Archive for December 4th, 2008

Les News, 120408

NeNe not evicted, JK releases a new book, Speidi honeymoon pics
Thursday, December 4th, 2008

Jennifer Aniston Does ‘Entertainment Weekly’ Magazine

What's this talk about babies?!
Thursday, December 4th, 2008

Jennifer Aniston is featured on the cover and in the pages of this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine and while much of the coverstory interview is devoted to Jen’s upcoming new movie Marley & Me (which co-stars Owen Wilson) there is, of course, mention of ex-hubby Brad Pitt, current paramour John Mayer, how she sometimes feels like Hannah Montana and Jen’s intense desire to have children:


Jennifer Aniston has a new outlook, and this week’s Entertainment Weekly takes a look at the journey she has been on and the fresh start she has now with a surefire hit in Marley & Me. It is certain that Aniston’s standard of what constitutes a private moment is not like most people’s. Paparazzi climb walls just to snap photos of her; her ex-husband and his lover stare out from magazine covers everywhere; and her slightest move sends ripples across the gossip universe. The latest involves a date she went on with her boyfriend, singer John Mayer, at which she supposedly abstained from alcohol. Ergo, according to the logic that rules the tabloid world, she must be pregnant. With twins. “Oh my God, it’s hysterical!” Aniston says. “You can’t do anything without it going to some extreme. It’s almost going to take away the fun from actually being able to say one day, ‘I’m pregnant!’ Everyone will be like, ‘Yeah, right.’ It’s the boy who cried wolf. Stop stealing my thunder, motherfuckers!” For now, Aniston would love nothing more than to keep the thunder focused on her upcoming Christmas Day release, Marley & Me, a three-hanky adaptation of writer John Grogan’s bestselling memoir, in which she stars opposite Owen Wilson and an unruly Labrador retriever. This film, with its built-in fan base and cute-as-a-puppy holiday appeal, represents her best bet to get her often wobbly movie career back on solid footing. “Sometimes you’re not always so thrilled about the movie you’re pushing,” she admits, whistling past a graveyard of flops like Rumor Has It and Derailed. “But this is a good one.” When you’re an actress whose personal life has fed an entire industry, the focus can all too easily drift away from your work. Early last month, excerpts from a Vogue profile of Aniston exploded across the Internet, and, with a single quote on the cover – “what Angelina did was very uncool” – a nation that had been fixated on presidential politics suddenly switched the channel back to the soap opera involving the actress, her ex-husband Brad Pitt, and his current girlfriend Angelina Jolie. “[Election night] was just so moving, so unbelievable,” says Aniston. “And now what do people do? Read my crap! Everything comes to a halt: ‘What did she say?’” She shakes her head, smiling wryly. “Good God. You have to laugh at it all at the end of the day.” Still, she clearly feels stung by the flap and insists the “uncool” quote was taken out of context. “I was just surprised that Vogue would go so tabloid,” she says. “I was bummed. But you almost expect it. Big Deal. Done. Next.” Aniston is still as funny and charming as one would hope, and she’ll quickly say that, as she approaches 40, she’s never been happier, never felt better: “I don’t know if I’m just a late bloomer, but I feel like everything is just beginning.” After nearly a decade and a half of massive fame, Aniston has become something more than just an actress. She’s a walking inkblot test and, depending on your perspective, you could see her as a wounded, jilted victim or a strong, independent woman, an actress who’s best suited to the small screen or one whose great charisma and natural comedic gifts are perpetually underappreciated. “Everyone projects their thoughts on you,” she says. “Everyone’s got an opinion. I wish they didn’t. I’ve gotten to the point where, if I focus on all of that stuff, I won’t make a move, you know?” She pauses. “There’s this character – it’s like my Hannah Montana,” she says. “That’s how I feel. There’s my Hannah Montana and then there’s me.” Aniston passed on Marley & Me the first time it came around, and the idea of playing a mother for the first time gave her some pause, but in the end, she embraced the challenge: “I feel like that’s in my future and I’m on the verge of it in some way—or it’s something I long for. So it was great to sort of dip your toe in it.” Ultimately, though, it was the chance to explore the ups and downs of married life that drew Aniston into the movie, turning the film into something more personal than it first appeared. “What was interesting was the story of these two people, how it doesn’t always look so pretty,” she says. “You have your ideas and your dreams when you start out and you’re sort of wide-eyed and bushy-tailed as a young married couple. Then life unfolds and it doesn’t always take you in the directions you hope that it will.” Aniston seemed to be living out her wide-eyed dreams from the moment she landed the role of a lovable ditz on NBC’s smash hit Friends in 1994. The next decade passed in a blur of stories about her status as America’s sweetheart, her much imitated hairstyle, her eye-popping salary, her story-book marriage to Pitt, her burgeoning movie career. And then, in 2005, the wheels came off with the dissolution of her marriage and the revelations about Pitt’s relationship with Jolie. “’The Hollywood fairy tale romance’—that’s what’s put onto it,” Aniston says of her marriage to Pitt. “It’s Luke and Laura. But if you strip away all of the glitz and the glamour and the headlines—the shock and awe of it—it’s just people living their life. Shit happens, and it’s as normal as any other human being if you take away the headlines. It’s just not as interesting without the headlines.” Still, when Entertainment Weekly brings up the fact that Marley & Me is opening the same day as Pitt’s new movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, she sighs and says “I want [Button] to do great. I’ve seen about an hour of it. It’s amazing. Amazing.” Meanwhile, Aniston’s career continued to lose altitude. In 2006, New York Times critic Caryn James wrote a blistering piece on the actress, asking, “How did her career go haywire so fast?” and criticizing everything from her film choices to her taste in men. “It was so venomous,” Aniston remembers. “It was like, who fucking shit in her Wheaties? How do these people get the opportunity to just spew s—t? They don’t know anything. You know, career choices—you just do what you do. Not everyone’s a winner. Not every episode of Friends was great. Not every guy you choose is great. Just across the board, there’s so much expectation.” Aniston’s offscreen private drama continues to drag on, but while the public may continue to grope toward some as-yet-unseen climax (a wedding, a birth, an epic catfight, a cathartic group hug), Aniston says she’s ready to take her final bow as the gossip world’s anointed Queen of Pain. “It’s my history,” she says. “It’s my memory. That’s all it is to me: something that happened, something that was really quite poignant and good in the long run.”

