Nicole Kidman: Actress Seeking Work, Will Do Anything

Nicole Kidman is pulling out all the stops to ensure she stays employed and is able to continue to maintain the luxurious lifestyle she is used to leading. After all, the woman does have a private plane to maintain.

Even though in recent months, Ms Kidman made strong declarations that she was planning to quit acting altogether and start a farm, do some gardening or cook a lamb roast for Keith and Sunday Rose or something along those comforting lines, it would appear that was just some spin to cover the fact in case she didn’t get any work.

We have seen her of recent times walking around Nashville looking forlorn, sometimes with kid in hand, sometimes with Keith but really just managing to get herself in everyone’s way and not having the slightest clue what to do in suburbia.

La Kidman is clearly not comfortable unless she is on set surrounded by the best in the business and dressed to the nines on a film carrying a $5 million dollar wardrobe budget.

But times have changed and even Hollywood is effected by the financial crisis, so what is a once A lister supposed to do? Well nobody said Nicole wasn’t resourceful. She is doing what other actors do when they don’t get film work, film a commercial overseas with a massive budget and just hope like hell that nobody in Hollywood finds out.

That’s what Nicole has done, here she is in India this week filming a commercial for a well known soft drink company and completely selling her ass out in the process.

Only recently Sean Penn made a rather not so oblique reference to Kidman saying in a roundabout way that an actor he worked with stopped shooting so that they could film their Chanel commercial. See Sean Penn story here.

But times are lean and Nicole is pimping her ass all over town to grab anything she can get her mitts on to keep the dosh rolling in.

In addition she has just signed on as part of an ensemble cast for an as yet untitled upcoming Woody Allen film.

Oh thank goodness, Sunday will be able to get her dinner now after all.

Judgement Day for Jeremy Piven

The day of reckoning will soon be upon Jeremy Piven so he may not be smiling so radiantly.

Whether he was or wasn’t faking the allegedly high levels of mercury poisoning that existed in his system and was the reason as to why he dropped out of the stage production of the Broadway production of “Speed The Plow,” he will now have the chance to prove his claims.

Piven left the production in December citing at the time that he had a massive amount of mercury in his system, in fact six times more than the average human which he blamed on the humble sushi roll that he had apparently been eating since birth and which he held fully responsible for causing the high mercury in his body.

Due to the mercury poisoning he was lackluster, tired and listless and consequently had to leave the show immediately. Amazingly, though he gathered all his strength to attend whatever industry party was to be held during his run of the production, including Britney Spears’ 27th birthday party.

The producers of the show were understandably pissed and after talks failed at a grievance hearing held last month, the show producers and Piven’s people are now heading into arbitration to settle the dispute over his untimely departure from the production.

Both sides will have to meet with a mediator and Piven will need to prove his mercury poisoning both during his rather short run in the play as well as prior to this. The producers have stated that they have "requested a wide range of relevant information from Mr Piven relating to his claims that an alleged illness required him to leave the show".

Piven's spokeswoman Samantha Mast said: "The fact that the producers issued a statement announcing the arbitration dates suggests that this is part of a punitive strategy to intimidate actors so that they ignore serious health symptoms."

She added that fear of being sued would make it more difficult for performers to leave productions due to medical reasons.

Note to spokeswoman, Samantha, you are missing the point, the reason to take the job in the first place is not to think about how you could get out of it.

If an actor has a medical condition that may stop the run of an expensive stage production, then tell the producers that in the first instance and perhaps don’t audition for the part. There are plenty of actors that are more than willing to complete the run of the production solely for this reason – because they want to act.

It’s also called being professional – heard of it Jeremy?

Jennifer Aniston: The Evil Witch Comes Out of Hiding

Ok a bit dramatic, but then so is she.

We know the woman wants to hide from the paparazzi and who can blame her, she is hounded day and night. But this sort of cloak and dagger get up is ridiculous.

Jennifer Aniston was seen leaving her hotel room in New York early morning, for a day’s filming on her latest move “The Baster” which she co-stars with Jason Bateman.

