Robert Downey, Jr. gave an interview to USA Today about his Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination and the irony of securing an Academy Award nomination by playing a character that goes to extreme lengths in a fictional film to secure his own Academy Award nomination. Along with this new interview, USA Today published the first promo photo to be released from RDJ’s upcoming new film (which is currently in production) Sherlock Holmes … behold:

Robert Downey Jr. is grooving on the great irony of being nominated for a supporting Oscar as Tropic Thunder’s Kirk Lazarus, a pretentious Aussie actor who is so Method that he dyes his skin to play a black character. “It’s so funny to me that the role is a guy who is an Oscar-seeking moron. His whole motivation is Oscars,” he says during a shooting break. He’s starring in the first major big-screen version of Sherlock Holmes in more than 20 years, which moved from the streets of London to Brooklyn last month and wraps this week. He then adds, “Irony is synonymous with pretty much everything that is going on.” If he is talking about his career, that is certainly true. At 43, Downey has gone from being an oft-brilliant yet erratic talent who bounced from rehab center to jail cell to being one of the most bankable and popular male stars around. That he has accomplished this feat not in low-budget, high-art vehicles but in a blockbuster like Iron Man, last year’s No. 2 grosser at $318 million, and in the raucously profane comedy Thunder, is fairly unprecedented. “What I am doing is really quality films,” he says. “The trend is turning back to commercial films that are actually, more often than not, where the quality happens.” That’s what he is hoping for with his still-brainy yet brawnier re-imagining of England’s famous Victorian sleuth, with Jude Law as a dashing Watson and Rachel McAdams as the deceptive Irene Adler. The PG-13 adventure opens this year during the competitive month of November. “I was the picking-at-the-leftovers kid for the first 22 ½ years of my career, and it changed because life is like that,” he says of his good fortune after five years or so of sobriety. “Sooner or later, once you pull the one-armed bandit enough, you are going to get some gold bars.” Downey is clearly pleased that his efforts have led to his second Academy Award attempt after a lead nomination for 1992’s Chaplin. He’s told that the only other actor to be in the running while in blackface for an entire performance — or nearly, as in Downey’s case — was Laurence Olivier in 1965. “Ohhh,” he says as the fact dawns on him. “For Othello.” The late Heath Ledger is all but guaranteed to take the gold for his Joker in The Dark Knight. But if the impossible happens, it would be hard to be the actor who took it away. “It’s weird, because what you have is real life, and then you have the movies,” Downey says. “When they intersect, it becomes disquieting that it also becomes something to discuss. But that’s part of the deal. Anything that happens privately is public.”

I love RDJ … and while I’m thrilled that he has secured his second Academy Award nom, I think it’s pretty safe to say that he’s not going to win it this year. That said, he has proven time and time again that he has a formidable talent and not even his own destructive behavior can sidetrack his career. I am very happy that RDJ’s darkest days seem to be behind him and that we can look forward to many years of great movies from him in the future. I am really looking forward to seeing his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes but I am most anxious to see him get back into the red and yellow suit and become Iron Man again. While Robert Downey, Jr. may not walk home with a golden statue at this month’s Oscars, I suspect that his time will come … prolly sooner than we think.

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Ryan Reynolds, husband of Scarlett Johansson and all-around hottie, is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Men’s Health magazine. Folks familiar with Men’s Health know that the dudes featured in the mag’s pages are usually half-to-mostly nekkid … sadly, that is not the case with these new pics of Ryan. Check out these hot, yet, fully clothed photos of Ryan Reynolds:

Altho the man is wearing clothing covering every part of his body (damnit) he does look very handsome in his attire. The good news is that that this issue of Men’s Health has two covers … and Ryan is featured on both. After the jump, check out the other cover of Men’s Health magazine that features Ryan Reynolds and a couple extra photos from insde the mag …

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Here are a couple cute pics of Gwen Stefani and hubby Gavin Rossdale carrying their young sons Zuma Nesta Rock and Kingston James McGregor upon their arrival at their home in London, England earlier today. This is the first time that Zuma Nesta has been able to visit his father’s homeland since his birth back in August:

Little Zuma is really starting to develop distinctive features … he is really starting to look like his mum while Kingston is the spitting image of his dad. These little guys are so lucky to have parents of different nationalities … I mean, they’re also lucky that their folks are insanely wealthy but that they’ll be able to grow up spending time in both SoCal and London — sounds nice. I’m sure the folks in Londontown will make little Zuma feel welcome … mebbe with some figgy pudding or some fish & chips or something ;)

