Brief news from the Delta & The Potato department: the UK tabs have always kept, er, tabs on Our Delta Goodrem and her postmodern mermaid fantasies, largely because not only were her mild-mannered AOR ballads reasonably successful there, but because she was blessed by the hand of the Gods, i.e., she was on Neighbours. And Potato was in... whichever one he was in, so that's his credentials sorted.

It follows, then, that they should take a keen interest in her growing profile in the States as well as us, though I was particularly impressed that Bizarre's Gordon managed not only to big-upps Delts but also get the boot in, in italics for effect, re: Potato's former love, Kerry "Chipshop" Katona (not to mention making approximately 87 "wind" related puns):

I've never been a massive fan of the former WESTLIFE crooner but you've got to admit he's got great taste in women.

Well he has now.

Here's Delta on exceptional form at the Jorge Pasada Foundation gala dinner in New York this week.

She looks a million miles away from her days as a teen in Neighbours.

And a real upgrade from Brian's ex KERRY KATONA then.

And so on, and so forth.

Hey guess what, everyone? I have some incredible, ground-breaking Winegums-related news to impart!

Remember how she "fainted" earlier in the week, and was "rushed" to hospital?

Doctors think it's probably not a great idea for Amy Winehouse to keep taking drugs! In other news, apparently it's a stupid idea for me to stick my fork in this toaster right here. Who knew?

The junkie singer, 24, was still in hospital having tests last night after she fainted on Monday.

And doctors warned her next collapse could be her last.

A source said: "She might have escaped this time, but eventually she won't get up again.

"The only thing to stop that happening is if she quits drugs."

Almost as crazy as All Saints' theories on incest and Down Syndrome!

Death completed its triple crown of taking down talented people that we actually like and respect. First, came Tim Russert, whose passing was quickly and sadly followed by Stan Winston. Now comes news that Cyd Charisse, the actress and dancer perhaps best known for her role in Singing In The Rain, passed away today at the age of 86.

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If there's one tenuous reason left to watch outdated beauty pageants like Miss Universe, it has to be the "National Costume" section, where the contestants parade out in batshit crazy formal/drag queen versions of, say, a dirndl or Canadian Mounties' uniform.

So you can imagine my disappointment - and Ken Done's! - when this year's Miss Universe Australia hopeful and Alessandra Ambrosio lookalike Laura Dundovic revealed her Jayson Brundson-designed National Costume outfit, and, er, well, here it is:

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Remember how Jake Wall and Jennifer Hawkins were baffled and slightly amused to hear the Tele announce that Jake had apparently been macking with a socialite that no one had ever heard of, especially Jake?

Well, what a surprise to see that Ali Langworthy has posed for a nice, shiny picture and done an interview to clear the air - presumably so we all know who she is, and there'll be no more confusion! Particularly when the invite lists for openings and celebrity parties are being drafted!

Langworthy, 19, says she does not even know Wall and has one message for Hawko. "I'm really sorry Jen, but it wasn't me," she told NEWS.com.au.

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You would've thought the Brits were less sensitive to foul language on air than, say, the American Mid-West or the viewers of So You Think You Can Dance Australia (or that one time I swear I heard a Play School presenter say something about "dicks" when the end-of-show fade-out was happening), but apparently not: Joan Rivers has been taken off the air in the middle of a broadcast after swearing about "Our" Russell Crowe!

You'd expect nothing less from Ms Rivers, whose Logies appearance last year was pretty much the TV event of the decade, but surely pulling her from the broadcast is a little over the top?

Joan Rivers has said she was shocked to be kicked off today's edition of ITV1 talkshow Loose Women after she swore live on air - an outburst that prompted almost 50 complaints from shocked daytime viewers.

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No blog, talking head or alcoholic British songbird can compete with PETA when it comes to snark. For decades, the animal lovers have verbally beheaded countless starlets for their fur and snakeskin accessories, but only recently have their targets bitten back. After seeing a recent photo of plumper-than-usual Jessica Simpson sporting one of those so-last-season message t-shirts reading "Real Girls Eat Meat," we wondered how many of her peers have boldly set themselves up for one of PETA's trademark white powder massacres. Having called Nicole Richie "an incredible shrinking woman with the heart to match," advising Ashley Olsen that "wearing fur does add 20 pounds, but if [she] wants to fill out her frame, we suggest using a fork instead," and telling Lindsay Lohan "there's no road to recovery for the foxes who are anally electrocuted so that you can look skanky," has PETA inspired any other starlets to publicly react just as vehemently? We take a look at the ongoing battles after the jump.

