The young cast of The CW hit series Gossip Girl is featured in the pages of the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine. The cover, tho, features only the two main girls, Blake Lively and Leighton Meester, which all the devilishly fun high school drama swirls around on the show. Here are a few photos of Blake and Leighton (who play Serena and Blair, respectively) that were shot by photographer Terry Richardson for the mag and a portion of the magazine’s coverstory:

It’s been a heart-wrenching month for fans of the CW Network’s sexily subversive drama Gossip Girl while TV’s hottest show took a brief hiatus. But now Blair, Serena, Chuck Bass and Co. are back — and on the cover of the new issue of Rolling Stone. To get the dirt on what it’s like starring as beautiful young people in New York while being beautiful young people in New York, Jason Gay hung out with the cast on set and after hours, tagging along to their favorite drinking haunts — where the beverage of choice is the potent Golden Monkey — and catching the action as the show filmed on the streets of the Big Apple. “The outdoor sets were pretty fun, because the fans come out,” Gay says. “There were many kids from local private schools, foreign tourists and tons of paparazzi. It’s strange to to see a mob of paparazzi photograph Blake and Serena in character as they film an outdoor scene. It’s as if the reality of the show exists behind two lenses — in real time and TV time. All the actors enjoy the outside stuff because of the fans, too. It’s like playing on stage or something. More energy, more excitement and the sense that anything could happen. And sometimes it does. There is no such thing as a closed set in NYC!” Despite barely scraping together 3 million viewers a week, the show has become the most talked-about, culturally relevant series on television. “It’s not a conventional TV hit in terms of viewership. Its numbers are low and it loses to stuff like The Secret Life of the American Teenager, a far more wholesome show that runs on cable,” Gay says. “But in terms of having a ‘moment,’ however you want to define it, GG definitely is having one. It will be very interesting to see if the show grows, or remains a clubby, small hit. Teen shows seldom have long runs — and I don’t get the feeling this will turn into ER. But it seems to be here to stay as long as the principals involved want to keep doing it.” Part of the show’s appeal is its authenticity. “The show is sharp and connected to modern life, references, music and so on. Gossip Girl doesn’t feel like something that got drummed up in some network focus group by 55-year-old white dudes,” Gay explains. “No one’s going to accuse Gossip Girl of being The Wire or Mad Men, but if you roll with the fantasy/absurdity, it’s fun to watch, from the infighting to the insane clothes and snappy dialogue.” Right now, the stars who bring those tart lines to life — Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Ed Westwick, Chace Crawford, Penn Badgley — somehow haven’t let fame go to their heads, according to Gay. “They’ve all reached the point where they’re in the public eye, but they’re not rolling around in blacked-out SUVs or being chased around like Madonna. A lot of them take the subway and they still complain about the price of rents and monthly car parking,” Gay reveals. “They’re in a nice place in their careers. They’re now recognizable enough to get interest for other things, but not so recognizable that daily life is a drag.” Though he’s now a Gossip guru, Gay admits, “I didn’t jump on the bandwagon immediately. But by the end of the first season, I was getting so annoyed with the fuss I had to check it out.” So what’s his favorite Gossip Girl moment? “The scene in the ‘Non-Judging Breakfast Club’ episode where Blair, Chuck and Nate rally behind Serena after she confesses about her wild night with Georgina. Nate and Blair then confess regrettable things they’ve done, and when Blair asks Chuck to contribute, he just says, ‘I’m Chuck Bass,’ ” Gay says. “It’s the kind of thing that if you watched the show for the first time, it would mean nothing to do you, but if you’re a fan, you’re dying. I think that’s one of the shrewder things about Gossip Girl — it does reward its loyal viewers.”

