Alanis Morissette who spent much of 2008 losing the battle of the bulge has take control of her weight issues and is showing off her hot new bod in the pages of the new issue of OK! magazine. Here are a few new pics of Alanis proudly showing off her svelte new figure (dressed in some seriously fug fashions) and dishing on how she lost all the weight:

Less than a year ago, Alanis Morissette found herself in a heavy situation: the once-svelte rock star had packed on weight, and the processed food she’d been eating left her feeling unhealthy. Determined to get back on track, Alanis turned to Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s book Eat to Live, a plan that recommends consuming fruit, vegetables, beans and nuts, and avoiding meat and dairy products. Alanis’ vegan diet — one of the more popular in Hollywood these days — has helped her shed 20 pounds since she began the new regime in September. Now, the 34-year-old singer who redefined “ironic” is proud to show off her new shape and share her dieting tips with OK! readers.

OK!: Will your next big project be to plan a wedding?
I could see in the not too distant future being married with children, absolutely, but I’m in no crazy rush. I wildly respect him. How he views the world, the lens through which he looks at life is very similar to mine. To have that in common makes me sleep well at night.

I imagine that Alanis had a pretty tough time getting over the loss of her fiancée Ryan Reynolds, especially when he secretly wed Scarlett Johansson out of nowhere back in September so I can’t fault the girl for indulging in comfort food. In fact, I don’t think she looked at all bad anytime this year … well, except when she got that tiger tattoo on her arm. But there is no denying (ugly outfits notwithstanding) that she looks utterly amazing now. It really sounds like she’s got a new lease on life and is really happy with Tom. It’s great seeing Alanis look so hawt … but more importantly, it’s even better seeing her so happy.

[Source]

Well … it looks like Joel Madden’s latest brush with facial hair is here to stay, at least for a little while. Last week we saw pics of Joel rockin’ a new face of facial hair and today we see that he is still rockin’ the porn’stache … in Hawaii where he, Nicole Richie and baby Harlow Winter have been celebratin’ the holidays … behold:

Yeah, I’m still not really feelin’ the chin pubes but I can’t hate the guy for going for a new look. Nicole looks a bit tired and Harlow looks adorable as usual. I suspect the family will be back home in time to celebrate Harlow’s first birthday which is coming up later on this month! Mebbe Joel will make one of Harlow’s gifts a clean shave … which is a gift we can all enjoy ;)

[Photo credit: X17]

In recent weeks, Kevin Federline has been spied in the company of a new lady who is rumored to be his new love interest Victoria Prince. The couple reportedly met at the bowling alley and have been joined at the hip every since. This week, K-Fed and Vicky stepped out for a lunch date together … but just who the hell is Victoria Prince? People magazine has got the deets:

Just who is K-Fed’s new gal pal? For the last month, Kevin Federline, 30, has been publicly stepping out with a 6-ft.-tall blonde named Victoria Prince. Last month Federline told PEOPLE that he wasn’t dating because he didn’t “feel comfortable bringing women in and out of the kids’ lives.” But sources confirm that the former rapper and sometime actor, who’s now working on a kids’ clothing line called Otzi, has been quietly dating Prince. “She’s really normal and low-key, a regular girl,” says a source. Federline’s rep had no comment. The pair has been spotted bowling, grabbing drinks from Starbucks, grocery shopping and running errands over the past month, not to mention partying at nightclubs in Las Vegas. Prince also spends time at Federline’s home, which he shares with sons Preston, 3, and Jayden, 2. Prince, 26, shares a birthday with Federline’s ex-wife Britney Spears, 27 (both were born on Dec. 2), and graduated with a bachelor of arts in speech from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2006, where she played volleyball after transferring from the team at Washington State University. In 2007, the Washington native even competed against beach volleyball greats Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh in an AVP match in Hermosa Beach, Calif. (the Olympic gold medalists beat Prince and her partner). Federline and Prince have done their best to keep a low profile, rarely allowing public displays of affection, although Federline is often seen acting “like a gentleman,” says a source. During their out-of-town trip to Vegas on Dec. 18 and 19, where they partied with a small group of friends at nightclubs Tao and Lavo, gentlemanly Federline helped Prince put on her coat. After one of many trips to the Corbin Bowling Center in Tarzana, Calif., Federline was also spotted opening the car door for her. A bowling source says Federline “always pays” after their games. “They are definitely a couple – I have seen them kiss,” says the source. “But they both seem focused on the bowling.”

