Morning Briefing:
Restraining Paris: Adding to suspicions that she's not the innocent, airheaded blonde she appears to be, a Los Angeles party promoter has taken out a restraining order against Paris Hilton. Brian Quintana says it's a "sigh of relief" to have the order; in court, he testified that Hilton blamed him for some bad publicity and has been hassling him for some time, at one point even threatening, "I'm going to put a contract out on you." He also admits, reluctantly, that he also once committed perjury. See a video of Quintana's testimony here (QuickTime). (Reuters, TMZ)
Will he take away her shoes, too? This week's Life & Style carries a story claiming that Tom Cruise is planning to make sure Katie Holmes will stay put at home once their child is born. "I've got Katie tucked away, so no one will get to us until my child is born -- and until I want them to," a friend says Cruise recently told him, according to the magazine. Cruise went on: "I said [Katie's] life from now on was going to be about being a mother. I'm not giving her the chance to turn into another Nicole." (Life & Style Weekly via the Scoop)
Oscar voting secrets, revealed: Talking to Fox News entertainment reporter Bill McCuddy, Samuel L. Jackson tells how the Academy Award voting actually works: "The maid has watched them [the nominees], the cook's probably watched a lot of them, the nanny has too. And they go by and put their check marks down on the ballot because they know you're not going to do it. And then the assistant goes by -- 'Oh, it's time for the ballot to go in. Oh, he hasn't filled this in. [Checking boxes] I like this, I like this,' and they send it in." As far as how Jackson does it himself: "I generally go down the ballot and look and see if any of my friends are nominated and I vote for them. Then I leave the ballot there for my wife to vote for all the other films that she watched that I knew I wasn't gonna watch, like the chick flicks or the flicks that I thought were gonna put me to sleep. I trust her opinion. And then we send the ballot in." (Page Six)
Britney Spears' mothering instincts kick in? Pictures of Britney Spears driving with her baby on her lap have caused a stir online, and with the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services. Her explanation of how the image came to be: "I had a horrifying, frightful encounter with the paparazzi while I was with my baby. Because of a recent incident when I was trapped in my car without my baby by a throng of paparazzi, I was terrified that this time the physically aggressive paparazzi would put both me and my baby in danger. I instinctively took measures to get my baby and me out of harm's way." Children and Family Services, though, wasn't too impressed with her mothering techniques, and sent the police out to talk to Spears about the need to use the proper child restraint while driving. (N.Y. Daily News)
Also:
Jon Stewart's wife, Tracey, gave birth to a baby girl, named Maggie Rose, over the weekend. (E! Online) ... A man in Texas has had an image of Maddox Jolie-Pitt tattooed onto his arm, "claiming it's the ultimate symbol of fun and rebellion." (CityRag) ... HBO has released a few details about the upcoming season of "The Sopranos": "New challenges abound for Tony Soprano as his life grows increasingly complicated. Now that he and Carmela are back together, they must face the reality that their kids are no longer children, but not yet grown. And with [New York mob boss] Johnny Sack in prison, the always-tense relations between the New Jersey and New York families are strained even further." (N.Y. Post) ... The Rolling Stones are now saying they weren't on board with the NFL's plan to censor their song lyrics during the Super Bowl halftime show. The band's spokeswoman on Tuesday said the silencing of Mick Jagger's microphone was "absolutely ridiculous and completely unnecessary." (Associated Press) ... After seeing Tom Cruise's moves during Kanye West's performance at Rolling Stone magazine's Grammy preparty on Monday, the Awful Truth delivers the hard news that Cruise can't dance: "Let me tell you, honeys, it was not pretty. He was bobbing his head, trying so hard to catch the rhythm that I had to close my eyes for a sec, so painful it was." (Awful Truth)
Money Quote:
Jon Bon Jovi on what he fears more, never again being able to perform onstage or in bed: "Impotence. I could always write songs, act, get into politics or stay at home with the kids, but I've got to have some fun." (Elle via N.Y. Daily News)
Turn on:
Awards season continues: It's the "48th Annual Grammy Awards" (CBS, 8 p.m. EST), though the red carpet fun begins a few hours earlier with "Joan and Melissa Live at the Grammys" (TVGC, 6 p.m. EST). And if pop music's not your cup of tea, there's also a long special on "The Madness of Henry VIII" (National Geographic Channel, 9 p.m. EST).
-- Scott Lamb
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