Now that Ms Aniston has no need for the press, i.e. her attendance at the Oscars, and promotion for Marley & Me had finished, not to mention her subsequent break up with John Mayer as he was no longer required, she ensured she covered up well and popped on a witch’s hat just to throw everyone.

However when she did finally pop her head out from under her frightening headgear, she realised she had been trailed all along by at least fifty photographers so her cover up was pointless.

As above mentioned scheme was futile, the next day, Jennifer was back to swinging her golden locks at the camera as if she was filming a shampoo commercial.

If you can't beat em, join em.

Victoria Beckham Strips For Armani With Help From Photoshop

Victoria Beckham twisted and knotted herself into a pretzel during a dark and moody photo shoot for the latest campaign for Emporio Armani Women’s Underwear Spring/Summer 09 collection.

Wearing only skimpy underwear and killer heels, Posh Spice shot death stares at the camera in an attempt to be sexy.

Victoria tried her best to outdo hubby, David Beckham, who only last year made headlines with his scantily clad Armani ad campaign, but didn’t really have the equipment to enable the level of splendour that his shots achieved, however she was helped along by one of her close friends, Photoshop – the next best thing to Botox.

David is also shooting the Men’s Underwear Spring/Summer 09 collection for Armani and it’s thought the pair will pocket an estimated $40 million in total for their trouble.

Oh I am so glad the global financial crisis hasn’t affected the Beckham’s in the slightest.

It’s Ikhyd, Not Ickitt, Pickit or Lickit Says M.I.A.

British Hip Hop star, M.I.A. has finally cleared things up with regards to her son’s name. For the record and to stop further inaccuracies, we are proud to announce her son’s name is Ikhyd.

Thanks so much for clearing that up M.I.A., that’s a load off our minds. It’s really nothing like Ickitt, which was the name initially reported that M.I.A and fiancé and fellow musician, Benjamin Bronfman, had named their son after his arrival into the world on February 11, just days after the heavily pregnant star, performed at the Grammy Awards, looking as if she would give birth on stage at any moment.

After Ikhyd’s arrival, there was much hullabaloo regarding his name and whether it would be weird enough to join the bizarre celebrity baby name club.

M.I.A. exasperated at the incorrect reporting, took to her MySpace blog saying “My baby is not called Ickitt, Pickit or Lickit, thank you very much. He’s a baby, he don’t need press!” She didn’t however announce at that time what she had named him.

The confusion was apparently caused due to the way his name is pronounced which is like Ickitt so can you blame us M.I.A.?

Now that we know his correct name we will be sure to address him properly if we ever meet him and as M.I.A. says, I guess now we can all go and stickit!

Russell Brand’s Fast Track Seduction Guide

Yes it can be done. A completely unknown woman can be approached, chatted to and seduced, all within an hour. Just follow Russell Brand’s quick and minimal steps and you too can fast track your way to passion.

Russell Brand, 33, has been in Sydney on his “Scandalous” stand up tour, and whilst in town has lived up to the name of his comedy tour, getting a bit of the old scandal in with the ladies.

Whilst waiting for a ferry, he made a beeline for an unsuspecting pretty blonde, and laid on the Brand charm thick and fast.

The girl fell for the famous Brand charisma, there was much laughter and within thirty minutes, they were entwined in a hot embrace. Well, Brand did have the girl in a vice like grip so there seemed nowhere for her to go except to lock lips with the star.

Naturally the paps were around to photograph the scene which Brand seemed totally aware of.

Once the mission was accomplished, Brand move on to further adventures and the girl was never seen again.

Feel free to try out Brand’s moves, just remember, the girl has the right to slap you in the face.

Nicole Richie Gives The Two Fingered Salute

For art’s sake you understand. Not because she is pissed off with anyone.

Nicole Richie has been photographed in a very graphic pop glam shoot for the upcoming April 09 issue of Blackbook.

Looking more Lady Ga Ga than her usual stylistic self, she seemed to be channeling George Clinton and the whole P-Funk movement, but then the April issue is dedicated to music so hence the OTT look.

Nicole can certainly carry off this fierce look, especially with boyfriend, Good Charlotte rocker, Joel Madden by her side, but we didn't say we wanted her to, she seems more suited to being a hippy kinda girl.