Focused on the bowling, huh? Yeah, right. As much as I’m not a huge K-Fed fan, I guess I’m a’ight with him dating an former almost volleyball star. I mean, he can’t stay single forever and she doesn’t seem to be the trashy sort of chick I’d expect him to go for … and they have bowling in common! Does it get more perfect than that? I think not. I’m not sure that Vicky P. is in it for the long haul (I mean, would YOU want to be known as Kevin Federline’s girlfriend?) but if he puts a baby in her (behavior he is notorious for) then she might be sticking around longer than expected. I hope she knows what she’s doing … and that she’s got her tubes tied.

[Photo credit: X17; Source]

Creepy McCreepinstein Michael Jackson stepped out for a bit of book shopping this past New Year’s Eve but couldn’t be bothered to wear clothing, opting instead to throw a trench coat (natch) over his pajamas … while shopping under cover of an umbrella indoors. I mean … it’s Michael Jackson so, yeah, of course he did:

Shoppers at a Los Angeles bookstore got a fright on New Year’s Eve when they spotted a hooded man with a surgical mask under an umbrella lurking amongst the shelves. It was only after seeing his accompanying entourage and the paparazzi waiting outside they realised it was Michael Jackson on one of his ‘incognito’ shopping trips. The self-proclaimed king of pop was completely covered up – bar his eyes and hands – as he perused the shop for picture books. Wearing pyjamas, slippers and a long black coat, the 50-year-old cut a bizarre figure as he was followed around the store by his assistant, whose prime role appeared to be carrying an umbrella for Jackson. Despite the obvious lack of rain or sunshine in the building, Jackson occasionally dipped under the shade of the umbrella, although what he was sheltering from exactly was anyone’s guess. Before updating his literary collection, Jackson had visited a doctor in Beverly Hills, a week after reports claimed he was seriously ill. His choice of clothing and surgical mask did little to dispel recent rumours the superstar is suffering from ill health.

OMG … Jacko is such a nutball. He is the living embodiment of the sort of crazy that Courtney Love spews on her My Space blog. Hello, he is THE text book definition of crazy. Words fail.

[Photo credit: National Photo Group; Source]

Prince, who recently previewed a few new tracks on LA radio Indie 103.1 and who launched a new website at mplsound.com, announced to the LA Times that he is planning to release 3 new albums in the coming year as soon as he secures a distribution deal to sell physical copies of the albums. Two of the discs are solo Prince albums (tentatively titled MPLSOUND and LOTUSFLOW3R) and a disc for his latest musical protégé Bria Valente (her disc is tentatively titled Elixir) who he was seen with recently at an LA Lakers basketball game:

If you head over to mlpsound.com right now you can hear a new song titled Here Eye Come that features Bria on vocals (tho it’s unclear if the song is hers or one of the tracks on Prince’s upcoming solo discs) and features photos of her in the video that is streaming on the site:

Prince was eager to show off his new stuff to the LA Times … he also seemed eager to clear up that report from The New Yorker that painted him in a very anti-gay light:

Tuesday morning, I received the Golden Ticket of journalistic invitations: a summons to Prince’s mansion, high atop Mulholland Drive, to hear the new music he’ll be releasing sometime after the holidays. At 8 p.m. that evening, I drove my dirty Mazda past the fountain in his courtyard, parked by the limo in the back, and entered his manse. The man himself greeted me in a candelit study, where he was laboring over a laptop with his Web designers, Anthony Malzone and Scott Addison Clay. The next five hours took me from that room to a car Prince referred to as “Miles Davis,” where we listened to one set of songs; into a back room furnished with a round bed, faux-fur carpeting and a plexiglass Rhodes piano, where he played cuts by his new protege, the comely Bria Valente; and into that white limo, where the entirety of “Lotus Flower,” the album previewed earlier this month on Indie 103.1, boomed through the speakers as we drove through Hollywood.

He did not vote for Proposition 8. In fact, he didn’t vote at all. “I didn’t vote for Obama either,” he explained. “Jehovah’s Witnesses haven’t voted for their whole inception.” The controversy over a recent New Yorker “Talk of the Town” item, which Prince feels implied he supported the gay-marriage ban, has upset him. It’s the first thing he wanted to discuss when the Web geeks had gone and we were alone. “I have friends that are gay and we study the Bible together,” he said. He added that two sides fighting “only benefit the third person” who instigated the fight.