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin]

Miley Cyrus has finally spoken up about that controversial photo that shows her and her friends (20-year old manfriend Justin Gaston, included) seemingly mocking Asian eye features and offers her perspective on the entire matter. In a message sent to a Miley Cyrus fansite, Miley tries to explain away the photo by claiming that she was merely making “goofy faces” and that the intent of the photo has been “taken out of context” by the people offended by it. Nowhere in her message to fans (which also addresses those paparazzi photos that featured her wardrobe malfunction) does she offer an apology for the photo, she is just “sorry” that people have taken it out of context and she mentions that she has apologized in the past when she has made mistakes … implying that she did nothing wrong in this instance. Here is the full text of Miley’s message to fans (all spelling and grammatical errors are her own) along with TWO offending photos (apparently taken on the same night) of Miley “goofing around” with her friends:

Hey guys! Just wanted to give you a quick update on whats going on in my life! Im still in Nashville, but Im heading back to LA tomorrow! Taylor and I rehearse together tomorrow in Nashville before the Grammys on Sunday! That is going to be so much fun! Ive had such a good time being home hanging out with my friend Lesley and just chillin’ out!

Anyway, I really wish everyone would stop focusing on my personal life and get back to focusing on what I love! Music
and Acting! Hopefully, I will be touring again this fall! Yayy! =] It will be a nice change to be back out on the road
again! xoxo Blessings.. Miley =)

You will note that the tone of this message implies that Miley Cyrus sees nothing wrong with what she did. It is very true that she may not have intended harm by her actions but, firstly, that is no excuse and secondly, I’d think she’d have the mental ability (and the PR team) to tell her that other people might be offended and an apology might be in order. I honestly believe that a public apology would go a long way to inform impressionable kids that what she did is WRONG and should not be condoned, explained away or emulated. She does apologize if YOU have taken the photos out of context, tho. That is about as far as she goes. She asks since when does “making a goofy face” become newsworthy. My reply is that “making a goofy face” becomes newsworthy when a public figure is photographed making a “goofy face” that offends billions of people on the planet — just like it was newsworthy when the Spanish Olympic basketball team was photographed making the same “slant eye” gestures for their team photo before they went to China for the Olympics. If she were merely sticking out her tongue (like she often does) or pursing her lips then that sort of “goofy faced” behavior is not newsworthy. Pulling your eyes back at a slant with a bunch of your Caucasian friends at the expense of your sole Asian friend in the photo becomes insulting and “newsworthy”. She claims if it had been “anyone else” than “it would have been overlooked”. True, I’m sure there are many insensitive people in the world who have no problem mocking and making fun of other people. Sadly, right now in the world there are folks calling each other really hurtful names, etc. and those actions will be overlooked. But when you are a very public figure, making millions of dollars from your growing fan base, behavior like that does not and should be overlooked. I absolutely contend that if any other celeb had been photographed doing this same thing, it would’ve still been a big deal. What is MOST TROUBLING in Miley’s case is that she has influence over YOUNG CHILDREN. If kids learn that this kind of “goofing” around is OK then they will, likely grow up to think that it is “OK” to “joke around” like this (as is evident from the many people who feel that this behavior is “no big deal” and should be laughed off). Finally, I take offense that she feels the need to mention GOD in her message … as if merely reminding people of her Christianity is another reason to excuse her behavior. I can tell you that in my many years of education in the Church (I attended Church faithfully until I was about 18 years old) I was always taught to respect other people and that mocking people in a joking manner is wrong.

In the end, I am now starting to believe that Miley Cyrus really has no idea that her actions are hurtful to others and sees nothing wrong with what she did … and that is the saddest thing of all. That she finds no fault at all with the hurt and pain that her actions cause others is kind of pathetic to me. When I was a teacher, I heard kids say and do some really hurtful things to one another (name calling at its worst) and I used every opportunity to try and explain to those kids what effect their bullying actions might have on others, even if they didn’t mean any harm. Sometimes I was successful and got thru to the kids, other times I was not … that is just a fact of life. I just cannot and will not endorse or rationalize anyone’s offensive behavior, not in any capacity. I just wish that someone had taken Miley aside to try and educate her on the importance of respecting other people. Mebbe if she wasn’t so bizzy focusing on Music and Acting then she might’ve learned those lessons at home or in school. It is my sincere hope that other young, impressionable children do not learn these lessons from her. In my estimation, she is unworthy of being a role model in that capacity.