Nicole’s been quite busy of late, launching her jewellery line, her website and announcing her pregnancy.

The girl’s got a lot on her plate this year; we wish her all the luck in getting there, just go back to Hippy Chick, please?

Jennifer Aniston & John Mayer Fight Over Dumpee Title

Yeah, they are at it again. Only weeks after declaring they were a serious item to contend with at the Oscars, where they staged a lovey dovey vibe, Jennifer and John Mayer seem to have gone their separate ways. Boring!

Ok we’ve been there done that with these two but the question is who showed who the door first?

When you’re a celebrity and you’re part of a celebrity couple, it’s important that when you break up with the other party, you alert the media immediately afterwards and announce very loudly that it was in fact you that dumped the other person.

You need to beat the other person to the post by letting the press know so that you come out the winner. You never want to look like the loser in the story, that somebody dumped your sorry ass and left you crying at a cafe somewhere.

It’s not a good look.

So the question is did John Mayer dump Jennifer Aniston or did Jennifer dump John.

Initially it looked as if Mayer took the title of “Dumpee.” He got in there nice and early with the press to ensure it was angled his way. But now Jennifer has come out to say in fact it was she who dumped Mayer, allegedly saying he became cold and distant after the Oscars. Probably due to the fact he was more in love with his Twitter account.

Guys get over it, your act at the Oscars wasn’t fooling us. We knew it worked well for both parties but now that the contractual obligations are complete, there’s no point keeping up the charade, is there?

Though wondering what Aniston will do for a partner at the premiere of her new movie “Management.”

Better get John back.

Act Three, Scene One: Joaquin Phoenix Club Brawl

Yeah whatever, this story is getting boring now. How much controversy can newly minted rap star, Joaquin Phoenix cause?

It seems as if ever since Joaquin left acting and morphed into his new career as a hip hop star, he has been tainted with bad singing, bad dancing, falling of stages and now fighting with hecklers.

Come on, give us a break. It’s practically scripted.

Joaquin was performing at a Miami nightclub on Thursday night, when he was understandably heckled from the crowd due to his usual sloppy performance.

To which Joaquin shouted back, “We have a f**king bitch in the audience,” as well as this gem “I’ve got 1 million in the bank. What have you got bitch?” The crowd played their part in the ensuing clash by chanting, “Beat him up!”

Joaquin visibly exasperated, leapt into the crowd and both parties appeared to go at each other, though it was dark and nobody could really see.

Joaquin was then hauled away, before finally someone yelled “cut.” Actually, nobody yelled cut, but Casey Affleck should have, because he was certainly there to film the event, yet again.

That little piece of Thursday night fun was more staged than Hulk Hogan and the World Wide Wrestlers Federation.

When Casey gets around to putting this movie together, I don’t really know if it’s worth a view, after all, we’ve all seen it now anyway, on YouTube.

Check it out for yourself!

Nicole Kidman Says Don’t Forget Me, Look Here’s Sunday Rose

You know Nicole Kidman’s a real trouper.

When she isn’t getting any media attention, she always has a new trick to pull out of her bag to get the paps all wound up.

At the start of the month it was the old, rest your hands on your tummy and everyone will think you’re preggers routine. Doesn’t matter if it was true or not, it certainly garnered enough publicity hype.

When everyone got bored of that one, she changed strategies. Now it’s bring out baby and ensure as many photographers as possible are around to see her with baby slung casually on hip.

Photos of La Kidman and bub can fetch a nice price thank you very much and once they are all over the web, then hey presto interest is activated.

One could assume this could be the case when Kidman was spotted out and about in Nashville with a rather tired looking Sunday Rose heading off to the Nashville Gymboree Play & Music Centre for some singing and dancing together time.

Her daughter seemed to be positioned so that photographers could get the best shot of both mother & baby and for a tot so young it seemed odd that she wasn’t wearing any head covering to protect her from the elements, but then I guess wearing a hat would obscure the photo.