My, my … there’s an awful lot of cursing in this new interview with Ms. Aniston. I must admit that I am not familiar with the storyline of Marley & Me (I understand, tho, that there is a cute puppy involved) but I believe it is the first major movie that Owen Wilson made since he attempted suicide last year. I suppose it’s a good thing that the focus is on Jennifer Aniston and her omnipresent personal life rather than Owen Wilson’s attempted suicide — the movie is supposed to be the feel-good hit of the season. After the jump, check out a couple pics of Jen from this issue of EW magazine along with a pic of Jen with Marley the pooch from the movie …

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‘Twilight’ Premieres In The UK

Now it's the Brits' turn to sink their teeth into the movie
Thursday, December 4th, 2008

After enjoying a record-breaking stellar opening here in US theaters, Twilight is about to take the UK by storm. The film’s protagonist star Kristen Stewart and Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke were among the guests on hand at the Vue Cinema in Leicester Square in London, England last night for the UK premiere of their film:


Teenage fans braved the cold to catch a glimpse of Robert Pattinson at the premiere of his new fanstasy film Twilight. The 22-year-old English actor plays vampire Edward Cullen in the film, which has been touted as the “girl’s answer to Harry Potter”. He was joined on the red carpet by co-star Kristen Stewart, who plays his teenage love interest Isabella Swan. Stewart, 18, arrived at the West End Vue Cinema in London’s Leicester Square wearing a single-strap blue dress, apparently unconcerned about the bitter temperatures. Twilight is based on the series of books by Mormon housewife-turned-author Stephanie Meyer which have sold around 14 million copies across the world. The film, which raked in £24 million ($35.7 million) on its opening day in the US last month, is expected to catapult Pattinson – who played Hogwarts pupil Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter films – to international heart-throb status. Pattinson was raised in Barnes, west London, and first trod the boards in Guys and Dolls at his local theatre group seven years ago. In Twilight he stars as Cullen, a 108-year-old vampire who looks like a teenager and wins the heart of Stewart’s character when she moves to his hometown of Forks, Washington. The film, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, opens in cinemas in the UK on Dec 19.