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Late last year we learned that 20-year old underwear model Justin Gaston (who is more famously known for dating 16-year old Miley Cyrus than for his modeling) would be appearing in ads for the Spring/Summer 09 Roberto Cavalli collection along with supermodel Kate Moss. In late December, we got to see Kate and Justin in the first ad released. As you may recall, Kate looked amazing … Justin looked unrecognizable because only his back was featured in the ad. Today, we get to see 3 new ads from the Cavalli campaign — fortunately for Justin, he gets a bit more facetime in these ads:

Well, at least in these ads you can actually tell that Justin Gaston is a model and not just a glorified piece of furniture for Kate Moss to lay on. I’m relieved to know that Justin is capable of making his own money from his modeling gigs … I’m sure the Cyrus family appreciates that fact as well. I’m also relieved that Justin Gaston is capable of doing more than just insulting people by taking photos with his much younger girlfriend and his equally immature friends who all seem to enjoy mocking minorities … glad to know that the guy is at least multifaceted.

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OUCH! In a new interview with USA Today, Stephen King was asked about his thoughts on the writing talents of J.K. Rowling (who created the amazing Harry Potter series of books) and Stephenie Meyer (who created the Twilight Saga that is all the rage with the tweens these days) and he had some very nice things to say about Rowling. When he gave his opinion of Meyer, well, I think it’s best if I just let him speak for himself:

Stephen King’s opinion may drive a stake through the heart of “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer. In an interview with USA Weekend, the bestselling author compared Meyer with J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series. According to Stephen, “Both Rowling and Meyer, they’re speaking directly to young people… The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good.” Meeooww! While Stephen may not be a fan of Stephenie’s writing, he understands the appeal of the series. “People are attracted by the stories, by the pace, and in the case of Stephenie Meyer, it’s very clear that she’s writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It’s exciting and it’s thrilling and it’s not particularly threatening because it’s not overtly sexual.” He further explains, “A lot of the physical side of it is conveyed in things like, the vampire will touch her forearm or run a hand over skin, and she just flushes all hot and cold. And for girls, that’s a shorthand for all the feelings that they’re not ready to deal with yet.”

To be fair, King also states that author Dean Koontz is “sometimes … just awful” and that author James Patterson “is a terrible writer” … so it’s not just Stephenie Meyer that he is not too fond of. To be completely honest, I see his point. Having read the entire Twilight Saga, I also do not feel that Meyer is a particularly good writer … even tho she is able to capture the imagination of millions. Rowling, on the other hand, is an absolute master storyteller and is, IMHO, a brilliant author. They’re just very different … and both very entertaining writers. I have always respected Stephen King for his brutal honesty … he may not always have the most popular thing to say but, at least you know he’s being honest. If I can interject my own opinion on Stephen King’s writing … over all, I’m a fan. I’ve enjoyed way more books of his than I’ve not enjoyed — but there have been those books of his that are absolutely terrible. They can’t all be gems … and to each their own. I’m sure some Meyer fans are bound to give King flak for his comments but I ain’t mad at him. He’s merely giving his opinion … which may resonate with some and clash with others.

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The National Enquirer is reporting that Jonathan Knight, member of the recently reunited boy band New Kids On The Block, has been outed by an ex-boyfriend named Kyle Wilker who claims the pair were involved in a hush-hush romantic relationship for about 18 months leading up to the reformation of NKOTB last year … so of course, Wilker decided to sell his story (and personal intimate photos with Jonathan) to the tabloid. Here is a page from the new issue of The National Enquirer that features a few of these personal photos, one of which shows the two men snogging:

According to Wilker, Jonathan revealed that he “preferred guys to girls” after having dated 80s popstar Tiffany back in the day. Ah ha! So this is all Tiffany’s fault! In any regard, Kyle Wilker’s full story of his love affair with Jonathan Knight is published in the February 19th issue of The National Enquirer. I, for one, am really interested to read more. For years I’ve heard whispers that Jonathan was out of the closet in the years that NKOTB was a distant memory … if, in fact, he is truly this comfortable with his sexuality then I think it would be amazing if he would talk about it publicly now that he’s in the spotlight again. What do y’all think? Are any of y’all surprised by this news? Of all the members of NKOTB, was Jonathan the one y’all thought might be gay?

[Source via Boy Culture]