It’s important for Nicole to stay on the Hollywood radar, because let’s face it, now that filming of “Nine” is finished, are there any new projects on the horizon?

Let’s hope this latest bout of interest in Kidman will enable a new movie script to get thrown her way because Nicole is running out of ideas of how to hold our interest and frankly we’re running out of interest in Nicole.

Madonna: Desperately Seeking Youth

Madonna made a desperate play to show she can still kick it with the young girls out there by dressing up in a ridiculous school girl outfit to attend a fancy dress party for the Jewish celebration of Purim which was held at the Kabbalah Centre in New York on Monday night.

Looking more like her daughter Lourdes especially with her newly acquired twelve year old face to match, Madonna, 50, did nothing to dispel rumours that she is jealous of Lourdes trend setting look and growing popularity, by raiding her daughter’s wardrobe and demanding she lend her mother her Converse sneakers for the event.

Clearly, Madonna wanted to set the record straight to anyone who thought she might be ready for a granny blanket and a warm cup of soup, hope you are taking note Guy Ritchie.

Jesus Luz, her alleged new toyboy, for reasons known only to the couple, was dressed as The Joker, complete with scary face paint which obscured his usual handsome features. To add to the confusing he arrived at the Centre hand in hand with Jessica Seinfeld.

We can only wonder what Jerry wore?

Nicole Wears Entire Jewellery Collection to Launch

Nicole Richie was dressed like an Egyptian goddess to launch her jewellery collection “House of Harlow 1960” at the famous Kitson boutique in LA on the weekend. Swathed in billowy white, and adorned with what seemed like every piece in her jewellery line, House of Harlow 1960, Nicole was so blinged up she looked like she had stepped directly off the set of “Cleopatra.”

Crowds of fans waited patiently outside to see their idol and Ms Richie didn’t disappoint.

Nicole named her jewellery collection House of Harlow 1960 after her daughter, Harlow with Good Charlotte muso, Joel Madden.

The 35 piece collection was co-designed by renowned celebrity jeweller, Pascal Mouawad and is an interesting mixture of materials, including leather, gold-plated metal, crystals and peacock feathers which are used to express Nicole’s love of bohemian, gypsy, tribal, flower child and street wear, however the inspiration for the collection was directly inspired by Nicole’s love of the 60’s and 70’s.

There are heavy gold bracelets and huge cocktail rings and prices will range from $50 through to $250. The collection itself goes on sale at Kitson in December.

In her press relapse, Nicole said about her collection, I’ve always felt that great accessories are essential in every complete outfit and I wanted to create a collection that was easy to mix and match; to either wear alone as an everyday piece, or stack on to make more of a statement.”

Nicole has come a long industrious way from her wild child days of yore and it’s great to see her become so enterprising. The collection is hot and we predict it’s going to be a huge success.

Look for Nicole’s fans on the streets of Hollywood, complete with gold headband.

The Cruises Bring Robot Glamour To Japan

The Cruises. They’re strange aren’t they or is that stating the bleeding obvious.

They look shiny perfect and expensive, and no hair is ever out of place, yet there is something peculiar & odd about them. Particularly Tom.

Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise touched down at Narita airport in Japan on Sunday and as expected, hordes of fans were waiting for their arrival. Tom is still flogging “Valkyrie” to the peoples and he dragged Katie and Suri along to ensure maximum publicity for his movie.

Katie is apparently taking a break from filming her current movie, “The Extra Man,” or did Tom organise her "break" so that she could accompany him?

Even after the long flight, the Cruises had their white toothy smiles in place, actually just Tom did, Katie wasn’t willing to go that far to help his cause. She had the look of someone who couldn’t wait to get to her hotel room and have a long nap.

Their clothes were beautiful and Suri as always, was dressed ridiculously for a child who has just been on a flight – in a bright red dress with a tiny white cardigan. Hardly practical clothes for a kid.

The Cruises should take a page out of Brangelina’s book who arrived at the same airport with the children dressed sensibly for the flight a month ago. But then maybe only Brangelina can get away with dressing normally, they would still cause a riot no matter where they travelled to and what they wore.

