admit there's not a whole lot of shattered Earth to be found in Sunday's NY Times survey of the limping, lethargic new/old MGM (i.e. deep library, shallow future). Hats off to chairman Harry Sloan, though, for abandoning the low-energy talking points early on in the process and getting straight to the bitchslappy good stuff — whacks at his own new premium-cable partners ("If you don't have a major summer and a Christmas picture, you're not a player at the studio level. ... The best you're going to be is Lionsgate") and theatrical pals ("I thought I was making a deal with the guys who'd just come off Oscars for Chicago, Gangs of New York and Aviator," he said of the Weinstein Company. "Instead they went to the festivals, picked up movies and arbitraged MGM's deal on Showtime").
Just in case you haven't already sunk into a envy-induced stupor reading story after story on how much cash Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are spending on the Chosen Two, the NY Daily News chimes in today to ensure you finally succumb to full-fledged depression. On top of the reported $20 million the pair is spending on French villas, armed cars, and getaway helicopters, not to mention Brad's uber-modern shopping spree on oddly shaped furnishings for said villas, the king and queen of Wombwatch Central are finally getting around to the nursery. And this is not just any other nursery — need we remind you, this haven will serve to protect the most important little girls ever born. And from the sound of it, Brangelina are well aware of this. The breakdown, including how much more dough these brats-to be are costing the pair via newborn necessities like chandeliers and cashmere toys, after the jump.
We were with Joel Silver up to a point in his career-counseling session last night with Denise Richards, whose professional fork in the road towered above the myriad harrowing dilemmas faced on It's Complicated. Playboy encore? B-movies? Something more conservative? How about more television, suggested Silver and his right-hand woman Susan Downey — a sitcom, maybe? Something to highlight the actress's sterling sense of humor and cosmic, cosmetic comeliness? She was so good on Spin City, you know? And the hours are convenient for a mother! More importantly, however: What would Neo from The Matrix do? We're not sure if Richards plans to take Silver's advice or if she just always looks the way she does at the end of the scene; you be the judge after the jump. [E!]
· Hot-new-screenwriting-thing Dan Mazeau has been hired by DreamWorks to whip the script for Untitled Doug Liman Moon-Colonizing Project Starring Impossibly Swoony-Eyed Lunar-Settling Dreamboat Jake Gyllenhaal into shape. [THR]
· Top-rated GSN poker shows High Stakes Poker and World Poker Tour have yet to be renewed, and many fans are concerned that the new network president David Goldhill might cancel them. Asked to comment, Goldhill played things close the vest, peering out from beneath the rim of his lucky Harrah's sun visor in a pair of wraparound Blublockers as he gnawed silently on a complimentary chicken wing. [THR]
· VH1 orders Scream Queens, a reality show that attempts to find America's Next Top Co-Ed Who Insists on Wandering into the Laundry Room Alone Knowing A Killer Is Loose on Campus. [THR]
· Amber Tamblyn will star in ABC's The Unusuals, playing "Detective Casey Shraeger, a smart cop who also is the black sheep of her wealthy family." [THR]
· Harrison Ford's next role will be playing the real-world dad who stopped at nothing to find a cure for his son's rare condition. Just to clarify, this character is not Indiana Jones, and his son's condition is not Ow LaBeouf's Balls. [Variety]
Nicole Kidman's rehabbed, country-crooning husband Keith Urban has infinite knowledge on many things: how to prepare cocaine for free-basing, which hair salons in Australia promise the best blond guylights and where one can pick up a sweet pair of skintight leather pants. But one area of expertise Urban hasn't quite nailed down yet is this whole baby business. At the CMA Awards on Friday night, reporters bombarded the surprise performer with the inevitable string of wombwatch-related questions, one of which involved the topic of gifts the odd couple have received for the upcoming celeb spawn:
Sidelined with a creative misfire so severe in Elizabethtown, the entire movie needed to be checked into Cirque Lodge for depression, Cameron Crowe is finally back doing what he was born to do: putting together kickass movie soundtracks. From Variety:
Many of us learned more than we needed to about that trendy college dorm infection known as pink eye from Knocked Up and Stephen Colbert. In the elegant Apatow flick, we learn that farting on pillows will cause it, and on a recent Colbert Report, Stephen noted that farting on your boss's computer is not cool, because of the e. coli and the, well, okay we're done. But sadly the itchy inflammation is in the headlines once again thanks to Anne Hathaway, who delighted reporters recently by recalling her snotty, puss-filled, tear-blubbering kissing scene with Steve Carell while shooting Get Smart. As she said to Steve at the time, "My eye is red, puffy and dripping green — I'm snotty, and I'm just like 'Come here!'" Though Anne blames the irritation on sinus problems and the like, we wouldn't be surprised if Anne's slime actually came from her slimeball of a beau, considering a piece in today's NY Post reveals the lawbreaker is in trouble yet again:
It's a shocker, we know: Leonardo DiCaprio is set to star in yet another biopic, this time as Atari founder Nolan Bushnell. The Hollywood Reporter notes that screenwriters Brian Hecker and Craig Sherman sold their script Atari to Paramount on Friday, with DiCaprio's Appian Way shingle producing the story of "the godfather of the video game industry," whom we'd probably like just fine were he not also the shithead who foisted the Chuck E. Cheese chain on an unsuspecting American public.