Something tells me that Twilight mania is going to hit the UK about as forcefully as it did here in the US … especially considering that Robert Pattinson is a native Brit. Lest you think R. Pattz was not in the hiz last night for the UK premiere of the film, I do have a very special photo of the lad on the red black carpet last night. After the jump, check out a pic of Pattinson with a few new friends …

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Guess Who’s Balding

It's a twofer
Thursday, December 4th, 2008

It’s game time … can you guess which Hollywood actor AND which ex-popstar trophy wife were each photographed recently while showing off their bad sides as they made their way out and about (he in SoCal, she in the UK) this week? Unfortch for both celebs, the cameras caught small bald spots on each of their heads:


The she might be easier to guess than the he but it does appear that both celebs are thinning just a wee bit on top. After the jump, find out who they are …

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Amanda Bynes Has A New Man In Her Life

Creepin' with LC's old man in her life
Thursday, December 4th, 2008

Well, well now … what have we here? Minor movie actress Amanda Bynes was lookin’ awfully cozy with ex-reality “star” Doug Reinhardt (who you may recall tasted his 15 minutes of fame when he briefly dated Lauren LC Conrad on The Hills, then buddied up with Brody Jenner … then fell off the face of the planet) as the couple made their way out of Crown Bar here in Hollywood, CA last night. Could it be that lurve is in the air for these two?


Full disclosure … both LC and her Laguna Beach/Hills BFF Lauren Lo Bosworth were also at Crown Bar last night so it’s possible that Amanda and Doug weren’t there expressly for a date — but they sure do look chummy in these pics as they made their way out. They did leave together after all. HMMM. I wonder where they might’ve sneaked off to after the club closed for the night. We all know that Doug has a very high opinion of himself so I suppose Amanda should be thanking her lucky stars that he deigned to be seen with her. Amanda’s a cutie … I hope she knows what she’s doing with this guy.

UPDATE: A rep for Amanda Bynes confirms to Life & Style magazine that the couple have been “together for a couple of weeks now and are very happy”. The mag also reports that Reinhardt’s Facebook profile lists him as “in a relationship”. Sounds like the real deal to me.

[Photo credit: Splash News]

The 2009 Grammy Award Nominations Have Been Announced

Lil' Wayne and Coldplay lead the pack
Thursday, December 4th, 2008

The nominations for the 51st Annual Grammy Awards have been announced at a ceremony in LA yesterday that also featured a celebratory concert with performances by John Mayer, Christina Aguilera and more. As for the noms, there were quite a few surprises — like who didn’t get nominated (*cough* Mariah Carey *cough*) — that should make the award show a very interesting one when it airs next February:


Louisiana rapper Lil Wayne garnered the most Grammy nominations, receiving eight, and British alternative rock band Coldplay grabbed seven as the Recording Academy announced this year’s nominees. Lil Wayne and Coldplay were both nominated for the prestigious album of the year award for the 51st annual Grammy Awards. Nominations were announced during a star-studded, prime-time concert special Wednesday night. Rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West and R&B crooner Ne-Yo received six nominations each. Alison Krauss, John Mayer, Robert Plant, Radiohead and newcomer Jazmine Sullivan received five each. Nominees in six categories were announced during the show that aired on CBS. Mayer, Mariah Carey, the Foo Fighters and Taylor Swift performed for the event. Swift, perhaps surprisingly, didn’t receive a single nomination. Though her albums — her 2006 debut CD and her recently released “Fearless” — weren’t eligible for the competition, she released several hit singles during the Grammy consideration window, which ran from October 2007 to September. And despite a huge hit single — “I Kissed a Girl” — Katy Perry failed to be nominated for best new artist. The singer did earn a nomination for best female pop vocal performance. “I feel very grateful to be recognized by an institution of such iconic musical history. I can’t believe it, but this year I won’t be watching the Grammys in my jammies,” she said in a statement. Newcomer Duffy, who had a big hit with “Mercy,” was nominated for three Grammys, including best new artist. She may have to get used to more attention. In October, she told CNN, “I still feel kind of underground in America, which is quite nice in a way though — to be able to sit around the corner at [a Los Angeles] cafe and have my breakfast.” The album of the year nominees are a diverse group. Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” continues in the British band’s tradition of making big statements; on the other hand, on “Raising Sand,” old hands Plant and Krauss, working with producer T Bone Burnett, created a haunting, minimalist record that hearkens back to old folk and blues recordings. Longtime critics’ darlings Radiohead hit No. 1 with “In Rainbows,” which was equally distinctive for its initial release as a pay-your-own-price download. (The album was released on CD in January.) Lil Wayne had a commercial breakthrough with “Tha Carter III,” the year’s best-selling album, which featured the No. 1 tune “Lollipop.” Hip-hop artist Ne-Yo’s “Year of the Gentleman” deliberately opted for a brighter sound, he said after the ceremony, according to The Associated Press. “When I was putting it together, I was trying to do something that everybody could get into, as opposed to just my pop and R&B core group,” Ne-Yo said, according to the AP. “I was trying to do something that the world could enjoy, and I think that the Grammy people paid attention to that.” Nominees for record of the year are Adele’s “Chasing Pavements”; Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida”; Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love”; M.I.A’s “Paper Planes”; and Plant and Krauss’ “Please Read the Letter.” Song of the year, a songwriters’ award, had five nominees: “American Boy,” popularized by Estelle featuring Kanye West; “Chasing Pavements,” whose hit version was performed by Adele; “I’m Yours,” written and performed by Jason Mraz; “Love Song,” written and performed by Sara Bareilles; and Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida,” written by the band. In some ways, it’s an odd time for the industry to celebrate. CD sales have plunged in the last few years, and music downloads, which continue to rise, have yet to fill the gap. With concert ticket prices often well above $50 a pop and wildly fluctuating gasoline prices, musicians are feeling the pinch.

