Originally scheduled to speak to Larry King on Monday, the Salahis have opted instead to emphasize the "whore" part of their well-earned "fame-whore" status by offering their first TV appearance to the highest bidder. We learn from the Times that, according to a network executive, "they are asking for best offers from all the networks." (Most networks have said they don't pay for interviews, they do sometimes pay hefty fees for auxiliary material like photos and videos.) Hey Salahis, you should take our offer instead: $0. We keep our money and you keep what remains of your dignity. [NYT]

•A lot of people went to the movies this Thanksgiving: Movies grossed $275 million domestically from Wed.-Sun. last week. A new world record! This despite no new big hits debuting, and "New Moon" droping 70% from its debut. (It was still number 1) [LAT]

•Speaking of making a lot of money: Paramount has bought the distribution rights to "Area 51," director Oren Peli's follow-up to "Paranormal Activity"—the film which cost $11,000 to make and grossed $106 million. [Variety]

•The New York Times tries to count how many people are starring in reality shows at any given time. The mind-boggling estimate: about 1,000. [NYT]

•According to a Hungarian activist, many former Soviet satellites' governments retain Communist-style control over television networks. He's probably just bitter that these governments didn't pick up his sit-com pilot, How I Made Your Goulash. [Variety]

•Got $179.98? You can own 35 Clint Eastwood films. They're being released as a 19-disc ranging from "Where Eagles Dare" to "Gran Torino." [THR]

•Jeremy Piven and Kate Walsh have been added to the cast of the indie drama "Waska". INSERT DUMB SUSHI JOKE HERE. [Variety]

• BFFs Lindsay and Dina Lohan are strikin' out! Against Dina's drunk, trashy, hot mess of an ex-husband, Michael Lohan. Mostly for contravening house style of keeping the "hot" in Hot Mess as dictated by the Lohan Family Tradition. Oh, also, he's Lindsay's father, have you heard? If you've met him, he's probably told you. And told you. And told you. In fact, that's what Dina's taking issue with. Besides the fact that he wants to make what more or less amounts to a citizen's arrest of his daughter and cart her off to rehab, he's gone off the reservation when it comes to television appearances. And by "off the reservation" I mean "Dina's not seeing any of the cash from them." Or anything else, supposedly. She went and screamed at Page Six. I'm sure Neel enjoyed this call:

  "He is hurting Lindsay. It breaks my heart. She's like, 'Mommy, when is he ever going to stop?' " Dina said. "He is also six months behind in his child support. On Monday, we will file a violation order, and if he doesn't pay, he'll go to jail. "He's getting paid for these shows he's doing talking about Lindsay," Dina said. "He's flying all over the country and not paying for his other three children he's hurting every time he goes on television. "It is horrific that a father could do this. We are afraid he's spiraling out of control. [Daughter] Ali is scared and will be getting an order of protection. Lindsay is getting an order in California and in New York. "He's desperate, he's running out of options because none of his children is talking to him. Doors are closing for him, and he's getting a little nervous, which makes us nervous. We're scared. "But I believe in karma, and his leash is getting tighter," Dina said. "He just needs to zip his mouth."

  Yes, because the swirling, chaotic forces of the universe that dictate what karma goes where gives a shit about the Lohan family. For one thing, they've already moved on to the Kushner-Trumps. For another, Doors are closing for him, and he's getting a little nervous, which makes us nervous. We're scared. is also, incidentally, what's Lindsay's team at CAA keep saying about her career. And why's Dina Lohan asking Michael for child support? Because they need it? Or because she just needs something ridiculous to hold against him? Trying to hold delinquency on child support payments over Michael Lohan's head is like holding Kim Jong-Il's strange table manners against him: you couldn't find anything better? Anyway, Lohan Ladies: keep on fiercing on, I guess. Also, I have no idea what that headline means. [Page Six]
  
  

• You know who Karma will be a complete dick to, however? Rudy Giuliani. Does anybody remember that time three weeks ago when Rudy made security remove a young couple from their seats at Yankee Stadium to make way for the First Asshole of New York and his moll, Judith? I do. And so do the swirling forces of karma, Rudy. Guess who bumped you from your seats last night because (A) she knows what an asshole you are, (B) has more power than you, and (C) probably did it just because she could? Go get 'em, Michelle. Even better: she didn't show up in the seats because of the rain. Like an actual Yankees fan! How authentic. [Page Six]
  
  
• Andre Agassi. More startling revelation: Meth, or WIG? [Page Six]
  
  
• Haha, Jon Gosselin's just as big an asshole today as he was yesterday, with the revelation from Hailey Glassman that he used to throw "mantrums." People has a conspiracy theory on how she wasn't dumped, or something. [People]
  