The Cruises on the other hand need to ensure they stand out for maximum impact and press coverage, after all there’s a movie to be promoted and god forbid that they should be ignored.

Mickey Rourke Lifts The Fashion Bar Once Again

Mickey Rourke looked absolutely stunning a few nights ago, stepping out for dinner at Nelo’s in NYC.

Never one to shy away from making a fashion statement he boldly mixed print with print, vivid colour with colour, breaking all the fashion taboos.

His fashion instincts were honed in and he wildly threw the ensemble together but only once he had slipped on lurid blue gloves and slender silver shoes was the outfit truly perfection personified.

He caused many a gasp as he made his way to Nelo’s, some cries of admiration, others were along the lines of “who’s the freak in the day-glo outfit.”

It’s going to be hard for Mickey to top this one but we look forward to his next rainbow creation.

Katherine Heigl: The Anatomy of A Diva

She hasn’t been around all that long really when you think about it but it’s good to get in early with divaesque behaviour so that you can set yourself up in Hollywood as someone to be hated, don’t you think?

That’s what appears to be Katherine Heigl’s plan.

She has been causing some controversy on the set of her latest movie “Five Killers” for being “extremely unprofessional” making outrageous demands and doing a no show at meetings as she had more important stuff to get on with.

But this certainly isn’t the first time we are hearing this old chestnut. According to an extra on the set of “27 Dresses,” “Heigl reportedly refused to film any scenes until her pregnant assistant ran around and got her a Coke Zero. She refused to eat lunch next to anyone or have anyone speak to her once the cameras stopped rolling.”

“No one on the crew likes her,” an insider said.

“She has a sense of entitlement that is really off-putting,” another source learned. “Many directors that she’s worked with in the past do not want to work with her again.”

Heigl seemed to have a promising career in front of her or at least that’s how things were looking at the end of 2007, what with a successful gig on “Grey’s Anatomy” and starring in one of the top comedies of that year, “Knocked Up.” The girl had it all in the palm of her hand and was considered to be one of Hollywoods biggest rising stars.

Miss Heigl then started to believe her own hype and thats when things started to go horribly wrong.

In an interview in the January 08 issue of Vanity Fair, Katherine dissed the role that made her a star, calling Knocked Up “sexist” and then proceeded on to bash “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Then a few weeks before the 2008 Emmy nominations were publicised, Heigl dropped her major faux pax, she announced that she had withdrawn her name from consideration because she felt she hadn’t been given good enough material and didn’t think it was fair to the other potential nominees.

To say nobody was pleased was putting it mildly. That said, she wasn’t fired from the show and was forced to fulfil her contract.

Since that time, she has managed to keep her big mouth shut till now. The thing is, everyone knows a true diva will always have to come out at some time if they want to shine in their role.

We look forward to watching Miss Heigl’s next divaesque move, so much more interesting than her (yawn) film career.

John Mayer Votes For John Mayer, Unsurprisingly

Well that’s a huge shock isn’t it? John Mayer’s at it again, big upping himself and partaking in a humongous marketing campaign at self promotion, even though he announced to the world that after his appearance with Jennifer Aniston at the Oscars, he would vanish from sight to work on an album.

Well he didn't. Guess he couldn’t stand to leave us without one of his fascinating witticisms.

Clearly tickled by the flurry of stories being written about him, albeit inadvertently through his association with Jennifer Aniston, John Mayer cannot help himself. He must be on the web researching how many articles refer to him on an hourly basis and studying each story at length. He then uses his Twitter page to wax lyrical on his favourite topic – himself.

In a Twitter post yesterday, Mayer said "I just voted on People's 'Is John Mayer a keeper?' poll. I clicked 'Love him'."

He’s referring to People’s poll asking punters whether Jennifer Aniston should stay with John Mayer and if he is a keeper.

Well unfortunately John adding his own vote on the matter hasn’t really seemed to help.

Results of the poll show that only 40% love him. The balance 60% who want Jennifer to lose the guy seem like very smart people indeed.

But you know John’s a very dedicated guy and he’ll put in the hours necessary to make John Mayer a fully fledged star. He’s determined to push up those statistics and won’t stop till we love him a full 100%.