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We once pledged that impending fatherhood would do nothing to tame the mighty, freespirited party-beast that is Hollywood's most sought-after torsobitionist, Matthew McConnaughey. Loath as we are to deliver a pinky-flinging, double-shaka "we told you so" sign—well, we told you so:

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The quarterly news cycle addressing Hounddog — a/k/a Untitled Dakota Fanning Rape Project — appears to have fired back up again today, when we read that the Southern-Fried Scourge of Sundance '07 will not receive its planned July 15 release after all. Instead, distributor Empire Film Group will unleash the film on Sept. 5 — the dumping ground better known as Labour Day weekend. While we can't wait for Empire's "early-Oscar-season" spin, we're actually far more intrigued by the pledge for Hounddog's eventual home-video eternity:

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In a touching coda to Father's Day, Britney Spears' father, Jamie, has petitioned the court to pay him for taking care of her. A real-life example of Chapter 5 of the Spears family parenting book, Their Personal Tragedy, Your Meal Ticket, Daddy Spears explained to the court exactly why he's owed $2500 a week for living with his daughter. The proud Papa was already awarded the weekly salary — plus money to lease a car — back in March. But that still left a month of pro bono parenting.

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For his next trick, franchise-despoiling superproducer George Lucas has opted to abandon his long-delayed follow-up to Howard the Duck—having deemed the character not "sacred enough to really warrant a full-on sequel violation"—and instead has turned to the inspirational true story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American combat squadron to fight in World War II:

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Sometimes two stories will come along on the very same day and reaffirm one of the oldest Hollywood clichés in history. Namely, that babe magnetism can be yours even if you don't possess looks, charm or gentlemanly ways. Provided, of course, that you have either money or music cred. With that in mind, we'd like to call your attention to two fantasy-worthy catfights brewing today. All kinds of manicured claws are out over the 80-year old borderline polygamist Hugh Hefner and the scraggly rock star Richie Sambora. Why four sets of fake boobs are rubbing up against each other (as Kate Hudson's baby boy would say) and which contenders are looking like the early "winners" of the ongoing squabbles, after the jump.

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On yesterday's episode of Charlie Rose, Endeavor superagent and frequent HuffPo-contributing gripe-haver Ari Emanuel joined his two equally accomplished siblings—Rahm, an Illinois Congressman, Ezekiel, a National Institutes of Health bioethicist—for a roundtable entitled, "A discussion about healthcare with Ezekiel, Ari, and Rahm Emanuel." Asked by Rose how he ended up in the comparatively glamorous arena of entertainment, the Endeavor head explained how he considers himself not so much a Hollywood agent as a showbizethicist, taking on only those artists whose work can elicit some societal change.

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Naturally we're delighted to see Jennifer Aniston's name in the news without any mention of her lesser half John Mayer, but unfortunately the actress' latest stunt does not include bikinis, Brad, or boy toy upgrades. In case you'd forgotten, the flower-scented B.O. phenom that is SATC: The Movie is being closely followed by another chick flick packed with A-Listers called He's Just Not That Into You. Aniston rounds out the female cast alongside Drew Barrymore, Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Connelly and Scarlett Johansson. But according to Life & Style, Aniston took the very low road at a recent cover shoot for Marie Claire, insisting one of the ladies above be banned from the photo, making room for Aniston's widely seen curves to take front and centre. Which co-star was allegedly instructed to leave the set, and whether or not Aniston's orders mean anything these days, after the jump.

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Since the Disney Teen Idol Factory's Miley Cyrus model has developed a "slutty photos" malfunction, the company is ramping up the marketing on its male prototypes, The Jonas Brothers. Like Cyrus, the band has sold millions of albums but you probably can't name a single one of their songs unless you spend a lot of time around 12 year-old girls. According to The New York Times, the trio features none of Cyrus's dangerous hints of a sex drive.