  
• UGH. The Boris and Natasha-esque gossip suckfest known as Rush & Molloy have yet again fucked the dog by boring me to zzzzzzz's on Sunday morning. This time, they set their moose-and-squirrel sights on Sarah Palin muckracker Joe McGinniss' new book, which basically says "Todd and Sarah won't get divorced, but if they do, I'm gonna get to the bottom of this and find out." Congratulations, dude. You just gave your book the shittiest piece of press I've ever seen. Meanwhile, Rush & Molloy, you guys are still the worst. Step up your game, please, for the love of god. [NYDN]
  
  
• Damn. GQ knows how to get down...exactly how their readers would dream of doing so. At their party the other night, Mark Wahlberg shlubbed-out by showing up in sweatpants. Also, Kid Cudi inquired about the color of a woman's vagina. She responded: "Pink." Is this like asking someone which way their flag flies, or something? Do not get. Pause. I didn't know what a complicated question this was until now. Also, and I say this as a straight man: Gross? This is not a hangover-queasy-friendly item. Related: obligatory Kid Cudi-reference jam goes here. [Page Six]
  
  
• Here's some item about some charity thing with kids and whatever, but LOOK. It's Clint Eastwood's daughter. ["Million Dollar Baby" euthanasia joke, TK TK.] Seriously. She might be the only 16 year-old in Hollywood with a thousand-yard stare ("THANKS, DAD.") I wonder if she asks her hookups if they're feeling lucky. Punk. I can't imagine teenage boys being able to date her. Fuck, I'm intimidated by her. [Page Six]
  
  
• Carly Simon's been in a very special relationship, one where time brings both parties closer together, instead of doing like it normally does and pulling them apart: with weed, man. No joke. Carly didn't used to do it back in the day when EVERYONE smoked the kindbud, but now, that type of shit happens ev-er-y-day. I bet you think this bong is about you, don't you? [Page Six]
  
  
• Former Knicks player Stephon Marbury was nice enough to sign some autographs outside of one, but found himself too scared to go inside a haunted house. Besides the fact that Page Six is basically calling Marbury a pussy (the lame-unless-you-get-it headline: "Scaredy Cat"), this would also explain why he can't get messy in the key. Because he's a girlyman. [Page Six]
  
  
• The owner of the Dodgers and his wife are getting divorced, and like almost every other divorce in LA, it's messy and nasty and mean. Billionaires: they're just like us. [NYDN]
  
  
• Uh, here's a weird one: Mick Jones—yeah, that one: from Foreigner—has a son who's modeling for Roc-A-Wear and working on an album with Scott Storch. What's more amazing: that Mick Jones' kid is dropping an album with Scott Storch, or that Scott Storch is still getting work? [Page Six]
  
  
• Colin Farrell had a baby! It was born with a beanie on its head, like so. Mazel. [NYDN]
  
  
• "Is Page Six to be blamed for the worldwide fame of Andy Warhol?" asks Page Six in the lede to an item about a new book on Warhol. Even if it's true, I think it's safe to say that the "blame" for Andy Wharhol can be offset by any number of New York Peoplethings you've hoisted on our brains. You're "forgiven." [Page Six]
  
  
• Dennis Hopper has prostate cancer. This is sad and scary because Hopper's what my grandmother would call a "tough old bird," and she'd be right. [Page Six]
  
  
• Page Six has a sighting of an NYU law professor buying a pen. No, I'm serious. Look. In other news, I was just reported puking out all the water I drank this morning. [Page Six]
  
  
• Nic Cage's financial adviser screwed him for money. If Nic Cage can't trust his moneyman, who can? [People]

Are vampires dead, yet? Did you enjoy your extra hour of life? Here's a song about how it's going to waste away unless you do something with it! Like reading us, today! And look, I'm only half an hour late! Altarcation's coming at you at 2:30. At 3:30, we're interviewing Harvard's Nieman Journalism Lab! And a special report from the Vice Party, coming up. Happy November!

[Photo via Bauer-Griffin]

In his intro to the list, Guru-master David Poland cautions, "about half of the contenders haven't been seen. Darts are flying in the dark. Some are hitting expected titles and others are real surprises."

How then does the punditry deliver such judgments on films which may still be getting worked over in the cutting room? A combination of factors go into a Oscar savants' calculations - first, as noted above, hitting certain tried and true notes (historic epic, biopic, Clint Eastwood directed) move a film straight onto the field, no questions asked. And then the pundits note the buzz from friends at the studios and in the marketing departments; what they are hearing about the film. One will note that Lovely Bones, which just on the basis of its provenance seemed to have the Best Picture crown locked up two years ago before it was ever shot, now falls surprisingly low on the Guru scale. Could there be some bad buzz flying about from those few on the inside who have seen the film?

One should also note that the September buzz, now 184 days before the March 7, 2010 Oscar telecast, is almost always wrong in some very huge ways. Last year's chart just after Toronto , Frost/Nixon, Milk and Benjamin Button were the early favorites, far outshining eventual winner Slumdog Millionaire, and The Soloist, which ended up being so dreary it ended up dropping out of the Oscar race,its release was pushed back to the following year, was in a respectable seventh place on the pundits round-up.

