Squirrel Gymnastics

Well, I don't really agree w/ it either ... I meant to imply that it's not based on what looks good but on what they think will sell. Not artistic values, esp. when the covers seem drastically different in tone from the mag's contents.

Here comes my usual blowhard overanayltical know-it-all crap. I've been thinking for a while that Vogue maybe has made a conscious decision to start using cover portraits that have a lot of graphic impact, or that at least look unusual, and it just so happens that those are often less flattering to their subjects than we're used to. The basis for this choice could be a desire for Vogue covers to stand out in magazine displays, and it might be backed up by marketing studies showing what kind of covers potential readers pay attention to. Fire the retoucher? Not in a million. At least not without an instantaneous replacement. Oh, and now that I think about it, just one retoucher? I imagine there are several, if not a squadron.

Humidifiers I actually can understand, because it's hard (even potentially damaging) to sing with dry vocal cords. But it seems like with such an entourage, someone could pick up a couple of humidifiers.

Hmm. Can this really be the first time a couple had a Christian ceremony abroad and then a Hindu one in India? Over the years I've had friends marry interculturally and do exactly this.

Hilary Duff: I Felt Pressure to Lose Weight MONDAY MARCH 19, 2007 12:00 PM EST By Monique Jessen [in People] When Hilary Duff lost a noticeable amount of weight two years ago, she chalked it up to healthier eating habits. But now, the singer-actress, 19, admits she felt pressure from the media to get thin. "I did get skinny," she tells Britain's Mail on Sunday. "I've felt that pressure like everyone else in my position. When a newspaper comes out that says 'Duff Puff – she must have gained 15 pounds' or something like that, how would any normal person react?" She continues, "It's so mean, but everyone keeps buying that stuff and talking about it, so it's not going to go away." Duff, whose 2½-year relationship with rocker Joel Madden ended in November, tells the magazine: "I felt like we were great together, and being on my own is great too." After a trip to Europe to promote her new album Dignity, Duff is now back home with her sister Haylie, 22. The two live together in Los Angeles in a house they shared until recently with their mom, Susan – who just moved down the street, much to her daughter's chagrin. "It was her idea," Duff says. "She said, 'I want to give you guys more freedom,' and I'm like, 'I don't want that. I want you here.' So I call her every day and I still always consult her before any big decision."

The spin has begun ... From Reuters: Heather Mills wins praise in TV dancing debut Mon Mar 19, 2007 10:46 PM ET By Belinda Goldsmith NEW YORK (Reuters) - Heather Mills McCartney, vilified in the British press over her bitter divorce from former Beatle Paul, made her debut in a U.S. television dancing contest on Monday with the judges calling her an inspiration. Mills, 39, the first contestant with an artificial leg to compete in ABC's "Dancing with the Stars," said she joined the contest to show you can overcome any disability. The former model turned charity campaigner wore a pink and creme sequined dress as she danced the foxtrot with professional dance partner Jonathan Roberts, receiving a standing ovation from some of the audience as their routine ended with few wrong steps and with Mills high-kicking. "There was far more right about that routine than wrong," said Len Goodman, one of the three judges. "I think you are an inspiration to people to get out and dance." The two other judges also praised her performance and the fact she joined the contest. Mills had her left leg amputated below the knee after being hit by a motorcycle in 1993. But they criticized her tense upper body and gave the pair 18 points, which was middle of the field. Mills, however, was pleased with the outcome. "I'm just glad I did not fall over," said Mills, who had previously joked about flying limbs. "I thought I would be lowest so I am pleased." The couple was among 11 pairs taking part in the fourth season of the popular dancing show on the Walt Disney-owned network in which professional dancers team up with celebrities in a knock-out contest. But it remained to be seen whether the U.S. public -- whose phone-in votes count for 50 percent of scores -- would be as enthusiastic as the judges, or react as adversely to Mills as the British press, with the votes to be unveiled next week. Other celebrities in the new line-up include world female boxing champion Laila Ali, the daughter of Muhammad Ali, and former 'N Sync boy band member Joey Fatone. Mills has been thrust into the media spotlight since her divorce battle with McCartney started in the middle of last year. As the divorce grew increasingly nasty, Britain's tabloid newspapers have portrayed her as a gold-digger seeking to cash in on British icon McCartney's fortune.

