While Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart were enjoying their Italian dinner in Italy over the weekend, their New Moon co-star Taylor Lautner was here in SoCal enjoying an Italian dinner of his own with a male friend in Burbank, CA. Here are a couple pics of Taylor and his bud making their exit from the Olive Garden yesterday afternoon:

Awww … poor Taylor. As I recall from the book New Moon, there was no reason for Jacob Black to be in Italy so that means that Taylor is stuck here in SoCal while the other kids are playing in Italy. While they are supping on real Italian food, he’s stuck here with Olive Garden and his Playstation 3 video games. Ah well … he’ll get to play with the other cool New Moon kids soon enough. In the meantime, he’s got easy access to those amazing breadsticks that Olive Garden has to offer … so really, who wins?

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin]

Twilight co-stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson have connected in Italy where production of The Twilight Saga: New Moon is about to begin this week. The co-stars dined with crew friends at an authentic restaurant in Montepulciano and looked like they all had a blast … here are a few pics:

Before anyone gets the wrong idea, it seems clear to me from these photos that Rob and Kristen are just good friends. That they would take the time to hang out with crewmembers is really cool. Now that production has moved from Vancouver, BC Canada to Italy we’ll have to look there for New Moon set pics and candids of the actors on their off days. Not a bad place to be hangin’ for the next few weeks, right?

[Photo credit: INFdaily]

Most of yesterday was spent in a middle seat on an airplane flying from NYC to LA but thankfully because the plane was equipped with Satellite TV, I was able to watch Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Western Conference Championship playoffs that pitted the Detroit Red Wings against the Chicago Blackhawks in Chicago, IL live as the game happened. I had a pretty good feeling after the first goal that the Red Wings scored that it was gonna be a good game … little did I know that Detroit would go on to crush the Chicago by a score of 6-1:

Chicago is a great team but they are very young and their youthful exuberance and inexperience did not serve them well in yesterday’s game. As the Wings continued to score, they continued to implode. That Chicago coach Quenneville tried to blame his team’s horrible loss on one bad call against his team, saying that it was “the worst call in the history of sports today” and that “[The officials] ruined a good hockey game. They absolutely destroyed what was going on on the ice and whatever happened after that”, tells me that he is also inexperienced in leading teams to victory (despite what his record may be, bitching about one bad call leading to a 6-1 loss is pretty lame). Detroit stayed steady, kept applying the pressure and played like a Stanley Cup champion team. I am SO happy that I was able to watch the game for myself … there is no way that any recap of the game could’ve done it justice. Game 5 takes place at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, MI on Wednesday night … here’s hoping the Wings finish off the Blackhawks and get about their biz of retaining the Stanley Cup :)

David and I got home to LA early enough that we could unwind and still go out … we decided to check out Terminator: Salvation:

While I liked the film, I far from loved it. It’s a loud, action-packed time at the movies but all the plotholes drove me crazy. Some of it didn’t make sense and a lot of what transpired wasn’t really explained at all. In the end, it left me a bit unsatisfied … but only because the story wasn’t really fleshed out the way that it really needed to be. There were a lot of fun shout-outs to the previous movies — the famed I’ll be back line was uttered, Guns N Roses’s song You Could Be Mine from T2: Judgment Day made a cameo as did the voice of Linda Hamilton (the original Sarah Connor). Arnold Schwarzenegger also *kinda* makes a cameo … but not really (you’ll have to see it to understand what I mean). The movie really tries and I am happy to suggest that fans of Terminator see it but it’s not one of those movies that I would need to see more than once.

No plans for today. Which is totally fine by me. Happy Day, y’all!!

• Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian was the #1 movie at the box office this weekend. Terminator: Salvation started out strong but fizzled due to bad word of mouth.
• President Barack Obama lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier AND an extra wreath in honor African-Americans who fought in the Civil War.
• Shopping for engagement rings already Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jamie Kennedy?
• Twitter the TV series?
• Race car driver Helio Castroneves won his third Indy 500 championship this weekend.
• Peace the Spork Out, Jay Bennett ex-guitarist of Wilco
• Lauryn Hill is 34, Jamie Kennedy is 39, Mike Myers is 46 and Dixie Carter & Ian McKellen are 70 years old today. Click HERE to see who else is celebrating a birthday today.
• The performance that we DIDN’T see during the American Idol finale sounded pretty cool.
• The Austrian film The White Ribbon took home the top prize, the famed Palme d’Or, at the Cannes Film Festival this year.

Angelina Jolie took a break from filming scenes for her new movie Salt, currently in production in NY, to enjoy a piece of birthday cake in celebration of director Simon West’s birthday. It’s a strange occurrence to see Angelina Jolie ingesting sustenance of any kind so I figured the photos would be worth a look … behold:

MMM … it looks like Ange is really enjoying that piece of cake. It’s nice to know that Ange makes time for eating in between her bizzy work schedule, her bizzy home schedule and her bizzy charity schedule. Her thinness might imply that she doesn’t really make much time for the practice of eating but at least we know she makes time for cake ;) It should be noted that I understand she only ate one piece of cake … hey, better than nothing.

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin]

Our dear Britney Spears, who has been enjoying a short vacation in the Bahamas recently (in the close and intimate company of her family, her children and her very attentive agent Jason Trawick), managed to swing by Louisiana on Saturday in order to attend the wedding of her cousin Laura Lynne Covington in Amite, LA. Britney was only in town for a short visit to appear at the nuptials as an “honorary” bridesmaid (whatever that means) and to celebrate with her family at the reception … and then it was back on her private jet bound for home. Here are pics of Britney making her grand escape from Louisiana yesterday and some info about the family wedding itself:

After making a big splash in the Bahamas the day before, Britney Spears emerged Saturday in Amite, La., where she made a low-key appearance as an “honorary” bridesmaid at the wedding of her cousin, Laura Lynne Covington. “When her brother walked her down the aisle, she looked stunningly calm and beautiful,” says one wedding guest. “She was very pretty, low-key. She was not the center of everything, just pretty and calm and collected.” The wedding took place at the First United Methodist Church, the same church where the funeral for Covington’s mother Sandra, who died of ovarian cancer, took place in January 2007. Later, at the wedding reception, the pop star hung out with her sister and fellow bridesmaid, Jamie Lynn, who toted baby Maddie, and “sat at a table off to the side and visited with local people she knew,” says the guest. “There was no fanfare,” noted the guest. “With all the star power Britney and her family command, it was still the bride’s day.”

Unlike Britney’s fake cousin and former assistant Alli Sims, Laura Lynne is Britney’s real family and it makes sense that she would want to be a part of her special day. Laura Lynne was one of Britney’s bridesmaids when she got married to Kevin Federline back in 2004. It’s very clear to me that Britney only makes time for her family in matters like this, which I think is very healthy and good for her overall progress. It’s clear to me that Britney doesn’t like making too many appearances, especially at functions where her fame might be exploited but you can tell she remains grounded and loved when she returns to Louisiana. Congrats goes out to Laura Lynne on her nuptials.

[Photo credit: Splash News; Source]

Yesterday we saw a couple pics of Matthew McConaughey doin’ a bit of workin’ out in Malibu, CA this weekend and I commented on how it’s been an ice age since Matthew decided to ditch the shirt and let see how all that workin’ out has been, well, workin’ out for him. It seems as if the gods above heard my comments cuz Matthew got inspired to take his family to the beach … and leave his shirt behind:

Now that’s more like it. Sure, in the good ol’ days of his bachelorhood, the sight of Matthew’s shirtlessness would be a very common occurrence … but now that he’s all settled down, that doesn’t mean he can share the beefcake every once-in-a-while. The pics of Matthew with babymama Camila Alves and firstborn son Levi Alves are really adorable. They make a very cute family. But cute family or not, I hope this shirtlessness is but a start of a long, happy and fleshy Summer to come ;)

[Photo credit: X17]