My, my … what suggestive photos. The second photo, of the girls sharing an ice cream cone, is the one that is used as the magazine’s coverphoto. But, the entire young cast of the series is featured in the mag. After the jump, check out a few more photos of Gossip Girl gang — Blake, Leighton, Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick, Jessica Szohr, Penn Badgley and Taylor Momsen — together in bed …

Last night, a scrubby looking Joaquin Phoenix (who tried to clean up his image by wearing a suit) embarrassed himself on The Late Show with David Letterman in an attempt to carry on with his new whateverthehellhe’stryingtopull mockumentary art project thing as he promoted his new film Two Lovers. Phoenix was also on hand at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema in NYC last night — along with co-star Gwyneth Paltrow, Broadway star Cheynne Jackson and others — for the film’s premiere. Monkey suit or no suit, he seriously looked like he stank:

I’m pretty sure that Joaquin‘s ridiculously tiresome behavior is being paraded around town to try and inspire people to take notice and mebbe check out this film. For me, the opposite is true. I am so unimpressed by this bullshizz he’s trying to pull … his interview with David Letterman last night only made him look like a complete asshole. Sooo not impressed. I know that I will take a pass on seeing this film … despite all the pretty people who came out in support of it last night. And for the record, the woman in the third photo is NOT Hilary Swank … she’s just a creepy twin named Vinessa Shaw. But anyways, back on topic, I’m not sure if Joaquin‘s antics are really resonating with anyone else but I’m not buying it. Andy Kaufman did it so much better … Joaquin, you are no Andy Kaufman.

[Photo credit: Wireimage]

Earlier this week, we learned that Gossip Girl star Taylor Momsen was recently hospitalized here in LA after coming down with a “life threatening” throat infection. I am happy to report that Taylor has already recovered enough to make her way back to NYC (where GG films) and has already been spotted out and about on the show’s set:

I am unhappy to report that Taylor appears unable to properly apply her make-up. Mebbe she was still feeling the strains of her illness or mebbe she was just trying to look like a clown? Perhaps she had a bad run-in with Heidi Klum‘s Very Sexy Make-up?? I dunno. In any event, I’m glad to see that the lass is back up and around and looks to be on the mend.

[Photo credit: Splash News]

US Weekly is reporting that Gossip Girl star Taylor Momsen has just been released from Cedars-Sinai Hospital here in LA after being hospitalized for the past few days due to a “severe, potentially life threatening” bout with a throat infection. I am happy to report that Little J is now doing A-OK. Here are pics of the lass on the NYC set of GG earlier this month:

Taylor Momsen was released Wednesday afternoon from L.A.’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after battling a “severe, potentially life-threatening throat infection. “I have been treating Miss Taylor Momsen for the last few days,” Momsen’s doctor, Shawn Nasseri, tells Usmagazine.com. “She has been hospitalized for a severe, potentially life-threatening throat infection since Sunday. “She has been an excellent patient, and after aggressive antibiotics and medications, she is expected to make a full recovery in the next three to five days,” the doctor adds. Momsen, 15, was in L.A. to take a school exam when she “woke up with a sore throat,” a source close to the actress tells Us. “She thought it was just a common cold, but was advised to see an ear, nose & throat specialist before getting on a plane back to New York,” the source adds. After discovering how serious the situation was, “her mom flew out to get her, and is flying back [to NYC] with Taylor this week. “She’s in unbelievable spirits” despite the diagnosis, the source says.

Aww … sorry to hear that Tay Tay is feelin’ under the weather but I’m happy that her life is no longer “threatened” by her ailment. A few years ago I suffered a heinous bout of strep throat and, let me tell you, there were days when I prayed for death. I can totally sympathize with a painful ailment like a throat infection so I’m glad to know that Momsencita is on the upswing. Get better soon, Taylor … we need your cute as a buttonness back on GG soon!

[Photo credit: INFdaily; Source]

Diesel celebrated its 30th anniversary this weekend by hosting the Diesel xXx Rock & Roll Circus event on Pier 3 in Brooklyn, NY last night. The coolest kids in NYC this weekend made their way off the island and ventured into Brooklyn for the festivities … here are a few pics from the red carpet:

Since 1978, Diesel has been producing (in my opinion) the most consistently cool fashions around. Year after year, season after season, Diesel has been designing and producing the hippest fashions, the coolest accessories and the best jeans around. While other fashion houses may have more caché, I find that Diesel manages to put out very cutting-edge fashions that are relatively inexpensive (at least, compared to the higher-priced fashion houses). I’ve been a Diesel fan for years and rarely ever go anywhere without wearing at least one piece from Diesel. But, I digress … last night’s Rock & Roll Circus soiree in NY was a balls-out shindig that really did bring out all the coolest kids in town. The concert was broadcast live online and performers included Chaka Kahn, Franz Ferdinand, T.I., Pharrell, Hot Chip and the always amazing M.I.A. — who also inadvertantly made an announcement while she performed on stage. She is pregs, y’all! After the jump, check out a few pics of M.I.A.‘s very prominent baby bump …

Earlier this week various castmembers (not including Blake Lively or the trio of hawtness Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick and Penn Badgley) of the hit CW series Gossip Girl came out for a season 2 premiere event (to celebrate the show and costume designer Eric Daman specifically) at Henri Bendel boutique in NYC. Here are a few pics from the red carpet arrivals:

On the plus side, Leighton Meester was lookin’ very glam, very sexy … on the not so plus side, Taylor Momsen was trying to pull off an edgier look without much success. The new season of GG is nearly upon us … I know that excitement for new eps has hit a fever pitch among eager Upper East Siders. After the jump, you can watch the first 5 minutes of the season 2 premiere of Gossip Girl (and find out which of the show’s hotties starts things off this season with an older woman on top of him) which will debut on The CW next Monday September 1 …

The young cast of Gossip Girl is featured in the August issue of Vanity Fair magazine wherein the mag pontificates on the state of Young Hollywood (as it is wont to do from time to time) and names the new members of the next wave of, what they call, Bright Young Hollywood (also on the list Johan Hill, Emma Stone, Josh Peck, the Jonas brothers and more). Here is the mag’s photo of the Gossip gang all decked in in their best designer finery, walking brazenly into the wind:

It’s been only five years since V.F. took a reading of Hollywood’s youthquake—featuring the likes of Lindsay Lohan, the Olsen twins, and Shia LaBeouf—but the celebrity terrain has gotten rougher … As for the class of 2008 pictured in these pages, they inhabit a far more predatory media-parasite environment, a Grand Theft Auto of “gotcha,” which so far they’re handling with aplomb. Easy to track, hard to trap, they belong to the iGeneration, for whom texting and Twittering are as natural as popping orange Tic Tacs, inhabiting and trailing invisible clouds of information wherever they go in the digital eco-system, where online and off-line, real life and Second Life, overlap. Boundaries dissolve everywhere they turn their pretty heads. It’s a short, sharp hop from the wholesome happy perk of Disney’s Hannah Montana, whose Miley Cyrus can’t show a little bare shoulder without the world flipping its bonnet, to the spite-laced hangovers of the CW’s Gossip Girl, where decadence is in full Baudelairean flower. There, every Coach bag contains wanton secrets. Treachery and bitchery gleam from every compact mirror. Youth and beauty have their privileges, among them being the ability and agility to roll out into the hazy dawn following the squalors of the night before and still possess the throwaway glamour of a Bryan Ferry song. A fan craze and a critical fetish, Gossip Girl has hit the sweet spot of the Zeitgeist, the X mark where sex appeal and pop sociology intersect and the story lines hold an illusion of seamlessness, as if they sprang full-blown from the brow of Entertainment Weekly.

Uh huh. Yeah, this article has a whole lot of big words which, I assume, is meant to take the topic of being young, rich and famous in Hollywood and elevate it to something akin to a post graduate thesis. Under normal circumstances, I’d be down … but I had a hard time getting thru this article (which you can read in full HERE) without kinda wanting to die a little bit. I mean, I get it … you write for Vanity Fair, you can mix and mingle big words with up-to-the-second pop culture references with the best of them. It all reads just a smidge too seriously for me but … whatevs, I get it.

But just to keep the Gossip Girl love going, here are a few photos of the Gossip guys all grouped together in a new photoshoot, styled to within an inch of their lives:

After the jump, more photos of Chace Crawford (who, according to VF mag prefers the iPhone over the Blackberry), Penn Badgley (iPhone) and Ed Westwick (BlackBerry) individually from this same photoshoot …