Oh god, have we created a monster?

Is Jennifer Lopez a Jewel Thief?

Well even celebs do what they gotta do to keep the funds rolling in. Or so it would seem.

Apparently Jennifer Lopez has kept a firm grip on $US50,000 worth of diamonds she borrowed from Swiss billionaire, Robert Mouawad, to wear to the launch of Andrea Lieberman’s fashion line ALC at Barneys. Other stars who attended the event including Gwen Stefani and Ellen Pompeo also borrowed jewellery but managed to return theirs.

J Lo was the only one diva enough to hang onto hers.

Mouawad’s people received a call from J Lo’s manager informing them Ms Lopez intended on keeping the jewellery. “As far as Mr Mouawad is concerned, Jennifer can have whatever she wants, but a premature demand seemed presumptuous. He will lose no sleep over $US50,000, and frankly, Jennifer’s endorsement is priceless.”

Naturally Jennifer’s manager insisted she was given the jewellery for hosting the event but we’re not going to fall for that one.

Come on. Let’s face it, J Lo isn’t the same bankable star she once was. In fact, does she even have any projects lined up? To say her endorsement is “priceless” is probably a bit of a stretch to say the least.

But we are in the midst of a global economic crisis and even stars are looking for innovative ways to bring in the moola.

It’s important for J Lo to get her paws on anything valuable, she’s got the twins to think of and who knows in these dark financial times when her next project will arrive.

Jennifer Aniston Gorges Herself On Dog Biscuit

All in the name of promotion you understand.

Let’s make that clear. Jennifer Aniston only eats salads to ensure her beautiful figure stays firm and toned. But in this particular instance, a meaty dog biscuit was involved.

Aniston and Owen Wilson, stars of “Marley & Me” have taken their movie to Europe, heavily promoting it around the major cities.

In Cologne, Germany last Saturday, they continued their onslaught, appearing on popular TV show “Wetten, dass...?”

The show is known for getting its guests to do something zany and after losing a bet the pair wolfed down some dog biscuits. Actually it was Wilson that lost the bet, but he made Aniston share in his failure by getting her to take a doggy bite.

Aniston cheerfully played along but drank a large glass of water immediately after to flush the biscuit out of her system, just in case dog hairs started to grow.

Nicole Kidman Likes To Tease Us

Yes she’s back to her tricksy ways. Always taunting us with the old “is she or isn’t she pregnant routine.” I’m talking about Nicole Kidman ofcourse.

Remember she gave us that spiel around the beginning of last year? One moment denying she was pregnant, in other instances cradling her stomach rather blatantly as if she was with child, all with a secret smile on her lips.

The press continually released confusing statements to the public as to the nature of Ms Kidman’s delicate condition, one moment pregnant, one moment not and her publicist routinely denied everything. It was puzzling but that’s the point – it kept us all interested.

And then once she had built up enough curiosity she finally broadcast to the world that yes, she was pregnant, or at least somebody was. On the unveiling of her news, she looked deliciously pleased with herself.

Is this what Nicole has got up her sleeve this time round?

She was photographed in Japan with an overly tanned Hugh Jackman doing a late flog of their movie “Australia.” You know the one that garnered the really bad reviews for Nicole. Besides the fact that the chignon on her head made her look about ninety, Nicole insisted on patting some non existent lump on her stomach as if she was pregnant. Now why would she do such a thing, if she wasn’t?

Naturally the press there for the event immediately alerted the world that she was pregnant. But Nicole, however, had her publicist deny the allegations. She may or may not continue to taunt us on whether she is or isn’t in the family way but really that isn’t the point. It’s just a good way of keeping the press engrossed in her.

And why do you suppose she is doing this? Isn’t it clear? Her career has all but been annihilated after her abysmal performance in “Australia.” She’s in the bad books, nobody wants to hire her and she needs a tactic to win over the public and Hollywood’s love again.

And now she’s got it. It worked superbly the first time around with Sunday Rose and now it’s going to work for her again. That baby angle is pure gold.

Whether she actually is or isn’t pregnant is irrelevant.