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The Royal Family — including Queen Elizabeth II, Princes Charles, William, Harry and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall — were on hand to attend Xmas day services at Sandringham Church in the UK yesterday after Her Majesty delivered her annual Xmas Day address to the United Kingdom earlier in the day. Calling this Xmas a “somber” one, Queen Elizabeth talked at length about the year that was and the challenges to come in 2009. Here are a few pics of the Royals as they arrived for church services yesterday and a portion of her Xmas Day address delivered via radio, TV and Interweb:

Worries about the global economy and violence across the world have turned the celebration of Christmas into a more somber affair this year, Queen Elizabeth said on Thursday. Britain, like many other developed nations, is facing the risk of a prolonged recession. Unemployment is rising fast, household high street firms are collapsing and several big banks are only able to stay in business with government help. There has also been an increase in the number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan in recent weeks, just as troops in Iraq prepare to come home next year. “Christmas is a time for celebration, but this year it is a more somber occasion for many,” the Queen said. “People are touched by events which have their roots far across the world. Whether it is the global economy or violence in a distant land, the effects can be keenly felt at home.” But, in her annual Christmas broadcast which dates back to 1957 and is watched by millions across Britain and the Commonwealth, the 82-year-old said those with courage would work hard to survive and improve their lot. “When life seems hard the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future,” she said, standing by a piano adorned with pictures of her family. This year has been eventful for the royal family, with Prince Harry — third in line to the throne — fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan for 10 weeks, an inquest into the death of Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ 60th birthday. The Queen paid tribute to Britain’s armed forces but also singled out for praise her eldest son and heir, Charles, accompanied by previously unseen footage of the prince playing with his mother as a small child. “We feel great pride in seeing our family make their own unique contributions to society,” she said. “Through his charities, the Prince of Wales has worked to support young people and other causes for the benefit of the wider community.”

While it may not want to be the message that folks want to hear on an occasion like Xmas, I think it was prudent for the Queen to address the issues of the day in the manner in which she did. The prospects are gloomy for everyone in the world, none of us are untouched by the degrading state of the economy, and violence still threatens us at almost every turn. Queen Elizabeth has a way of delivering this sort of serious message with a resoluteness that instills confidence in people. After the jump, watch her Xmas Address in full for yourselves …

Prince, who recently debuted a few new songs on LA’s Indie 103.1 radio station (and teased that a new album of material is on the way, showed up at the Staples Center to cheer on the LA Lakers against the Boston Celtics in downtown LA last night (the Lakers ended up beating the Celtics by a score of 92-83). Prince showed up at the game with a mysterious new woman who may be a new romantic interest of his … especially considering that she looks a lot like his most recent previous romantic interests:

Damn, Prince never stays single for long …does he? He divorced his wife last year and then found new companionship with his backup dancers The Twinz and, apparently, has found this latest new friend to keep him company. I’ve yet to hear these new songs that were premiered and then disappeared … but I’m sure it won’t be long before the tunes make their way to the masses.

[Photo credit: Splash News]

Clay Aiken, who made headlines earlier this year after he fathered a child he named Parker with is friend Jaymes Foster and then came out of the closet as a gay man, was honored by the famed NYC eatery Sardi’s with his own caricature that will be hung on the restaurant walls with the other famed caricatures of Broadway stars from days of yore. Here are a couple pics of Clay proudly showing off his Sardi’s caricature in NYC earlier this week:

“American Idol” finalist Clay Aiken, who currently portrays Sir Robin in Monty Python’s Spamalot, was honored Dec. 23 with a caricature that now adorns the walls of the famed eatery Sardi’s. As a recording artist, Aiken has sold six million albums. His latest, “On My Way Here,” was released last spring. He co-authored the best selling book “Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life” and has played six sold-out concert tours since rising to fame on the second season of “American Idol” in 2003. Aiken made his Broadway debut in Spamalot in a Jan. 18-May 4 limited engagement. He returned to the show Sept. 19 and will remain in the role through Jan. 4, 2009. Spamalot, which will end its Broadway run Jan. 11, 2009, plays the Shubert Theatre at 225 West 44th Street.