In 2007, the ultimately dreadful Atonement was far and away the pundits' best bet. In 2006, the early charts were led by Dreamgirls, Flags of Our Fathers and Babel, all of which fizzled far short of trophy night.

Perhaps the greatest fun of the Oscar race is watching these pre-season flame-outs. Every year brings a film or two massively bloated and portentious in its very silhouette; it can be seen standing on a mountain-top overlooking Hollywood, waiting to come down and claim its destiny, which then sputters and tumbles all the way down the hill, hitting Sunset Blvd. with a thud. The aforementioned Soloist comes to mind. Phantom of the Opera, Cold Mountain, Memoirs of a Giesha - wonderful car wrecks all.

Of course, a good percent of the time these bloated monstrosities actually win the race (Gladiator, The English Patient, Titanic and Braveheart, to name a few).

And no Oscar race is officially underway without the first harumph of the season from the LA Times' Patrick Goldstein. To the horror of the Times' ad sales department, Goldstein has been waging war on the Oscar race for several years now, every season making the shocking case that the Oscar derby is not about art, why it's just a contest! And a silly one at that! (Imagine, calling the Oscars silly! The cajones!)

Goldstein's brave stand against contests kicked off this week with his plea to the world to ignore the Oscars, at least until he tells you its time to pay attention. This year, he seems to be bringing some muscle into the mix, promising to review the early predictions next February and hold erring pundits accountable.

At Moviecitynews, the Gurus O' Gold pundits panel have offered their picks on this year's Oscar favorites, in a Best Picture race thrown into pandemonium by the announcement that there will be ten nominees this year, rather than the standard five. The Academy's hope seems to have been that by broadening the field, they would make room for some crowd pleasers, some movies that people have actually seen, to get what used to be called "the general public" perhaps interested in what has largely become a battle of obscure indie dramas.

If that was their intent, however, the Gurus offer little hope in the top slot.

Out of the gate, The Gurus have selected as the one film they clearly have all seen at the slight favorite: Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq bomb defusing drama The Hurt Locker, which after two and a half months of release has raked in all of eleven million dollars.

After Hurt Locker, the field is cluttered with various usual suspecty types of trophy bait, whose log lines and proper nouns read like mash-ups of contenders of yore; A Clint Eastwood directed bio of Nelson Mandela (Invictus), a Weinstein produced musical (Nine), a Jason Juno Reitman/George Clooney film about a corporate downsizer (Up In the Air), the story of an overweight, illiterate teen in Harlem (Precious) Peter Jackson's rendition of a beloved favorite of contemporary quasi-snooty fiction (The Lovely Bones) and Hillary Swank in an Amelia Earhart biopic (Amelia).

That's right people, it is on. Oscars 2010 is here to stay, for the next six months.

• Cllint Eastwood thinks people need to laugh at race jokes, just like in old times, before people lost their sense of humor: "In those earlier days every friendly clique had a 'Sam the Jew' or 'Jose the Mexican.'" Or a "Clint the Jerk Who Constantly Pointed Out Jose Is Mexican, In Case We Forgot." [Mail]
• Octo-mom Nadya Suleman has supposedly picked out a $1.2 million house. No one knows how she plans to buy it. [Cindy Adams]
• Lindsay Lohan can make a movie and maybe rescue her troubled career if she moves in with Warren Beatty and lives under the watchful eye of him and Annette Bening. Wait: There's your movie right there. Or at least an HBO series. [Fox]
• The 48-year-old woman who crashed with Morgan Freeman last summer is suing the actor, and said she's not his mistress. She just wanted to stay in his guesthouse. [People]
• Tom Cruise's sister, a publicist and fervent Scientologist, is still publicly helping run his affairs. She was supposedly demoted at one point but has been reportedly hovering near Cruise for months now.
• Rihanna's friends have instituted a "shroud of secrecy" around the battered singer. Which isn't very surprising. But which is pretty much the only thing the tabloids can report about her, what with the shroud and all. [OK!]

WHAT'S NEW: There's no wanting for prestige or variety this weekend, with Fox's remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still leading a saturated box-office charge on 3,600 screens. This time around, Keanu Reeves arrives from space to portend our imminent doom, evincing a timely environmental-awareness message with the aid of Jennifer Connelly and fitfully clusmy CGI. And if there's anything holiday moviegoers love, it's a Keanu apocalypse; expect Earth to pull around $38.3 million.

The next biggest opening is something called Delgo, the sci-fi quasi-Romeo & Juliet rendered with discarded Pixar 2.0 software and the budget voice talent of Freddie Prinze Jr., Jennifer Love Hewitt, Malcolm McDowell and Burt Reynolds, among others. We like this one for about $3.2 million en route to Flopz™, neck-and-neck with the Latino ensemble (plus Debra Messing for gringa kicks) laffer Nothing Like the Holidays at around $3.3 million.