Four More Accusers Hit Celeb Designer with Sex Charges Anand Jon Alexander, the celebrity designer accused of raping two people, is facing 13 shocking and lurid new charges from four new victims. Clad in an orange jumpsuit, Alexander stood emotionless inside a Beverly Hills courtroom as a Los Angeles District Attorney announced the new charges, which include forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by a foreign object, sexual exploitation of a child, sexual battery and assault with intent to commit a felony. Anand's family members were in court and wept uncontrollably as the new charges were read. In total, fifteen of the charges are felonies, while five are misdemeanors. The 33-year-old designer was initially charged on March 13 with seven counts, including forcible rape, lewd act upon a child, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, sexual battery by restraint and attempted forcible oral copulation. Earlier this month, Jon's attorney, Ronald Richards, told the L.A. Times that the allegations were were made up by models looking to get even with Alexander for not hiring them. "These girls fly in for model jobs after months of dialogue filled with flirtation, they have sexual interaction and if he doesn't put them in the show ... then sometime later they claim they had unwanted sex," said Richards.

That doesn't make any sense, given the high number of (esp) nose jobs done today....It might be more about maintaining a Hollywood mystique? Yeah, maybe. As in, who ever heard of a goddess needing a nose job?

I have no problem with plastic surgery. So I'm guessing that the perception is that most Americans _do_ have a problem with it? And do celebrities lie about it because their publicists etc. say that they must? I mean, if Halle admitted she'd had a very good nose job and it was a requirement for her line of work, I suppose all hell would break loose, like it did when Ashlee Simpson got hers done and it was so obvious? Apparently when a star says, "I haven't had plastic surgery but would consider it," that means, "Oh, yes, I have had multiple tweaks and you can expect many more in the future."

For me, *it* is smug.

I like her looks, like her acting and her attitude (so far as I can tell through the media). She's beautiful, but her face is not classically beautiful in its proportions, and apparently she knows it. Over the years I've read about facial proportions a few times; I recall that even babies prefer a certain kind of face. One that looks like this: (Illustration from a site for grids that outline the stereotypically beautiful face, including ethnic variations.) I think Scarlett's face deviates from that standard in some significant ways. Maybe that's why some people don't see her beauty.

OMG, that scene is right out of _This Is Spinal Tap._ Yet it's somehow much more plausible than a bunch of Texans rushing Jared Freaking Leto, at least in a friendly way (I'm a Texan, so I reserve the right to speak for them all ). I finally saw a 30 Seconds to Mars video last week, and it was one big hunk of self-aggrandizing shallow crappity-crap. For this people pay money? Sign o' the Apocalypse, or at least of Rome's imminent burning.

See {ducking flying rotten veggies here}, I kind of like this wacked-out interview. She's obviously nutso, but she kind of knows it. She seems to know she's a hardass, bitchy, dishonest, shallow person, and she doesn't really apologize for it. I guess she got me with the cigarettes comment. When I was younger and smoking, I said something similar, though not quite as dumb. I always said that I loved smoking, and that as long as I was doing it, I was going to love it and not beat myself up over it. And today, many years after I successfully kicked that habit, I still tell people that when I smoked, I loved doing it, period. Of my smoking friends, I'm the only one so far who successfully broke the habit, and I'm also the only one who didn't hate myself for having the habit. And I think that's not a coincidence. Anyways, I know Sienna's gross, but I'm liking her more as time passes. So sue me!!!! I am now officially entertained by this crusty skank.

My husband rented You, Me & Dupree, and I fell asleep on the couch before the opening scene even started. But in my sleep, I kept seeing Owen Wilson's nose in my mind. His whiny voice resonates in his honker.

I think her lips are fake but the rear is for real. Although I appreciate her physique, I have to like her less for a JT hookup. I know everyone thinks he's great, but I look at him and just think, "Weaselly twerp." I'm so not into him. If he's bringing sexy back, where's he bringing it back from, exactly? Certainly not from anyplace in his own past. And how is he bringing it back? By rockin' the teenage hoodlum look? Feh.

Re. Tyra Banks's weight, I can't tell from the bathing-suit photos whether she seems healthy--that is, does she have a good amount of muscle mass? I think the most important thing is to be healthy and strong, by eating well and exercising regularly, including some kind of resistance training. If she is doing those things, it might actually be beneficial for her to weigh more. I learned in a nutrition class last semester that life expectancy is higher for people who are neither too thin nor too fat. But it isn't good health-wise to carry weight around the midsection, and she does appear to have some there. Aside from health issues, I really like her statements defending her weight. In an industry that demands thinness from women, she's basically telling everyone to go fug themselves, that she's rich and working and can do whatever she wants. Yeah!

Oh, man, apparently this one has been shown on Cute Overload? Too cute! No fair! I'm melting from the cuteness ...

Okay, bunnies are totally my favorite cute animals. These pix aren't as over-the-top as some of the others, but I still like 'em:

If Liz Hurley doesn't want to be the size of Marilyn Monroe, if she lets her young son dictate how many more children she will have and even allows him to name them, and if she didn't like the jewelry Hugh Grant gave her, fine--she's entitled to her preferences like anyone else. But why yammer on about it? She must be fairly self-obsessed to not realize that this kind of information is inappropriate to broadcast.