Honestly, it is quite an honor to be honored with a caricature that will hang at Sardi’s … not quite sure that Clay Aiken‘s Broadway talents are really worthy of such an honor (IMHO) but it’s very nice that he got one nonetheless. After the jump, check out a larger version of his Sardi’s caricature so that you can compare it with the real thing …

Happy Boxing Day and First Day of Kwanzaa, y’all! I trust that all y’all had yourselves a merry little Xmas and/or Hanukkah (depending on your family affiliations) yesterday. I spent a lovely afternoon/evening/night/late night with Sarah and Mark at her aunt Gina’s house yesterday … which has turned into an annual tradition. We arrived right as the Xmas Caroling got underway and then spent the rest of our time eating and talking and playing games. It was a very nice Xmas celebration. Here is a shot of Gina and Greg’s massive Xmas tree:

Actually, this is only the top part of the tree … the dang thing was so big, I couldn’t fit it all in my cameraphone shot. We spent the final hours of Xmas (and the first hours of today) playing a tournament of pool, air hockey, darts and foosball … I’m happy to report that I kinda kicked ass at darts … everything else, notsomuch. We had a blast tho … Sarah’s family is really amazing and I always feel so honored to be included in their family celebrations. This evening I’m hanging out with my parents (who had plans with their friends yesterday, which I opted out of attending) and I may be hanging out with Erik and Jake, who is in town for the weekend. I haven’t seen Jake in eons, it would be nice to meet up with them. Tomorrow night is Sarah and Mark’s Epic Holiday soiree … I think we’re all mentally preparing ourselves for the fun to be had tomorrow :)

• A new court ruling jeopardizes the release of the long-awaited, much-anticipated Watchmen movie.
• Ticket sales plummet for the Broadway show Speed-the-Plow after Jeremy Piven pulls out due to illness.
• Before T.I. reports to prison, he’s gonna ring in the New Year with Chloe Sevigny.
• Valkyrie is apparently so bad that folks who promised to say good things about it couldn’t say good things about it.
• For Courteney Cox-Arquette, divorce is not an option.
• Madonna is very happy that soon-to-be ex-husband Guy Ritchie is moving on.
• Is Simon Cowell planning an exit from American Idol?
• Could another Batman movie franchise be on the way?
• Hugh Jackman reveals that his wife believes that Brad Pitt is the Sexiest Man Alive.
• Chris Daughtry is 29, Jared Leto is 37, David Sedaris is 52 and John Walsh (America’s Most Wanted) is 63 years old today. Click HERE to see who else is celebrating a birthday today.
• Jamie Foxx won’t be letting his daughter date boys any time soon.
• Twilight is the #1 movie at the UK box office.

Contrary to reports of discord between the two of them, Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson appear to be back on solid track these days as the ladies were spied doing a bit of Xmas shopping together this week. Despite the fact that some are claiming that L. Ron are on the verge of break-up, it seems a completely different story when you see pics of the couple happily shopping together on Xmas Eve:

L. Ron spent part of their Xmas Eve day shopping at Diesel, Kid Robot and Rite Aid Pharmacy … prolly picking up last minute Xmas gifts and stocking stuffers but also most likey picking up supplies for the coming New Year’s Eve celebration:

Sam was carting around party hats in her Rite Aid basket … or mebbe they’re mixing bowls, it’s hard to tell. In either case, it appears that the ladies were happily bizzy gathering materials to spend the holidays together rather than apart. It makes me so happy to know that L. Ron are still going strong … and I hope that they will spend a happy 2009 and beyond in loving bliss together! They are deffo my fave new couple of 2008.