Doubt, meanwhile, opens small this week against fellow Oscar groveler The Reader; the former is faring far better with critics than the latter (unfairly, we might add), but the Kate Winslet lookie-loo factor won't disappoint the Weinstein Company when the numbers come in Sunday night, probably around $41,000 per screen. Also, if you've got four and a half hours and a seat cushion to spare, pack a lunch and check out Che in its one-week-only Academy qualifying run. It's the kind of thing you can tell your grandkids about years from now when they tug on your sleeve and ask you to regale them with stories of cinema's good old bloated days.

A few stars are actually smattered elsewhere in the mire: Ethan Hawke and Mark Ruffalo's Beantown gang drama What Doesn't Kill You opens on three screens, while Michelle Williams's spare girl-loses-dog indie Wendy and Lucy arrives on two. Also opening: The noirish Dark Streets; the animated fantasy Dragon Hunters; the stop-motion Oscar hopeful $9.99; the Chinese vanity project Waiting in Beijing; the Kim Basinger revenge flick While She Was Out; and the polish Holiday tale Hania. Whew.

THE BIG LOSER: Not so much a "loser" as an example of what we wish there was less of in the world, Timecrimes is an acclaimed Spanish thriller that nevertheless orbits around the genre conventions of time travel. Not to be arbitrary about it, but dear film industry: Please let the time-travel movie die. They're ultimately the same hoary stunt performed again and again, illogically at worst (Primer) and amusingly at best (Back to the Future), and almost always forgettably. Let Timecrimes end it. Please.

THE UNDERDOG: Speaking of going out gracefully, Clint Eastwood says his performance in Gran Torino is his last. And why not? Eastwood's late-career revisionist streak has knocked off its last myth: The vigilante hero, a man who'd sooner revolt in Dirty Harry than keep pace with the degradation of social order. Torino's grizzled Korean War vet still takes the same vengeance on Hmong gangs and black thugs overtaking his Detroit suburb, but essentially in the service of a multiethnic utopia perceivable just over the horizon. (He even gives his Silver Star and titular vehicle to the tormented young man he's taken under his wing, a little more optimistic bellwether than Harry Callahan's climactic badge-tossing in 1971.) As a straight drama, Gran Torino isn't especially good — sort of a violent, profane revenge epic crossbred with an afterschool special — but! Viewed in context with the last four decades of Eastwood's mercury, it's a strikingly rich, funny, elegant and utterly fascinating valedictory.

FOR SHUT-INS: New DVD's this week include The Dark Knight, the thrilling, Oscar-chasing doc Man on Wire, the first four seasons of Happy Days, and holiday-ready complete-series box sets of The Wire, Get Smart and Deadwood.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button tied Milk for most nominations with eight, including Best Picture, Best Director for David Fincher, and acting nods for Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. The remaining nine selections for the year's best film proved about as inclusive as a Ben Lyons-hosted announcement show would suggest:

· Changeling
· The Dark Knight
· Doubt
· Frost/Nixon
· Milk
· The Reader
· Slumdog Millionaire
· Wall-E
· The Wrestler

Clint Eastwood went unrecognized, however, for either of his two directorial efforts, Changeling and Gran Torino, though he was nominated for Best Actor for his grizzled, growling racist in the latter. The Wrestler's Darren Aronofsky was also overlooked in favor of Christopher Nolan and Ron Howard, not likely the last time you'll see that indignity poisoning the awards well.

Acting nominations were much more charitable, even surprising, with the Valerie Plame/Judith Miller tale Nothing But the Truth pulling Actress and Supporting Actress recognition for Kate Beckinsale and Vera Farmiga, respectively. Robert Downey Jr. found a Supporting Actor slot for his blackface turn in Tropic Thunder, while Milk's support tandem Josh Brolin and James Franco earned nods as well. The downside: The BFCA couldn't find a place for Frost/Nixon's superb Michael Sheen, or even add him to the category's five nominees; every other acting category had six nods apiece.

But consolation for Rudin and Co.: Doubt was represented in three of the four acting categories (plus ensemble cast and screenplay). Then again, Winslet's Reader performance received a Supporting nod while her Revolutionary turn netted zilch. Surely there's no pressure ahead of Thursday's Golden Globe nominations;

• 2009 BFCA Nominees [BFCA]

Clint Eastwood
Not sure he really needs replacing (or can be replaced at all), as he's sort of a singular cultural institution unto himself. But if we're in the mood for a gruff, crime fightin', six gun shootin', conservative with a puddly sentimental heart, then I think we need look no further than Keanu Reeves. Don't go crazy! Yes, I understand that there was a grumbly gravitas that Eastwood brought to his silly actioners that Keanu decidedly does not bring to his, but they're kind of the same. Both, frankly, can't act for beans but it doesn't matter! There's something criminally appealing about them. They're dazzling us with their flat line delivery while pickpocketing our souls! Plus, Keanu's 44 now (can you believe that??) so he'll soon be ambling into safely Grizzled territory. Then he can start directing pictures about weary men in the weary world who wearily do weary things, like kill their molested childhood best friends or kill their ladyboxer protege, just like Clint! Just think, in thirty years time "Whoa." will be the new "Make my day."

