Looking for a good reason to end the war in Iraq quickly? As soon as it's over, Mel Gibson can get on with "Mad Max: Fury Road," which he was set to start shooting in Namibia in May but postponed because of "security concerns." (IMDB)
"What do you think of General Wesley Clark and would you support him as a presidential candidate?" was the question put to retired Gen. H. Hugh Shelton at a junior college in California recently. Shelton took a drink of water, saying "That question makes me wish it were vodka." He went on to say that while he admires Clark, "I'm not going to say whether I'm a Republican or a Democrat. I'll just say Wes won't get my vote." Guess he's voting for Howard Dean. (Los Altos Town Crier)
Alanis Morissette dazzled 14,00 fans in Lima, Peru, on Sunday and then confused them by shouting out "Thank you, Brazil!" then surprised the press by admitting, "I don't remember saying that. I think I was drunk."
At the risk of starting a bonking ban trend throughout the world of men, Russell Crowe is (for some reason) telling the press that he went for months without sex before his wedding night so he could "perform" well on his honeymoon. It worked for Russ and wife Danielle, since she's now preggers with a baby boy, due in January. (Ananova)
Elton John saying he's going "minimalist" is like Michael Jackson saying he wants to gain weight and be black, but Sir E is supposedly selling off his gaudy possessions -- including Elizabethan paintings and art deco beds -- in an attempt to simplify his life. No word on whether the sunglasses collection is part of the loot that will go to auction at the end of this month. (TV Guide)
-- Karen Croft
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It's not quite the Oui magazine interview, but Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign operatives are said to be "scrambling" to keep nude erotic photographs of their candidate out of the hands of the grabby press and away from the voting public. According to Matt Drudge, "The shocking nudes of Republican Schwarzenegger have been kept under lock at the Estate of Robert Mapplethorpe in New York." Drudge does have one moody, bootyful black-and-white rear shot of Schwarzenegger up on his site, however, and if you ask me, it's Arnolds best angle. (Drudge Report)
And do we have naked campaign-alarming photos of Kelsey Grammer to look forward to seeing one day? (Perish the thought!) The "Frasier" star says he may be interested in making a play for one of Californias seats in the U.S. Senate when his acting days are through. "If you have the good fortune to become wealthy doing what you love to do, what happens is you now have an obligation to give back in some way," Grammer said Monday on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes." His platform? "I would like to try to rid the country of the idea that it's the rich against the poor." (Associated Press)
Money Quote
Barbra Streisand on why she never listens to her own music: "Really, I just get sick of it. That's why I gave up concerts -- in addition to having stage fright and the exertion of singing 30 songs a night. It's boring to sing your own songs." (Readers Digest via Reuters)
Best of the Rest
Page Six: Sam Waksal said to be working out, making friends and cleaning toilets in prison; PETA lashes out at Martha Stewart for cooking soft-shell crabs and lobsters; Britney Spears' security guards accused of engaging in unnecessary roughness; Georgia sheriff still giving sound bites on Jennifer Lopez, who recently stopped into his county courthouse with Ben Affleck: "I was trying to keep her out of my lap. She was trying to get next to me and lick my neck. No, I'm only kidding."
Rush and Molloy: Britney Spears denies that she's having a thing with 21-year-old Columbus Short, one of her backup dancers who happens to be married and expecting his first child, despite paparazzi lip-lock photo; Nicole Kidman and Lenny Kravitz continue to deny that they're romantically involved, despite showing up all around town together; Ann Coulter calls New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. "stupid"; Mayor Bloomberg on meeting Gwyneth Platrow: "It was a little difficult because of the height difference"; Alicia Silverstone, Jessica Alba, Alison Janney and "Queer Eye" guys get "Punk'd" at pre-Emmy party, but MTV prank show creator Ashton Kutcher spares Demi Moore.
Boldface Names: At New York opening of Danny Devito's "Duplex," Lynda Lopez refuses to answer questions about sister Jennifer's love life; Ben Stiller talks about the 50th-anniversary party he just threw for his parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara; Ivana Trump arrives with her "very attractive and much younger" boyfriend, Rossano Rubicondi; and Devito and Drew Barrymore talk about their worst apartments. At after party, superskinny, platinum blond Janeane Garofalo addresses speculation that her liberal opinions may have hurt her career: "Yeah. But I think what they forget is, I think my career sort of got, what's the word? mellowed out around 2000. So actually I'm flattered that people think I'm at a level where it would harm me to speak out politically. I take that as a compliment."
-- Amy Reiter
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