[Photo credit: X17]

Courtney Love, everyone’s favorite celebrity blogger, must’ve been feelin’ the Xmas spirit on Xmas Eve because she was inspired to craft a new blogpost on her official My Space profile that weaves a tale of alleged violence, homophobia and her trademark ridiculous and meandering banter that really hearkened the hallowed reason for the season. Here is the full text of C. Love‘s latest blogpost … as always, all language and spelling/grammatical errors are her own:

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

not so hot: hate crimes

hi kids, if you are expecting Santa to read you a bedtime story on this new blog, think again! what i am about to direct is something many of you can relate to, and hopefully are disgusted by..which is the icky trend of straight heterosexual males who commit hate crimes that are secretly in the closet, yes, Rob Kardashian the son of the discgr3aceful Robert Kardashian who represented a cold blooded murderer and made lots and lots of money..well rob jr cold socked and punched my employee right in his face for no reason and broke his nose after my GUY was hanging out with his pal Brody Jenner one night outside hyde lounge closed, then right after yelling the words “FAGGOT FAGGOT FAGGOT!” Rob JR punched my guys in the face. My guy has 3 witnesses who saw rob jump out of the SUV and because of the fact that he works for me, a woman of power, you broke his nose and caused blood to shed, well lets fast forward shall we…the guy who works for me did not file a police report that night cause he did not need tmz’s camera’s outside this trendy nightclub to cause any more FUCKERY to what was suppose to be a birthday celebration, instead he came back to LAPD later and they told him to fold up his police report into a origami and hang it on his door.
My point is LAPD, you guys are such lovely folks, i would like to invite you in for some egg nog but i just ran out and i am too busy learning the art of origami since you are ignoring any of my calls for help or helping a young alone not wealthy gay boy who had the shit beat out of him by the son of a lawyer who was a disgrace to his profession, who should have been disbarred,. oh i am sorry not a lawyer, a banker.. i wonder what it is about Paris that makes you always respond so fast, is it because you can be LIVE ON TMZ? .. my point is, someone came to you, because of a hate crime and you made fun of him and made him feel like shit. I dont’ find blood running out of someone’s nose because of their sexuality funny, the staff member at Hyde can attest to this as she brought him in to wipe the blood off his face and clean him up. Let me be inviting to you my darling rob because i am SUCH A BIG FAN OF HATE CRIMES and homophobic fruit cake assholes like you this around this holiday season, It’s all about self acceptance and particular in your case the acceptance of your own homosexuality, Lets be pals and go shopping at The Grove and go “STRAIGHT” to Ab and Fitch store while the techno music blasts really loud and find you a tight tee shirt for our big night at Rage in Weho, lets ditch these trendy B list clubs and lets dance dance dance where we can be free, and drink cosmos and have no one make fun of us, you can also wear your sisters underwear, I promise I will keep it a secret, but first let me invite you over and lets have a Mac Cosmetics Dazzleglass date night cause what you really need rob kardashian is a pair of lips jeans that flair out at the bottom to accentuate your sexy curvy hips and i hear the carman miranda look is in for 2009, so maybe we can put a some fresh bananas in your hair, which will be tied in pigtails or a scrunchy, ( I still have some ) We will put double fake eyelashes on from Pat Fields and red glitter six inch heels that I am sure she will make to accommodate your lovely feminine feet and i am in possession of a giant anal plug that was tossed to me with a wink by a dyke on a bike at last years weho gay pride parade which was a blast you missed out rob and will be a bigger blast this year once you come out, maybe me and you can be on a float together, you do the flamenco and I’ll drive, darn we waited and waited and we waited to hear from your buddy Brody Jenner for a apology or you rob of some sort, but no apologies or anything, I am tired of these little punks bullies that go party jumping around these clubs with your daddies dirty money and punch people in the faces after getting shit faced wasted! Well i think instead of taking that banana and putting it in your hair rob, let me shove one up your ass slowly and gently, i’ll even lube it, and make sure it’s not too ripe, if you want i’ll even use plantains., that way you can feel what it feels like to get fucked in the ass by a piece of fruit and you will feel the sweet sweet release rob of coming into your own TRUE self! maybe one day when someone punches you in the face and you go running to LAPD, they will tell you to take a some Origami lessons down at the learning annex and to remove your mascara from crying….caused thats NOT HOT!
Thank god for the Malibu Sheriff dept, Thank god for New York! Thank god for London, because the “Hills” are dead dead dead honey with homophobes running around these days
PS Rodney King sends his regards!
happy holidays kids and remember
hate crimes and homophobia is NOT HOT!
Kourtney Love Kobain
p.s Rob throw away your Nirvana cd’s i will not allow you to listen to Kurts music nor my music, instead throw on the Mama Mia soundtrack and dance rob! dance you know you want it! work it! feel it sista girlfriend! own it! be it! embrace it! Love ya
KoRK!

