Yesterday afternoon was pretty much Friendapalooza for me and it was the perfect way to spend my last night home in Detroit. I met up with my friend Sherri and her young sons Kyle and Daniel for a quick bite to eat at Buddy’s Pizza in Dearborn, MI. It had been ages since the two of us got to hang out so it was really great to see her, see how big her oldest son Kyle is getting and spend some time getting to know her youngest son, Daniel. Apparently, hanging out with me was a bit too much excitement for little Daniel cuz he got all riled up and dumped an entirely full glass of pop in my lap! My little unexpected shower notwithstanding, we had a great time nonetheless … here are a few pics:

After getting to hang out with Sherri and the boys, I high-tailed it over to Sarah and Mark’s for a home-cooked meal courtesy of our friend Tara. We were joined by Megan, who was having a sleep-over with Sarah, and the night just got better from there. After our sumptuous meal, we spent the rest of the night just hanging out and talking. Reggie stopped by, Mark built a fire in the backyard and we just hung out all night long.

There was a portion of the night spent dancing and singing to You Tube videos (THIS one was our favorite) and checkin’ out THIS hawt little lady but for the most part we were just shootin’ the shizz by the fire, having a good time.

Even tho this trip was fairly short, I’ve had a blast the whole time. My parents and I are having dinner this afternoon before I have to fly back to LA tonight. Thanks for a good time, Detroit, I’ll miss you :)

• Perth, Australia is preparing the creation of the Heath Ledger Theatre.
• Cuz there ain’t enough drama going on in Madonna’s life right now.
• The Reinvention of Britney Spears by Rodney Jerkins.
• NKOTB meets New Edition for a hopeful nostalgic summer hit.
• In Venezuela The Simpsons doesn’t make the cut as children’s programming but Baywatch: Hawaii does.
• An Oscar for Heath Ledger?
• Anna Wintour turns 20 … sorta.
• Jessica Biel discovers the wonderful world of blogging.
• Wow, THIS policy has other faults, too?
• The Fly: The Opera?
• You’ll never guess where Maria Menounos likes to keep her diamonds.
• Kate Hudson manages to spend 5 minutes not making out with Lance Armstrong in public.
• Ryan Reynolds rides his hog.
• Today we get a new report that Angelina Jolie gave birth to her twins. Let’s see what Entertainment Tonight has to say about it.
• Liv Tyler is 31, Missy Elliott is 37, Pamela Anderson is 41 and Fred Schneider of The B-52’s is 57 years old today. Click HERE to see who else is celebrating a birthday today.
• Sorry Boy, the US still don’t want you.
• Actors are reportedly “terrified” by the possibility of a strike.
• Britney Spears is lookin’ for more quiet and a bigger backyard in a new home.
• Birthday kisses goes out to Alex, from Best Week Ever blog.

In happy couple news, here are a few really supercute photos of the happily engaged, soon-to-be-wed power couple Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi in Rome, Italy on, what I’d like to believe is, a pre-wedding honeymoon. Check out these pics of Ellen and Portia enjoying a romantic dinner at Sabatini restaurant before taking a walk together on the streets of Rome this week:

Seriously, they are the cutest. It’s so wonderful seeing them so happy … they make such a great couple, I wish they’d go ahead and get married already ;) I’m not sure if this Roman holiday is going to take the place of any planned honeymoon that they may not have time for after they get married here in California (if the couple get married on the show or after the new season begins production, Ellen will not have time to take a 2-week honeymoon because of her TV shooting schedule) but it looks like they are having a great time anyways. I love them! These are really great pics.

[Photo credit: Splash News]

In an effort to squelch the rampant rumors surrounding the state of her 7 year marriage to Guy Ritchie, Madonna had her longtime publicist, Liz Rosenberg, release an official statement to People magazine denying that the couple are planning to divorce or that she has been having an affair with Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees (or anyone else for that matter). Here is the full text of Madonna’s official statement to People magazine:

“Madonna’s husband Guy arrived in New York last night to be with his wife and family. There are no plans for Madonna and Guy to divorce. Madonna and Alex have the same manager, Guy Oseary. They have met. They know each other and Madonna took her kids to a Yankees game last week. There’s really not anything to comment on beyond that. It’s nothing new that people are airing tons of dirty laundry Madonna’s way lately – much of it untrue. By the way, rumors of Madonna and Lil Wayne are quite exaggerated as well.