I’m pretty surprised that neither Mariah Carey nor Taylor Swift got any nominations … these are the types of artists that the Grammy Award folks usually love to lavish trophies upon. I wonder if Mimi knew that she was going to get the shaft from the Grammys before she agreed to appear on the Nomination Special that aired on TV last night. I bet she’s pissed. After the jump, check out a few pics of John Mayer and Xtina Aguilera doing their thing on stage at the Grammy Awards Nomination Special that aired on CBS last night …

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Britney Spear’s Ex-Hubby – Jason Alexander – Busted!

Another 15 minutes of fame for the ex-Mr. Spears
Thursday, December 4th, 2008

While things are definitely looking up for Britney Spears and even her most recent ex-husband Kevin Federline is getting favorable press these days, the same cannot be said for Britney’s first husband (of 55 hours) Jason Alexander who is currently cooling his heels in a Van Nuys, CA jail cell stemming from a DUI bust in 2006. Star magazine was the first to report that Alexander had been busted but TMZ has the deets on why the lad was tossed into the pokey:


Britney Spears’ first husband is in the slammer. On Wednesday, Jason Alexander began a 10-day sentence in Los Angeles County jail for a 2006 DUI arrest. The former Mr. Spears ended up behind bars because he failed to complete a court ordered alcohol rehabilitation program. “Jason messed up and he knows it,” an insider tells Star. “He’s going to keep his head down, stay out of trouble and hopefully he won’t have to serve the entire 10 days.” Britney married Jason, her childhood friend, at 5:30am on January 3, 2004 at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. The marriage lasted 55 hours ending in an annulment granted by the judge on January 5, 2004. These days Jason, 27, is living in LA’s San Fernando Valley working for a clothing company.

Says TMZ: Jason Alexander didn’t see dead people — so he saw a jail cell instead. TMZ has learned the real reason Brit’s 55 hour first hubby is behind bars in L.A. is because he blew off two court ordered appointments at the county morgue. After Alexander was busted for DUI back in 2006, the judge ordered the 27-year-old to go to an alcohol education program, which required him to visit the local morgue. When the judge learned Alexander had ditched his first 2 appointments, he refused to give him a third chance and promptly chucked him in the slammer. Jason is scheduled to be released on December 9th — and after he serves his stint behind bars, Jason’s obligation to check out the dead bodies will officially be dead.

LOL. This guy really sounds like a winner. And to think … he could’ve been the first Kevin Federline if Britney’s crack team of lawyers hadn’t swooped in and annulled his marriage to her and then sweeped him under the rug, never to be heard from again. He was SOO close. Ah well. Here’s hoping the lad learns his lesson that drunk driving doesn’t pay.

UPDATE: TMZ comes thru with the mugshot:


HMMM … looks like someone’s been hittin’ the gym. I’m sure this guy’ll be a big hit in jail.

[Source, Source]