update: this date this incident took place 2:20 am September 14, 2008 after.. Hyde Lounge closed early Sunday morning , my employee who got punched by rob and yes we have witnesses who can and will identify him, Brody was fine, he was actually quite nice to my employee and posed for pictures with his new girlfriend outside Hyde Lounge that my employee took.
My employee has on record a email to my manager about the incident right after the incident, photos of his broken nose which took 2 months to heal, he is better now just so you guys now and thanks for all the support. I did not find out about this til recently because he ( my employee) knows I don’t take fucking shit and I will go to my blogs if i have to make my point, however he went to LAPD and they were really rude to him..call me crazy if you want, but violence is not cool kids, especially towards people i care and who are loyal to me, given be a friend or a employee, I defend and protect the people I love and trust and that’s my point!
to quote the infamous line from the classic film MOMMIE DEAREST
“Don’t FUCK with me FELLAS…this ain’t my first time at the RODEO…”
xcourtney

Trust me, the irony is not lost that Courtney writes about a horrible alleged homophobic hate crime right before she goes off on her own homophobic-laden rant of stereotypes rant of her own. The woman is a living conflict of interest … and if her writing is at all representative of her mental state, well, she’s an utter loon, too. If this incident actually happened as she says it did, does she think she’s really doing a service to her attacked friend by berating Rob Kardashian in such homophibcly hateful language? I, for one, would not be impressed. I think it’d take issue with being referred to as her “employee”, too … she makes the person sound like her pet. Incidentally, Kim Kardashian has already publicly responded to this blogpost by Courtney Love in a blogpost of her own on her official website. After the jump, hear what Kim (on behalf of the whole Kardashian family) has to say about Courtney‘s allegations …

Rumors are beginning to swirl that the reported tryst that sprung up in Brazil between Madonna and model Jesus Luz has yet to run its course … word has it that Maddy will be spending at least part of her New Year’s celebrations in the company of Jesus in the next few days. Madonna, who celebrated the close of her Sticky & Sweet World Tour in São Paulo last week already made her way home to London, England to celebrate Xmas with her family … but according to Made In Brazil, Jesus has also made his way to London — most likely so he can be on hand should Madonna beckon him at any given moment. Here is, to my knowledge, one of the few photos of Madonna and Jesus together as they made their way out of her Tour Wrap party last week:

According to Brazilian tabloids, Madonna has invited model Jesus Luz to spend new year’s with her in London, even though the 21-year-old does not even have a passport yet. Rumor has it that it was photographer Steven Klein who handled the invitation. The phones at 40 Graus Models have not stopped ringing since Madonna left the country. Jesus Luz has quickly become one the most requested boys for the shows in Rio in January. Brazilian labels have been trying to cast him before his rate of R$400 a show goes up. Little do they know that his C-rate has probably already changed to a special booking by now. UPDATE: according to Sergio Mattos, owner of 40 Graus Models, Jesus Luz is already in London.

HMMM … it looks like we know that Madonna got exactly what she wanted for Xmas … and it also looks like we know who she may be kissin’ at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. You know, word has it that Guy Ritchie has also found himself a new romantic interest of his own so I think it’s absolutely fine for Maddy to indulge a bit. Go on girl, do the damn thing. I’m kinda in love with the idea of Madonna and Jesus becoming an item … I mean, it’s so wrong and still so right ;)

[Photo credit: INFdaily; Source]

TMZ is reporting that Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen are engaged to be married after the suave QB popped the question to the model beauty while aboard a private plane loaded with white roses … tres romantique!