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· Anhedonic The Incredible Hulk star William Hurt brings his unparalleled work ethic to FX's Damages for his first-ever regular TV series role. [Variety]
· Live Free or Die Hard director Len Wiseman will helm the movie version of Gears of War, which he'll accomplish by pressing L2 while firing X repeatedly and holding down the triangle button. [Variety]
· Kevin Spacey will play a pothead "shrink to the stars" in Shrink. [Variety]
· SAG head Alan Rosenberg proposed an official debate with AFTRA, promising the most scintillating back-and-forth about online clip consent and jurisdiction over low-budget made-for-Internet productions in the history of inter-acting-guild debates. Yeah, this doesn't look good. [THR]
· ER added four more regular cast members to its upcoming final season. More characters=more deaths=more ratings! [THR]

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If you found yourself skipping over to the fridge for a glass of O.J. feeling refreshingly sanguine this morning, we think we may know the reason why: Today marks the first day since the historic overturning of the gay marriage ban that same-sex couples could show up to any county clerks' office in the state to apply for a marriage licence and, in most cases, tie the paisley knot. LAist has photos of the couple who started it all by challenging the ruling, and, fittingly, were first to benefit at a traditional Jewish ceremony held yesterday beneath an all-orientation-welcoming chupah. A reader sent in the above photo of George Takei and his—OMGay! Husband!—Brad Altman, who showed up bright and early to West Hollywood City Hall to collect their marriage licence. Takei told reporters, "Today we are all here to give flesh and blood reality to that ruling. We are going to make history. Congratulations to all of us and may equality live long and prosper." Still, gay leaders are cautioning their people to buffer their enthusiasm, the LAT reports:

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We're not sure if Variety editor Peter Bart has simply found his stride as a blogger after years of loathing the medium or if his recent dispatch about the new HBO documentary Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal simply shilled a little too hard to make it as a print story. BUT! Either way, we are more than a little intrigued by Fleiss's latest predicament, the latest in what HBO Docs boss Sheila Nevins calls the "opera" that is the former madam's life:

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When Bertolt Brecht said, "Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it," well, he was just being an egomaniacal auteur. But it's quite possible that he was right — if you're willing to classify network television as art, that is. Consider the case of two recent seemingly unthinkable societal shifts — Barack Obama's presidential nomination and the recent decision to legalize gay marriage in California starting today. Both were the plots of popular television shows before they actually happened. Could the paranoid social conservatives be right? Does what people see on TV actually change their opinions? Do Kiefer Sutherland's powers of persuasion extend beyond Defamer? Consider the evidence after the jump.

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It was a high-profile relationship that was difficult to reconcile: perennial Hollywood good girl and honorary bear icon Anne Hathaway to "bad boy" paramour Raffaello Follieri, an oily entrepreneur linked to a string of shady business transactions that culminated recently in his charitable foundation coming under investigation by the New York State Attorney General's Office. Now, reports the Daily Mail, having experienced the comparative bliss of having exchanged potentially infectious bodily fluids with a total non-charity-swindling-dirtbag like Steve Carell, Hathaway has finally pulled away:

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We'd seen this in bits and pieces since its Sundance premiere this year, but an incidental reminder in our inbox just prompted another visit to Isabella Rossellini's short-film series Green Porno. And under the influence of head-clearing morning air, it occurred to us that Rossellini's episodic forays into the reproductive lives of snails, earthworms, spiders and other bugs features not only among the most sickly prurient puppetry we've seen in years, but arguably the best work the actress has done in almost two decades. Porno's backers at Sundance Channel will tell you all about their pro-ecology mandate, but honestly, we could take or leave such shameless earnestness in the face of a bug-fucking resurgence like this. Follow the jump to view our favourite episode, Preying Mantis, whose misspelling makes all the sense in the world once its grotesquerie of oozing, carnal head-eating settles in. We'll never have sex again. [Sundance Channel via VSL]

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It seems life's only kind of a bitch for Eric Eisner, the upstart producer, son of Michael and brief profile subject in the new issue of Portfolio. On one hand, he's positioned to profit further from his producing debut, Hamlet 2, which sold at Sundance in January for $10 million and opens theatrically in August; then there's the whole Barry Diller-mentor thing and the handy commutes on Dad's private jet. Alas, he and fiancee Stacey Bendet received congratulatory pastries addressed to "STACEY AND MICHAEL," and worse yet, there is still no good news to report on Eisner's missing (and feared murdered) producing partner Leonid Rozhetskin.

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Billy Ray Cyrus, virtue-hoarding father and achy-breaky-svengali to cultural tween phenomenon Miley Cyrus, appeared on The Today Show this morning, where for the first time he was made to address the now-infamous Virgin Miley study that recently graced the pages of Vanity Fair. An unwavering Meredith Vieira was determined to figure out where he was as photographer Annie Leibovitz crouched beneath a lighting umbrella, pressing two index fingers to her lips as she spitballed aloud, "For the next one, maybe lose the clothes, clutch that sheet to your chest, and give me your best 'Got Milk?' face."

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