Joaquin Phoenix
Well, this is a little difficult because he wasn't really that much of a movie star to begin with. But the Oscar-nominated star of Gladiator and the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line was getting big. He's got that brooding strangeness, a willful devotion to his craft resembling an angry Johnny Depp. So who could fill these curious little worn-out shoes? How about similarly-faced Gossip Girl fop Ed "Chuckles Bass" Westwick? He plays in a band, just like Joaquin! And he's shown some prissy talent and a penchant for looking gloweringly stupid while offering terse, wannabe cryptic answers to inane interview questions. Whether he's got the weird talent that Phoenix has (had?) remains to be seem. But right now he's shaping up to be a fine candidate.

Nicole Kidman
OK, she's not "officially" retiring, but she did mention it off-handedly in an interview recently! An icy internationalist with a taste for the artsy out-there movies and the big commercial films? Kidman is sort of a dream come true for Hollywood (or, at least, she was until she had a long string of bombs—The Invasion anyone?—and her face became strangely plasticine). Does any young actress have her strange, sad alien grace, those same purring smarts? Harry Potter sidekick/burgeoning sex symbol Emma Watson might in a few years. As might a couple other young actresses. But really Sienna Miller seems best poised to take the mantle. She's not American either! And she became famous for dating a famous guy (Jude Law) before she became a famous actress (is she a famous actress yet?), just like Nicole did with a now-forgotten character actor named Tom Cruise. She's cold and probably talented and already inured to the tabloid frenzy.

Angelina Jolie
Luckily, gloriously be-lipped charitably minded multi-culti talented actresses just grow on trees. We kid, we kid! Angelina Jolies are pretty rare! There are like only two of them per billion people. Which means 11 others exist, and we must find them. Who else can shoot guns and throw knives convincingly one minute, then sob and moan and act a little nuts effectively the next? Maybe this young Kristen Stewart from Twinklight could do it. She seems weird and grumpy and above-it-all. Someone put an Uzi in her hand and she how she does. Though she doesn't have the natural beauty of Jolie. Oh fuck it. You know what? She said it would probably be thirty years before she retired anyway. The new Angelina Jolie is Angelina Jolie. She's only 33 after all. (Can you believe it?)

Really the problem is that the whole talent pool has become so diluted. We're not saying that there aren't talented, beautiful people anymore, just the opposite. There are way too many out there. Meg Ryan was in every romantic comedy for a few years. That was it. No one else. Now we've got Elizabeth Banks and Kate Hudson and Sandra Bullock (sort of?) and Anne Hathaway and etc. etc. Too many. We blame the internet. We're not sure why, but this is probably its fault.

After the jump: What surely-no-longer-virginal Disney Channel star is about to get her own show on a tanking network?

· Hilary Duff has signed a talent and development deal with NBC. They plan on building a new series around the star, tentatively titled, Law & Order: Hilary Duff Unit. [THR]
· HD consumers prefer Blu-ray 10-to-1 over other -ray Colorz. [THR]

He wasn't really going there, we soon learned (he was only slightly more candid at the recent New Yorker Festival, vaguely alluding to Palin's truthfulness in her debate with Joe Biden). But as reformed Republicans go, Eastwood still packs a robust skepticism alongside his tux when he travels.

"My mortgage is in the toilet, too," he replied. "I haven't been very active in politics. Yes, I started out as a Republican in 1951; I was a young 21-year-old in the Army, and I wanted to vote for Dwight Eisenhower. He, like all politicians, was always promising something, and he promised he would go to Korea and end the Korean War. But the Republican Party, as has the Democratic Party, has changed dramatically in the 50-some years that I've been involved with it, so I've sort of drifted to a more Libertarian point of view. The Libertarian Party never got going as a party — just leave everybody alone. It was very appealing to a guy like myself who came up in the '30s and watched my parents struggle through the Depression and [who] nowadays is wanting for nothing.

"Now, of course, everybody is promising everything," Eastwood continued. "That's the only way to get elected: You have to promise to give people all kinds of stuff. You have to give away new cars like on Oprah or something. We'll give you anything to go down and vote. It's kind of perverted politics as far as I'm concerned. Whether Mr. McCain or Mr. Obama... Whatever happens there, who knows? There are a lot of promises going on there, too. It's a very confusing era." We couldn't agree more — we'll be so much happier when no one has to worry any longer about distinguishing Palin from Tina Fey.