Tom Brady proposed to Gisele on a private jet on XMAS eve — and she said yes. Our sources say Brady, who is famous for his QB skills and running errands for Gisele, proposed on a private jet that took off from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and landed in Boston. There were four dozen white roses on board, as well as champagne. Along with Brady and Gisele were her parents. We’re told Brady was nervous before he popped the Q.

Awww … that sounds sweet … and what a great Xmas present! I had a feeling that Tom and Gisele would be gettin’ themselves hitched sooner or later. She’s had him wrapped around her finger for months now, and you can’t really blame him — she’s a stunning beauty. Here’s hoping the happy couple a lifetime of happiness … and a short engagement. I’d love the couple to seal the deal sometime in 2009.

[Source]

Very, very sad news to report today … the amazing Eartha Kitt passed away yesterday on Xmas Day at the age of 81 years old after losing her battle with colon cancer. I received word from the New York Times right as the family was signing Xmas Carols and I can’t even tell you how sad this news made me. For those of you who aren’t aware, Eartha Kitt was simply one of the most fabulous singers and absolutely one of the most charismatic and talented women who ever graced the entertainment stage:

Eartha Kitt, who purred and pounced her way across Broadway stages, recording studios and movie and television screens in a show-business career that lasted more than six decades, died on Thursday. She was 81 and lived in Connecticut. The cause was colon cancer, said her longtime publicist, Andrew E. Freedman. Ms. Kitt, who began performing in the late ’40s as a dancer in New York, went on to achieve success and acclaim in a variety of mediums long before other entertainment multitaskers like Julie Andrews, Barbra Streisand and Bette Midler. With her curvaceous frame and unabashed vocal come-ons, she was also, along with Lena Horne, among the first widely known African-American sex symbols. Orson Welles famously proclaimed her “the most exciting woman alive” in the early ’50s, apparently just after that excitement prompted him to bite her onstage during a performance of “Time Runs,” an adaptation of “Faust” in which Ms. Kitt played Helen of Troy. Ms. Kitt’s career-long persona, that of the seen-it-all sybarite, was set when she performed in Paris cabarets in her early 20s, singing songs that became her signatures, like “C’est Si Bon” and “Love for Sale.” Returning to New York, she was cast on Broadway in “New Faces of 1952” and added another jewel to her vocal crown, “Monotonous” (“Traffic has been known to stop for me/Prices even rise and drop for me/Harry S. Truman plays bop for me/Monotonous, monotone-ous”). Brooks Atkinson wrote in The New York Times in May 1952, “Eartha Kitt not only looks incendiary, but she can make a song burst into flame.” Shortly after that run, Ms. Kitt had her first best-selling albums and recorded her biggest hit, “Santa Baby,” whose precise, come-hither diction and vaguely foreign inflections (Ms. Kitt, a native of South Carolina, spoke four languages and sang in seven) proved that a vocal sizzle could be just as powerful as a bonfire. Though her record sales fell after the rise of rhythm and blues and rock ’n’ roll in the mid- and late ’50s, her singing style would later be the template for other singers with pillow-talky voices like Diana Ross (who has said she patterned her Supremes sound and look largely after Ms. Kitt), Janet Jackson and Madonna (who recorded a cover version of “Santa Baby” in 1987). Ms. Kitt would later call herself “the original material girl,” a reference not only to her stage creation and to Madonna but also to her string of romances with rich or famous men, including Welles, the cosmetics magnate Charles Revson and the banking heir John Barry Ryan 3rd. She was married to her one husband, Bill McDonald, a real-estate developer, from 1960 to 1965; their daughter, Kitt Shapiro, survives her, as do two grandchildren. From practically the beginning of her career, as critics gushed over Ms. Kitt, they also began to describe her in every feline term imaginable: her voice “purred” or “was like catnip”; she was a “sex kitten” who “slinked” or was “on the prowl” across the stage, sometimes “flashing her claws.” Her career has often been said to have had “nine lives.” Appropriately, she was tapped to play Catwoman in the 1960s TV series “Batman,” taking over the role from the leggier, lynxlike Julie Newmar and bringing to it a more feral, compact energy.