Whether you spent your Sunday pridefully snorkeling Jäger bombs in WeHo or simply watching the Lakers' Championship hopes slip away, chances are, you're feeling pretty gnarly this morning. Here's some box-office-numbers hair of the dog to ease your crushing hangover:
While the rumours of the CW's demise haven't quite been greatly exaggerated, they're looking a little premature this morning as news of the network's upfront success trickles out. Amid panic over plunging ratings and the looming ouster of boss Dawn Ostroff, the House of Gossip Girl apparently wrapped up its advance sales with as much as $370 million — about half of last year's numbers but not half-bad under the circumstances. 90210 apparently speaks for itself, after all:
Despite having apparently cleaned up her boozy gurney act, finding a new boyfriend who doesn't wear wifebeaters and even spending quality mini-SUV-riding time with Sean Preston and The Other One, Britney Spears has still been getting flack from the press. Why? Namely because she's been seen looking slightly less svelte than usual while covering her belly (which, of course, leads to unwed-mum pregnancy stories). But comeback number infinity is still chugging away! Last week, we reported on her planned string of "flashy" shows in Vegas, and now we learn that Spears has reportedly undergone a rapid weight loss using none other than the Victoria Beckham starvation method. Details on what Spears has been replacing her Cheetos with, how she's comparing to Posh these days and the dimensions of her dress size these days (you know you want to know) after the jump.
Jessica Alba and Cash Warren apparently aren't playing along with the latest "hasty media retraction" trend in celebrity parenting, instead just blithely going along with reports that Alba gave birth this weekend to the couple's daughter Honour Marie Warren. As the actress was due in late May, however, we have no reason to doubt the Bronze Child is among us: "Alba's father was overheard saying, 'She's beautiful,' " US Weekly reported in a bulletproof dispatch from Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre. "Warren — in a T-shirt, jeans and baseball cap — was spotted carrying food into the maternity ward Sunday."
· Tyra dubs Carnie Wilson's tabloid-documented weight battles "Carnie Wilson's War," mainly because every paparazzi shot of her eating an ice cream cone also features Tom Hanks engaging in witty repartee from behind a highball glass. [
It's been 25 years since Terms Of Endearment arrived in the multiplexes of America, turning virtually everyone who saw it into an emotional basketcase. And while the film swept most of the major awards at the 1984 Academy Awards, there was one integral member of the cast who left the 
In our second edition of Living Lohan's 
We were with Joel Silver up to a point in his career-counseling session last night with Denise Richards, whose professional fork in the road towered above the myriad harrowing dilemmas faced on It's Complicated. Playboy encore? B-movies? Something more conservative? How about more television, suggested Silver and his right-hand woman Susan Downey — a sitcom, maybe? Something to highlight the actress's sterling sense of humor and cosmic, cosmetic comeliness? She was so good on Spin City, you know? And the hours are convenient for a mother! More importantly, however: What would Neo from The Matrix do? We're not sure if Richards plans to take Silver's advice or if she just always looks the way she does at the end of the scene; you be the judge after the jump. [E!]