And that, folks, should be that … at least for a little while. I’m glad OPTION C turned out to be the right reason for Guy’s arrival in NYC last night. While I’m sure that the constant divorce rumors are a pain in the ass to deal with all the time, I’m sure a PR savvy svengali like Madonna can at least appreciate the extra press that she is “enjoying”, especially in light of her upcoming world tour.

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin; Source]

As you may recall, Amy Winehouse was videotaped assaulting an audience member at the Glastonbury Festival on Saturday night (partway into her slurred and tipsy performance that night) after reportedly getting hit with a hat which caused her to retaliate and punch the person she thought threw the hat at her. It turns out that she ended up hitting an innocent person and not the hat culprit and the innocent assault victim managed to record the entire incident on video … which he shared with the BBC:

A man who was allegedly elbowed in the head by Amy Winehouse at Glastonbury Festival has handed his digital camera footage of the incident to the BBC. James Gostelow, 25, from London, said the singer caught him on the forehead after someone in the crowd behind him threw a hat at her. Winehouse, 24, was seen apparently lashing out at the audience during her Pyramid Stage performance on Saturday. But police said they had received no complaints of assault. Broadcast footage on the night appeared to show Winehouse elbow one fan after being hit on the head by a hat, then throw a series of punches into the crowd. Mr Gostelow said the incident was a case of mistaken identity. “I saw a hat being thrown from behind me and it hit Amy’s beehive. She looked down, saw me looking up, and her elbow went for me. She caught my forehead, then someone may have shouted something from the back, which is when she went in again.” Winehouse, who performed in front of an estimated 75,000 people, jumped off the stage and into the security pit for the last two songs of her set … The star’s spokesperson had no comment on Mr Gostelow’s recollection of the incident. However, on Saturday her representatives said: “The ‘lashing out’ was when someone tried to grab her hair and she reacted.” The singer has returned to a London clinic after appearing at the music festival.

It’s actually a nice surprise that the alleged assault victim has no intention of launching a lawsuit against Ms. Winehouse cuz if that biz had happened here in the US, she’d've already done been sued by now. Altho it looked very much like Amy wasn’t at her peak condition, you can’t really blame her for lashing out if she really did have something thrown at her (unless the tipsy, falling over, slurred lyrics routine is her peak condition and then, well, I guess you still can’t blame her). The girl is a mess but this is, by far, the least of her messes. Maybe she should add anger management classes to the list of professional services she would greatly benefit from but prolly has no intention of ever taking on.

[Source]

Here’s a fun little game to wrap your head around … here are two pictures, one of David Beckham on the fields of play in Washington DC at this weekend’s LA Galaxy vs. DC United soccer match and one of Cristiano Ronaldo enjoying his holiday in Sardinia, Italy also this weekend — both men grabbing a hold of their naughty bits:

So the question becomes … which man has a better grasp on the better assets? To be totally honest, it looks like Cristiano has got the advantage as it appears that he has more to hold on to … maybe Becks’s photo was taken at an unfortunate angle but it doesn’t really look like there’s much there. HMMM … what do you think? Who wins this battle of the bulge?

[Photo credit: Splash News, Big! Pictures]

It would seem that Ryan Phillippe and his new ladylove Abbie Cornish are becoming more brazen with their fledgling relationship. After keeping things completely quiet for months, the couple unveiled their love to the world at a CVS pharmacy before making the 2008 Australian in Film Breakthrough Awards their unofficial coming out party as a couple … then, just this past weekend, the couple stepped out together at a pre-4th of July BBQ with friends. BUT NOW, the couple have really taken their relationship into new territory … the territory of joint rug ownership. Here are a few pics of Rabbie as they made their way into Mansour carpet shop in Hollywood, CA yesterday with hand firmly in hand:

HMMM … it’s not entirely clear if the couple were at the rug store to pick out new home decorations together or to find new prints for Abbie to make other unflattering dresses out of but, in either case, the couple ventured out together and that is the important part. I’m not sure what is going on with her fashion choices but I somehow don’t think that pilgrim chic is ever gonna happen. I hope they find a nice rug/dress pattern tho, they seem really intent on making things work out for them.

[Photo credit: X17]