[Photo: Getty Images]

• Saturday Night Live is supposedly working to book Sarah Palin. Producers figure she's good at memorizing lines. [Scoop]
• Elitist New Yorkers at a fancy magazine party arrogantly assumed Clint Eastwood was talking about Joe Biden when he said, ""One of the candidates the other night seemed more prone to telling the truth than the other." They were wrong, and almost choked on their Chardonnay and cheese and so forth when he started talking about Palin. [P6]
• George W. Bush: "The moment things began to turn around in Iraq is when the USO deployed Jessica Simpson." It's a funny because it implies all the death over there was due to a lack of Jessica Simpson as opposed to a lack of planning by the Bush administration or the decision to invade in the first place, by Bush. Get it?? [Post]
• David Duchovny is out of sex rehab and ready to start his new movie, which has the word "fornication" in the title. [OK!]

"I was at an NBA finals, Lakers versus the Celtics," Lee says. "[At] halftime [I'm] going to the restroom. I saw Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Eddie Murphy sitting together. I stopped by to say hi and Jeffrey jokes, 'Leave Clint alone' and we all laugh.

"But Steven and I went off to the side and discussed it, and I asked him to relay a message to Clint that I meant no disrespect, that I was extending the olive branch," he adds. "Steve called Clint in the morning the next day. And it's finito."

See? Think how much longer that DreamWorks deal would have dragged on without a guy like that at the negotiating table. Next up: Saving Mickey Mouse from Hamas.

• Sugar & Spike [NYP]

This week's installment also includes: Clint Eastwood, Jerry Seinfeld, Ryan Phillippe, Kirsten Dunst and Justin Long, Farrah Fawcett, James Woods, Dane Cook, John C. Reilly, Lauren Conrad, Ellen Pompeo, P. Diddy (twice in the same night!), Jared Leto, Kevin Federline, Sandra Oh, Seth Green, Balthazar Getty, Pete Wentz, Briam Baumgartner, Zachary Levi, Ciara, Adam "Seymour Butts" Glasser and more.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 21
· Sitting in a booth at the recently re-opened Fab's on Van Nuys Blvd in Sherman Oaks at 8pm, Mr. "Hey, Spike Lee, Shut Your Pie-Hole" himself, CLINT EASTWOOD, speaking in hushed tones while dining with Sinatra's favorite opening comic, Tom Dreesen. I couldn't hear if Clint said to the waiter, "Go ahead, make my Chicken Marsala." Even at 93 [Ed. Note: He's actually only 78], Clint looks like he could kick some serious butt.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22
· It was celeb night on Friday 8/22 at the AMC theater at the Century City Mall. Spotted PETE WENTZ standing outside with friends. His hair is flat ironed to oblivion and he is short, almost alarmingly so. Kept his hoodie on the whole time. Jessica's pregnant sister was nowhere in sight.

Then, a few minutes later, ELLEN POMPEO (that's Meredith Grey to you) walked by hand-in-hand with her hubby. Super skinny and wearing gross, skin tight white jeans, white shirt with trashy sky high black heels. They were in a rush which made her look like she walks funny because she clearly couldn't handle those heels. We decided she was dressed like a Staten Island prostitute.

We decided to hold out a few more minutes on the hope we would spot an elusive A-lister. And before we knew it, PUFF DADDY walked by sans entourage! He is indeed puffy. Mr. Mogul needs to get back to running marathons for charity. He was wearing sunglasses. At 10:30pm. And he was texting while walking briskly. Who says men can't multi-task?

· Equinox West Hollywood. PUFF DADDY (again!) makes his entourage wait in the juice bar while he grabs a steam.

· JUSTIN LONG and KIRSTEN DUNST were spotted Friday night at the Dragonfly, checking out the show Point Break LIVE! She sat behind him w/ her girlfriends, but Justin kept turning around to talk to her & see her reaction to the craziness onstage.

·Bristol Farms, West Hollywood, 5:30PM (ish). Looking determined to get out and towing a tow-headed child: RYAN PHILLIPPE. Taller than I would have expected, and beefier (but by no means tall). I don't know if he's moved to the neighborhood but the shopping cart was brimming. In case he is, a word of advice: I know it's technically West Hollywood, but the look you should be going for should be more "Daddy out shopping for groceries with my kids on Beverly" and less "Out shopping for a Daddy to buy my groceries on Santa Monica".

SATURDAY, AUGUST 23
· He's not a household name, but with 33 film and 40 television credits, let's just say I was surprised to see SEAN WHALEN selling blenders at the Burbank Costco on Saturday, miked up, dressed in a white lab coat and white paper hat. He usually plays nerds, but now he's extolling the virtues of raw food smoothies. Ouch.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 24
· Sunday night at the Radiohead show. Saw SANDRA OH with several dudes scrambling to get to their seats. She looked flustered, yet excited. Also saw SETH GREEN in line between songs waiting for beers. He was sporting a trucker hat and has a big, shaggy red beard. He looks like he belongs under a bridge waiting for three billy goats gruff.

