gossip roundup
- Michael Phelps is dating Barbara Walters' assistant "Marina," with whom he went to college. Wait, that's a fake name right?? Is someone playing a trick on poor old Cindy Adams? [Cindy Adams]
- What pairs well with xenophobia and shouting? Jay McInerney knows! At Benoit, "McInerney and his wife, Anne Hearst, had to calm down political commentator Robert Zimmerman, who'd just had a fierce on-air tangle with Lou Dobbs. Jay prescribed Zimmerman a bottle of 1991 Côte-Rôtie La Turque Domaine Guigal." Frog-loving traitors, all of them. [R&M, second-to-last item]
- Good Morning America defeated Today to score a live Britney Spears performance, leaving NBC suits "fuming," according to the NBC News-haters at the Post. Meanwhile, the singer is sane and cognizant enough to be terrified she's bungled one court case so badly she may go to jail. Her handlers take this as a positive sign!
- Alec Baldwin loved (second item) Sarah Palin's behavior off camera at Saturday Night Live, but Chevy Chase was less charitable about what she did on-camera: "She cannot improvise herself out of a paper bag."
- Elizabeth Taylor, 76, likes to be wheeled into a West Hollywood gay bar, where she drinks tequila shots and Apple martinis. They call them the golden years for a reason, people. [P6]
- Sean Penn is Venezuela, just hanging out, committing some light treason. [P6]
- Tom Cruise is a huge Tina Turner fan. In a very straight way, of course. [P6]
- Breaking: David Geffen still hates the Clintons. "They are vindictive, and people were afraid of being excluded." [R&M, third item]
- Sting's wife said she totally called the Madonna-Guy Ritchie divorce. She also allowed it to happen, by introducing the couple. So, uh, nice work, detective. Gwyneth Paltrow, meanwhile, is behaving like a real well-publicized celebrity friend.
- No one, and I mean no one, pisses in Shannon Doherty's bathroom unless her name is freaking Shannon Doherty. And don't ever forget it! [Daily Star]
gossip roundup
- Actress Cate Blanchett had her third son, Ignatius Martin, with husband Andrew Upton. Ignatius was born in Sydney. [People]
- Britney Spears rear-ended someone on the freeway and proceeded to dinner. The singer's ex, Adnan Ghalib, got stabbed and returned home from the hospital.
- Sting paid $27 million for his second apartment on Central Park West. The singer's new place is on the 16th floor of 15 CPW. [P6]
- Pete Doherty gets his own cell and a special mattress in jail after missing repeated drug tests. The other prisoners are pissed because they have to earn those privileges, but the junkie singer gets them for being famous. [Sun]
- According to Alicia Keys, the U.S. government invented gangsta rap to get black people to kill each other [Sun]
movies
Remember in 1984 when you went to see
Dune and you were totally psyched but 20 minutes into it you started thinking maybe you got a hold of some bad fish sticks at lunch? And after an hour the theater was all hot and twisting and you were sure you had mono? And then in 2000 there was that
Dune miniseries that only had three parts but felt like it had a lot more? Well, Paramount is having another go at bringing
Frank Herbert's 1965 sci-fi novel to the screen.
Friday Night Lights director Peter Berg is signed to helm what producers promise will be a "more faithful" interpretation of the book. Is that a good thing? [
Wired]
gossip roundup
His wife Trudie Styler's tantric lovemakings are apparently not sufficient for Sting, who was spotted leaving a "notorious brothel" in Germany. How did he find the place? Did they put on the red li ... sorry. Sorry! [Daily Mail]
"Anna [Wintour] sends stuff to [Roger] Federer with little notes that say 'This would look great on you." [Page Six]
Vegas cops are after O.J. Simpson—yeah, that O.J. Simpson!—in connection with a robbery. [TMZ]
gossip roundup
George Soros and Queen Noor, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g. [R&M]
In case you forgot (we did!), "socialite" Zeta Graff's defamation suit against Paris Hilton—she alleges that Paris "planted a false and damaging" story about her in Page Six, ohnoes—goes to trial next week. [Hollywood Reporter]
Denise Richards so totally did not tell the paparazzi where she'd be all the time during her divorce from Charlie Sheen and initial hookup with Richie Sambora. "It was awful," she says in Glamour. [Page Six]
Melanie Griffith has not been taking good care of her knees. [The Superficial]
What if they threw a Free Paris protest and nobody came? [TMZ]
A former personal chef for the Sting-Stylers has won a lawsuit against that tantric twosome. Apparently they fired her for getting knocked up. [R&M, last item]
Gawker