Yet for all the camp appeal and sexually charged hauteur of Ms. Kitt’s cabaret act, she also played serious roles, appearing in the films “The Mark of the Hawk” with Sidney Poitier (1957) and “Anna Lucasta” (1959) with Sammy Davis Jr. She made numerous television appearances, including a guest spot on “I Spy” in 1965, which brought her her first Emmy nomination. For these performances Ms. Kitt likely drew on the hardship of her early life. She was born Eartha Mae Keith in North, S.C., on Jan. 17, 1927, a date she did not know until about 10 years ago, when she challenged students at Benedict College in Columbia, S.C., to find her birth certificate, and they did. She was the illegitimate child of a black Cherokee sharecropper mother and a white man about whom Ms. Kitt knew little. She worked in cotton fields and lived with a black family who, she said, abused her because she looked too white. “They called me yella gal,” Ms. Kitt said. At 8 she was sent to live in Harlem with an aunt, Marnie Kitt, who Ms. Kitt came to believe was really her biological mother. Though she was given piano and dance lessons, a pattern of abuse developed there as well: Ms. Kitt would be beaten, she would run away and then she would return. By her early teenage years she was working in a factory and sleeping in subways and on the roofs of unlocked buildings. (She would later become an advocate, through Unicef, on behalf of homeless children.) Her show-business break came on a lark, when a friend dared her to audition for the Katherine Dunham Dance Company. She passed the audition and permanently escaped the cycle of poverty and abuse that defined her life till then. But she took the steeliness with her, in a willful, outspoken manner that mostly served her career, except once. In 1968 she was invited to a White House luncheon and was asked by Lady Bird Johnson about the Vietnam War. She replied: “You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed. No wonder the kids rebel and take pot.” The remark reportedly caused Mrs. Johnson to burst into tears and led to a derailment in Ms. Kitt’s career. As bookings dried up, she was exiled in Europe for almost a decade. But President Jimmy Carter invited her back to the White House in 1978, and that year she earned her first Tony nomination for her work in “Timbuktu!,” an all-black remake of “Kismet.” By now a diva and legend, Ms. Kitt did what many other divas and legends — Shirley Bassey and Ethel Merman among them — did: she dabbled in dance music, scoring her biggest hit in 30 years with “Where Is My Man” in 1984, the same year she was roundly criticized for touring South Africa. Ms. Kitt was typically unapologetic; the tour, she said, played to integrated audiences and helped build schools for black children. The third of her three autobiographies, “I’m Still Here: Confessions of a Sex Kitten,” was published in 1989, and she earned a Grammy nomination for “Back in Business,” a collection of cabaret songs released in 1994 … But though Ms. Kitt still seemed to have men of all ages wrapped around her finger (she would often toy with younger worshipers at her shows by suggesting they introduce her to their fathers), the years had given her perspective. “I’m a dirt person,” she told Ebony magazine in 1993. “I trust the dirt. I don’t trust diamonds and gold.”

I cannot tell you how much I wish I featured Eartha Kitt on the blog more, if only to introduce a new generation of folks to her amazing fabulosity (she did make an appearance HERE). The woman had an unrivaled talent and was just a delight to watch on screen or to listen to on record. She may not have been the most famous actress to play Catwoman but she was absolutely my favorite. I remember watching the Batman TV series when I was very little and thinking how much she resembled a cat in both her speak and in her manner.

She was a very beautiful woman and I really responded to her. I have a few of her recordings on my iPod and was actually listening to her version of Santa Baby earlier this week. This news is just so sad … she is one woman I would have loved to meet. May she rest in eternal peace … I will surely never forget her.

[Source]