Click HERE to read the rest of Ann Powers’s article and learn about Prince’s love for his guitar. Firstly, let me say how happy I am to hear Prince deny the anti-gay stance that was attributed to him by The New Yorker last month. Honestly, I hold The New Yorker with the utmost regard and respect and do not believe the mag would make up stuff as damaging as what they wrote about Prince’s alleged comments on homosexuality. That said, I’m willing to take his new comments at face value and move on. The man is an amazing artist, I’ve been a fan for decades … I am very excited to learn that new music is on the way. I had a feeling that he and Bria were closer than some assumed … Prince just doesn’t take any ol’ person with him to see the Lakers. Of this new material, I’ve only been able to hear Here Eye Come … and I like it. I’m sure the rest of the music will be just as good, if not better. I hope the discs will be released sooner than later … I could really go for a nice big new dose of Prince right about now.

[Source, Source]

Well … I’m alive. After all that celebratin’ that I did on New Year’s Eve I need a bit of New Year’s Day to recuperate … I managed to evade death (once again) and went out with David and his sisters Lara and Eden for a bit of food (salad for me, thanks) and a movie. We went out to see Gran Torino (which was sold out but easily sneak-inable after buying tickets for something else):

Imagine my surprise to learn that the movie is set in Highland Park, MI which is one of the more desolate ‘burbs of Detroit. I’ve spent some time in the area and can attest that the filmmakers got the setting right. Gran Torino tells the tale of an uber racist widower who refuses to leave his neighborhood despite being the “only American” left. With his gruff demeanor and racist insults, he manages to alienate everyone in his general vicinity … except for the young Hmong girl who lives next door. As much as the overt racist language was hard for me to endure, it was used in the film quite expertly. Clint Eastwood’s character, the racist bastard that he is, ends up offending everyone … hurling racist epithets at everyone equally, thereby negating his racist nature (he’s just a regular ol’ mean SOB). The film is a very powerful one and altho there are some parts that I found a bit hard to believe (especially when Clint’s character and Sue, the Hmong teenager next door become a new sort of Odd Couple) I loved it entirely. There is a lot of emotional exploitation and the movie ends on a somber note but the story is an interesting one and I wouldn’t be surprised if Clint walks away with some Academy Award nominations. I love the Detroit shout-outs … Pabst Blue Ribbon is featured prominently as is Lake Shore Drive in Grosse Pointe, MI. I used to drive along Lake St. Clair on Lake Shore Drive on my way to work when I taught in Grosse Pointe … it was a nice surprise to see it on the big screen. Gran Torino is not a family friendly film but it is one that I wholly recommend. I am not sure if Clint Eastwood has many more performances in him like the one he delivers in this film … it’s a must see, IMHO.

My friend Brad Walsh posted a bunch of the portraits that he shot at his NYE party on Wednesday night … here are a few of his amazing photos, featuring some of my fave people on Earth:

You can see all of his photos from the party HERE.

2009 looks like a great year thus far (now that I’m no longer on death’s door). I got to talk a bit with Diana, who returned home from Iceland yesterday. She assures me she had a great time :) Not sure what the plan is for tonight … but it’s cold here in NYC. We’ll have to see if anything worthy enough of frostbite will get us out of the apt.

• Peace the Spork Out, novelty New Year’s Eve glasses
• Heather Locklear evades paying for her DUI arrest.
• Being that close to Anderson Cooper makes poetry spill forth from Kathy Griffin’s mouth.
• The music recording industry is dying a slow, painful death.
• Click HERE to watch the official trailer for Skins season 3.
• For Sale: Defamer
• Cynthia Nixon and family celebrate 09 with Mickey and his crew.
• A quick look at all the 2009 fireworks.
• Portland, OR swears in its first gay mayor.
• Chloe Sevigny hits the beach.
• Carmen Electra and Fergie Ferg ring in the New Year in Vegas.
• Shia LaBeouf and the hand that never heals.
• Kristin Cavallari celebrates 09 on the beach.
• Verne Troyer turned 40, Grandmaster Flash turned 51 and author J.D. Salinger turned 90 years old yesterday … Kate Bosworth is 26, Dax Shepard is 34, Taye Diggs is 38 and Gabrielle Carteris (Beverly Hills, 90210) is 48 years old today. Click HERE to see who else is celebrating a birthday today.
• John Travolta’s 16 year old son Jett has died while the family was on vacation in the Bahamas :(
• Mia Farrow’s 35 year old daughter passed away on Xmas day :(
• Picasso and Matisse STOLEN!
• When Siouxsie Sioux met Mel C.