Lastly, also saw BALTHAZAR GETTY near the beer line between songs, wearing douchey skinny jeans and chomping on cigarettes. Dude looked like he was having way too much fun, like he'd just ditched his wife and kids for a hot chick who likes to bang while only wearing a sailor's hat. Oh, wait...

· As I approached the cool 'n' groovy Santa Monica/Fairfax Whole Foods, I saw two paps outside aiming their lenses into the store. Store security blocked their view. I heard someone say, "She's the one in orange," and then noticed LAUREN CONRAD in a cute orange summer dress, casual hair, grinding her own peanut butter near the bulk grains. No, she did not have an assistant to pour in the peanuts and press the button for her. When I left she was checking out, the paps were lining up, and the Whole Foods security guys, looking vaguely energized, were preparing to escort Ms. Conrad to her vehicle.

MONDAY, AUGUST 25
· Monday night, Radiohead at the Bowl. After briefly encountering JARED LETO (dressed a bit like Shia in Indiana Jones) on the concourse leading a small scuzzy posse around and claiming that he had extra seats, I was surprised to see him all alone in the pool circle up front where I was seated (second row, yo!). Jared apparently ditched his "boys" and tried a bum rush to get up front as the lights went down. Multiple security guards stopped him and he immediately went into "Don't you know who I am?" mode. At first it was high-larious, but then it became a bit pathetic. And then it became a lot pathetic. He just would not give up. It didn't matter. They hauled him away just before the band came out and killed it.

I'd like to believe that Radiohead hates Jared's stupid fucking band and the noise pollution he calls music as much as I and everyone else at the show does, and that they ordered security to remove him from their immediate vicinity, but more than likely Thom Yorke has never heard of 30 (Minutes? Miles? I refuse to google.) to Mars. To Thom, it was probably just another dumb asshole without a ticket getting the boot from the front. Which is exactly what it was.

·Saw JAMES WOODS on 8/25 on Burton Way near Raffles L'Ermitage Beverly Hills. He was on the phone and completely plugged into it. Looks pretty good for a man his age. No sign of his 20 year old girl anywhere.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 26
· Comedy Antichrist DANE COOK was at Crunch. His name was on the marquee at the Laugh Factory across the street, so I'm guessing it was some sort of pre- or post-show routine. If you imagined that he'd work out in a backwards baseball cap and muscle shirt, thereby confirming your image of him as a superannuated, doughy-faced, overgrown frat boy - you'd be correct.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27
· Two fun (separate) sightings. Saw Kevin (BRAIN BAUMGARTNER) from Scrantonicity (and, yes, The Office); and, Chuck (ZACHARY LEVI), from, well, Chuck at the Studio City Starbucks. Both taking meetings around the corner at the NBC/Universal building? Kevin wearing shorts, Chuck driving a gas-guzzling Chevy Tahoe. Bad choices, boys.

· Eyed R&B sensation/masturbation fantasy CIARA placing a to-go order at the El Pollo Loco on Sunset and Crescent Heights around 4:40pm. Body was insane.

· I was walking back to my office from Rick's Tavern yesterday around 8:35pm going South on Main St when, lo and behold, JERRY SEINFELD was walking the opposite direction. He was with a group of like 3 or 4 friends and looking casual but good. Hoodie and glasses and admiring the motor bikes parked on the street.

· Saw Seymore Butts (born ADAM GLASSER) in the Miracle Mile Marie Callender's today. No cameras, no nudity, no sex acts being performed. But seriously, I saw Seymore Butts!!!

FRIDAY, AUGUST 29
· Walking through the hallways of a building deep in the heart of Toluca Lake around 3:30pm is FARRAH FAWCETT. Farrah raised her head to look me in the eye with a a look that said "Yes I am Farrah Fawcett and don't talk to me" Farrah had heavy duty perfume situation going on that wafted in the hallway well after she left the building. Christie Brinkley is about the same age as her but Farrah looks like she has been through the ringer and had a rough, rough hard drinking, hard partying, heavy tanning life. Use sunscreen, kids. Use Sunscreen.

· Not sure if KEVIN FEDERLINE is a real "sighting" but we saw Father of The Year at Malibu Seafood on Friday. Did not look overly douche-y. Was with a few guys, both whom I recognized but neither that I could place.

· We saw JOHN C. REILLY out in Dublin's (as in, Ireland) posh south side last Friday. We couldn't remember his name right off. We called him "Not-Will-Ferrell". He didn't seem to mind.