I know it's People magazine and all, but I have to say that this little story makes Chad Lowe come off extremely well--gracious, forgiving, and intelligent. I rarely read comments about exes from high-profile people that seem this genuinely well intentioned. So either you go, Lowe, or you go publicist.

Random story, but reading your posts reminds me of two beautiful identical twin girls I used to know well. They both modeled and were very serious about it, and their mother supported them doing it. But when the girls reached age 16 or so, they were told that they each needed to lose 15 to 20 pounds to continue working. These girls were pin thin, and their very wise mother took things in hand to keep her daughters healthy, saying, essentially: No friggin' way. Because she was so strong and clear and rational, the girls came to agree with her. And today they are all happy, healthy, and otherwise gainfully employed. I suddenly feel very proud of them.

I might give her the benefit of a doubt on the quote about gaining 20 pounds. It may have come off worse than she meant it because of how the quotations were arranged in the article. Possibly in the interview she had been talking about losing 20 pounds just prior to this statement. That'd be a natural train of thought. I.e., "Yes, I lost 20 pounds for the role, blah blah blah ... I wish I could have gained 20 and played the juicier role, but ..." There may be a feud or whatever, but I'm not sure this quote is about that.

She wasn't famous, but she's part of the story ... - - - - - Brazil mourns as anorexia claims another model's life Thu 16 Nov 2006 15:16:46 GMT By Andrei Khalip RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Nov 16 (Reuters) - The mother of a Brazilian fashion model who died from complications of anorexia has made an emotional appeal for parents to take better care of aspiring young models. The death of Ana Carolina Reston, 21, follows growing criticism of the use of underweight models in the fashion world, an issue given new significance after the death in August of Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos of heart failure during a fashion show in Montevideo. Reston died on Tuesday in a Sao Paulo from a generalized infection caused by anorexia, an eating disorder in which sufferers obsessively deprive themselves of food in pursuit of an ultra-slim look. Reston weighed only 88 pounds (40 kg) and was about 5 feet 8 inches tall (1.72 meters) tall. Doctors consider this weight normal for a 12-year-old girl no more than about 5 feet (1.5 meters) tall. "Take care of your children ... no money is worth the life of your child, not even the most famous (fashion) brand is worth this," her mother, Miriam Reston, told O Globo newspaper. She said her daughter had been trying to help her family with the money she made as a model. Miriam spoke on national television and to local newspapers to highlight the tragedy. She said she had pleaded with her daughter to eat more and to see a doctor. "She would reply, 'Mummy, don't mess me around,'" Miriam told O Estado de S.Paulo. "Dictatorship of skinny look kills a model," said the front-page headline of O Dia tabloid, which carried a picture of the dark-haired, big-eyed girl in lingerie. Many top models come from Brazil and thousands of young girls from all walks of life dream of modeling careers, inspired by the international success of Gisele Bundchen or Adriana Lima. Reston was not famous but she had worked abroad, including in Japan, and did some jobs for Giorgio Armani and the Brazilian model agency L'Equipe, which declined immediate comment. In September, Spain caused a storm in the fashion world when Madrid barred models below a certain weight from its top fashion show. Models with a body-mass-index (BMI), which takes into account height and weight, of less than 18 were banned. Reston's BMI was just 13.5 while the World Health Organization considers anyone with a BMI below 18.5 underweight. A BMI below 17.5 being one of the criteria for the diagnosis of anorexia nervosa and a BMI nearing 15 is usually used as an indicator for starvation. Other famous fashion venues like London were considering following suit.

Serendipity asked Of course this is correct--Moss comes off as an indifferent mom at best. Using drugs and involving oneself with drug users when one has a small child is irresponsible. I think she doesn't get raked over the coals because her bad mothering is consistent with her image. She came on the scene as a waif model, and the look was instantly associated with drugs--"heroin chic." She has never claimed to be a clean-living person or a good parent. Another reason she doesn't get the thrashing Britney does is that she still looks good (most of the time, anyway); I imagine if she gained thirty or forty pounds, that would hamper her career, whereas sketchy parenting has no effect and blatant illegal drug use seems to have helped it! Also, the whole Brit-drugs-heroin-addict-fiance thing has a darkly romantic quality for some people. Britney's media image is the virginal sexy popster. People loved her with Justin, and of course when she still actually looked sexy. IOW, she has gone against her own image. She tries to go for a good-mother image and falls short again and again. And there's nothing darkly romantic about Brits and KFed. They just seem like a couple of clowns. Ridiculous vs. romantic. So even though it's probably not fair, Brits gets trashed and Moss gets more lucrative contracts and silence on the lousy-mom issue.