[Photo Credit: X17]

"If he wishes, I could assemble African-American men who fought at Iwo Jima and I'd like him to tell these guys that what they did was insignificant and they did not exist," he said. "I'm not making this up. I know history. I'm a student of history. And I know the history of Hollywood and its omission of the one million African-American men and women who contributed to World War II."

"Not everything was John Wayne, baby..."

"I never said he should show one of the other guys holding up the flag as black. I said that African-Americans played a significant part in Iwo Jima," he said. "For him to insinuate that I'm rewriting history and have one of the four guys with the flag be black ... no one said that. It's just that there's not one black in either film. And because I know my history, that's why I made that observation." [HuffPo via OhNoTheyDidn't]

"First of all, the man is not my father and we're not on a plantation either," he told ABCNEWS.com. "He's a great director. He makes his films, I make my films. The thing about it though, I didn't personally attack him. And a comment like 'a guy like that should shut his face' — come on Clint, come on. He sounds like an angry old man right there."

"If he wishes, I could assemble African-American men who fought at Iwo Jima and I'd like him to tell these guys that what they did was insignificant and they did not exist," he said. "I'm not making this up. I know history. I'm a student of history. And I know the history of Hollywood and its omission of the one million African-American men and women who contributed to World War II."

We're pretty sure this means that two-part primary dramatization idea of ours is dead in the water. Whatever — Bruce Vilanch will get a hold of this before we know it, and they'll be co-presenting an Oscar together by February.

• Spike Strikes Back: Clint's 'an Angry Old Man' [ABC News]

Eastwood has no time for Lee's gripes. "He was complaining when I did Bird [the 1988 biopic of Charlie Parker]. Why would a white guy be doing that? I was the only guy who made it, that's why."

"He could have gone ahead and made it. Instead he was making something else." As for Flags of Our Fathers, he says, yes, there was a small detachment of black troops on Iwo Jima as a part of a munitions company, "but they didn't raise the flag. The story is Flags of Our Fathers, the famous flag-raising picture, and they didn't do that. If I go ahead and put an African-American actor in there, people'd go, 'This guy's lost his mind.' I mean, it's not accurate."

Lee shouldn't be demanding African-Americans in Eastwood's next picture, either. Changeling is set in Los Angeles during the Depression, before the city's make-up was changed by the large black influx. "What are you going to do, you gonna tell a fuckin' story about that?" he growls. "Make it look like a commercial for an equal opportunity player? I'm not in that game. I'm playing it the way I read it historically, and that's the way it is. When I do a picture and it's 90% black, like Bird, I use 90% black people."

Eastwood pauses, deliberately - once it would have provided him with the beat in which to spit out his cheroot before flinging back his poncho - and offers a last word of advice to the most influential black director in American movies. "A guy like him should shut his face." [...]

Eastwood's next project, The Human Factor, is about Nelson Mandela and how he used the country's victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup as a means of fostering national unity. Will he be sticking with the historical record on that one? He laughs. "Yeah, I'm not going to make Nelson Mandela a white guy."

As amusing as it is to observe Eastwood and Lee embracing the feud fever currently gripping their profession, we'd ultimately rather see these two talented filmmakers reaching across the grumpy-director divide, especially during these hopeful, history-making times. Perhaps the two can settle their differences by collaborating on a two-part political docudrama anthology about the 2008 DNC primary, with Lee's Obama, starring Sean Penn as the junior senator from Illinois, set to release simultaneously with Eastwood's own Hillary, starring S. Epatha Merkerson.

• Dirty Harry comes clean [film.guardian.co.uk]

"Has he ever studied the history?" he asks, in that familiar near-whisper...

"He was complaining when I did Bird [the 1988 biopic of Charlie Parker]. Why would a white guy be doing that? I was the only guy who made it, that's why. He could have gone ahead and made it. Instead he was making something else." As for Flags of Our Fathers, he says, yes, there was a small detachment of black troops on Iwo Jima as a part of a munitions company, "but they didn't raise the flag. The story is Flags of Our Fathers, the famous flag-raising picture, and they didn't do that. If I go ahead and put an African-American actor in there, people'd go, 'This guy's lost his mind.' I mean, it's not accurate."

Lee shouldn't be demanding African-Americans in Eastwood's next picture, either. Changeling is set in Los Angeles during the Depression, before the city's make-up was changed by the large black influx. "What are you going to do, you gonna tell a fuckin' story about that?" he growls. "Make it look like a commercial for an equal opportunity player? I'm not in that game. I'm playing it the way I read it historically, and that's the way it is. When I do a picture and it's 90% black, like Bird, I use 90% black people."

Eastwood pauses, deliberately - once it would have provided him with the beat in which to spit out his cheroot before flinging back his poncho - and offers a last word of advice to the most influential black director in American movies. "A guy like him should shut his face."

Knowing Lee and how much he hates confrontation, I'm sure he'll let these comments about "a guy like him" just slide right off, and this whole "controversy" will fizzle out quietly.

[Guardian]