Yesterday was a bit of a scorcher here in the LA area, being the first day of summer and all, so of course Britney Spears had to put on her warmest winter boots (!!!) and head out in the California heat to buy a new pet. Thus far, Britney has contented herself with procuring pets like tiny dogs (anyone remember Bit Bit? I wonder if the little thing has peaced the spork out or what) but it seems that she has since moved on and found a new love of the aviary kind. Here are pictures of our dear Britney at a Petco in Hollywood yesterday afternoon picking out a parakeet to take home with her:


Photo credit: X17
Thank goodness Cousin Allie was around to carry that birdcage for Britney. As I mentioned earlier, it was hot. You know, it's not really that big a deal that Britney decided to bring home a new animal ... anything would be better than bringing K-Fed home again. [Source]

In other strange celeb pet news, Pete Doherty (who looks absolutely sober in these pics) was snapped carrying around a stuffed full-size mutant (ninja?) turtle which he loaded into his car as he and Kate Moss made their way to Glastonbury where the Festival kicks off today and runs all weekend. Oh yeah, they brought along a cat as well:


Photo credit: Big Pictures
The increasingly bizarre couple headed back to Kate's north London home, where they loaded up their waiting car with luggage - including a giant stuffed turtle - to head to Kate's bolthole in the Cotswolds, and then onto Glastonbury. The chauffeur driven people carrier was fitted with curtains to ensure the prying public couldn't see what they were up to. Pete peeked out from the back door of Kate's Primrose Hill home, holding the huge turtle, which he then handed over the driver to put in the boot. Charming. The couple seemed intent on taking a virtual menagerie along with them, as Pete was also sat in the back with Kate's cat, as he waited for her to get into the car. A source close to the couple said: "There is no way Pete, particularly will have a sedate weekend, so it's going to be a wild one." Of course it's gonna be a wild weekend ... they've brought along a stuffed turtle. Duh. I'm absolutely convinced that no drugs were involved in any of this behavior. [Source]

Hayden Panettiere, her Heroes castmates Zachary Quinto and Masi Oka, Billy Martin of Good Charlotte and others were all on hand for the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Video Game Release Party in Playa Vista, CA last night. Here are a few pics of the arrivals:


Photo credit: Wireimage
The party was held at Electronic Arts LA which was transformed into Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Mike, his sister Jill and I were also at the fun event last night were we got to preview the video game and enjoy Harry Potter-themed food and drink. Hayden hosted the party and after she gave her introductions she got on the Wii and played some of the game with Masi Oka. We had an absolute blast and I found Hayden to be as incredibly sweet as I knew she'd be. I've posted a few of my personal pics and a cute vid at the end of today's post. [Source]

In NYC, Entertainment Weekly held its annual Must List issue release party at Gotham Hall and brought out this year's List makers Rihanna, Heather Matarazzo, the cast of Spring Awakening and more. Here are pics from that red carpet:


Photo credit: Wireimage
While I'm sure that this year's affair was a night to remember, it couldn't be quite as fabulous as last year's shindig -- after all, Xtina Aguilera performed and, ahem, Pink is the new Blog made it into the Must List issue ;) Each year, Entertainment Weekly generates a list of the "must people and things" of the moment and I can't wait to see who and what makes the cut this year ... even tho I'm still partial to last year's list :D [Source]

Paris Hilton is getting in all the jailhouse interviews she can, while she still can before her release which is only days away. Paris put in a call to Ryan Seacrest for E! News and explained how serving time in jail had changed her life and made her more grateful for things she enjoys in her life. I'm not sure what to make of this newly repentant Paris Hilton ... she sure sounds genuine, but then again, she is still locked up behind bars:


Jail has been "horrible and really hard" for Paris Hilton, but she's ready to turn the page and begin a new chapter in her life as a changed woman. In an exclusive phone conversation with E! News' Ryan Seacrest Thursday, the hotel heiress said she was "really proud" of herself for serving out her sentence and even admitted there was a positive aspect to life behind bars. "In a way, I'm really glad this happened, because it changed my life forever," Hilton said in a nearly 10-minute call from Century Regional Correctional Facility. According to the newly reformed party girl, her days of serving as a pop-culture punchline are over. "I just realize that the media used me to make fun of and be mean about," she said. "Frankly, I'm sick of it. I want to use my fame in a good way." She said her time on the inside has made her far more appreciative of life's little luxuries. "I'm so much more grateful for everything that I have, even just to have a pillow at night or food or anything," Hilton said ... "I'm claustrophobic, and my cell is really small. It's hard. There's nothing to do but basically sit. A room with a bunk bed and a toilet and a desk," she said. "I was going a little bit crazy in the beginning. I'm getting used to it now." Now, with just days left on her sentence, Hilton said she's "really proud" of herself for making it through and is looking forward to what lies ahead. "I feel like I can't wait to start a new chapter of my life. It feels really great even though I really don't like it here," she said ... Hilton is expected to be set free on Monday, which will mark the 23rd day of her 45-day sentence for violating her probation on an alcohol-related driving charge. As I've said many times before, I do hope that Paris really does change the way she lives her life and is not just giving lip service. I know that many people do not believe that she is capable of changing (and have emailed me their thoughts on the matter) but call me an optimist. I really believe that jail can change a person -- even Paris Hilton. At least she's bound to remain true to her new outlook on life for some time after her release from jail so we'll see how that goes. Click HERE to read more excerpts from Ryan's phone interview with Paris Hilton. [Source]

Fortunately for E! News they managed to get an interview with Paris on the cheap but the same cannot be said for NBC who is reportedly shelling out $1 million dollars for the first post-jail interview with the heiress. Of course, NBC, who says they don't pay for interviews, has to be sneaky with how they go about things. Pretty on the Outside seems to have a pretty good idea of how the sitch is really going down:


It does indeed look like Paris & family have inked a deal with NBC. TMZ has learned the NBC bureau in Burbank has been put on alert for a "possible Paris interview" and the project is so secret, it has a code name -- ROME!!! Sources say the camera staff, production assistants and others have been told the interview will be conducted by Meredith Vieira sometime next week and will air on "Today." The buzz is -- NBC paid a cool mil for the sit-down. NBC rules prohibit paying for interviews, so our sources say the party line is that the network is paying for videos. Surely the newly rehabilitated Paris Hilton is going to donate this $1 million dollar paycheck to all those charities she vowed to support once she got out of jail, right? [Source, Source]

UPDATE: TMZ is reporting that NBC has decided to axe plans to interview Paris Hilton once she gets released from jail, presumably because of all the attention surrounding the rumored $1 million dollar pay-out. Apparently, NBC failed to give a reason for the cancellation.

UPDATE 2: Now NBC is saying there was never an interview in the first place. LOL. Watch Paris show up on The View for free.

While Paris Hilton prepares for her jailhouse release, Lindsay Lohan is already enjoying some time away from the Promises Rehab Facility in Malibu, CA where she has been keeping herself for the past few weeks ... well, pretty much staying there the whole time. Here are pictures of L. Lo and some gal pals spending the sunny first day of summer yesterday having some fun at Venice Beach:


Photo credit: X17
Good, clean fun -- now that's what I like to see! It would be very difficult for Lindsay Lohan to get into any trubs while she rollerblades with some girlfriends or she rides around on an adult tricycle like this ... er, that is unless she gets liquored up and plows that bike into someone and then flees the scene. Actually, forget I said anything. I am confident that Linds is really taking her rehabilitation seriously. Shoot, I wouldn't be surprised if, in a couple of months, both Paris and Lindsay will start co-sponsoring a new Bible study group here in Hollywood. [Source]

Justin Timberlake and his new lady love Jessica Biel continue their public romance in Oslo, Norway where they were seen walking side-by-side, at times touching actual hands! Taking their love affair one step further, the couple was seen gettin' all amorous aboard a luxury speedboat while spending time in the Norwegian capital:


Obvs JT looks absolutely annoyed that he is so damn famous that everyone wants to take his picture, despite the fact that he's got a beautiful lady trying to keep his mind off the paps. Whatever, he's just gonna have to deal with it. They just make too cute a couple for people not to be interested. [Source]

Here are the first pictures of new mom Keri Russell taking her newborn baby boy River Russell Deary out for a stroll in the big bad world outside her womb ... in a baby sack of sorts:


Photo credit: Splash News
Aww ... he is so cute ... well, at least that tiny little bit of his head that we can see peeking out from inside that thing she stuffed him in looks cute. I gotta admit, Keri is lookin' pretty damn spry for having just birthed a baby. [Source]

Pink reader Farah sends in a couple of pictures from Darien, CT where they are filming the new movie Revolutionary Road starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet and Kathy Bates on a closed set which just so happens to be right next door to her best friend's house. Here are her pictures and her explanation of what's going on:


[Because] it's a closed set ... you can only get on the street if you have a resident permit. There are so many people milling about, it's kind of inconvenient for this quiet neighborhood ... but anyway today was the day [Leonardo] filmed a turning point scene in the front yard with two of the kids who play his children. Leo was really good with the kids. He was playing with them and letting the little boy give him wedgies in return for "slapping" him on the butt in a scene. He seems really nice, but his mind was elsewhere. I heard he has not been giving a lot of autographs ... can't really blame him. Anyway, they will be here all summer until August. As inconvenient as I'm sure it is, it must be really cool having a movie being filmed right in your neighborhood. Thank you Farah for the pics and set report! [thanks Farah]

Mariah Carey was on hand for the launch of her new signature fragrance called M by Mariah Carey (which seems a bit uninspired to me and prolly to Madonna) because, as we all know, the world will never have its fill of celebrity fragrances. At last, all of that beauty school training that Mimi has under her belt can be put to good use:


Your average celebrity may not care what the difference is between Moroccan incense and Manhattan street incense - but then again, your average celeb doesn't have 500 hours of beauty school under her jeweled Roberto Cavalli evening-dress straps like Mariah Carey does. "I always knew what I wanted to do with my life - my mother was an opera singer, and I'd been singing since I started talking and writing songs since I was 13," said Carey during an interview Monday evening before the launch event for her first fragrance, M by Mariah Carey. And Carey - the best-selling female recording artist of all time, with 17 number one singles - clearly didn't need a career plan B. "I just went to beauty school in 11th grade because you could leave school for half a day - and that was cool! - and also because I always did people's hair. But I was always singing during my beauty school classes, so I think my teacher really hated me. I'm actually a beauty school dropout, because by the time I was in 12th grade I was so focused on doing what ended up being my first record [the eponymous 'Mariah Carey,' released in 1990] that I had to let that go" ... The fragrance, created by the singer along with perfumers Carlos Benaim and Loc Dong of International Flavors & Fragrances, opens with top notes of marshmallow and sea breeze accord; has a heart of Living Tahitian Tiare flower and gardenia petals, and a drydown of sheer amber, Moroccan incense and patchouli. "I was never a perfume wearer, because some scents would irritate my skin," said Carey. "But this doesn't, and this is the first fragrance I've ever worn." Each of the ingredients represents something special for her, said Carey. "The inspirations were multiple - places I've been, moments in my life, childhood things like the marshmallow scent in the top note. It's like a subliminal thing - a lightly toasted marshmallow. We were working hard fine-tuning that to the right toast degree, very much like when you sit in front of the fire - which really takes you back to camp, and I'm eternally 12 anyway. Then we have the more sensual bottom note. I went to Morocco a few years ago, and I have a room in my house designed by Mario Buatta which we just extended to the roof - it's like this Moroccan oasis in the middle of New York City. So I burn incense there that I got on the street - I felt really stupid bringing it in to all the bigwigs at Arden, but I really like it. I'm really pretty specific with the things that I like. The Tiare flower has never been a basis for a scent, not the way we've treated it, but I had it around my neck the first time I went to Hawaii, and I never forgot that moment. Creating this [scent] was like creating a song, and that's what I know best. People would ask me how the tour was going, and I'd be like, fine. But the FRAGRANCE..." she laughed. "I don't think people understood that I was really into this, because of the creative scenario. It wasn't like a corporate thing, where it was just like, 'Yeah, put my name on it.' I really got into it." Does anyone think it's a real bad idea for Mariah Carey's signature fragrance, the only fragrance she wears, to smell like food? Can you imagine all the jokes that will come of this? None of which I'll post here but I think you get what I'm saying. I'm sure Mimi and her peeps have high hopes that this fragrance will do well ... but I'm pretty sure it'll be on Wal-Mart shelves by Xmas right between Shania Twain's cologne and Britney Spears's perfume gift set. [Source]

The first report is in concerning the paternity of Melanie Brown (Scary Spice)'s baby Angel Iris Murphy Brown and the word is that Eddie Murphy is the father!


Eddie Murphy is the father of "Scary Spice" Melanie Brown's 2-month-old daughter, Brown's rep confirms to PEOPLE. The results of the DNA test, which Murphy took on June 11, were received by Brown on Thursday afternoon, says rep Liza Anderson. "He's the baby's father, it's official," says a source close to Brown. "The baby is undoubtedly, 110 percent his." Of Brown, the source said, "There was no doubt in people's minds anyways, least of all hers. It wasn't a surprise to her. She knew all along."

Murphy's rep declined to comment.

So to celebrate, I think it's about to be officially announced that the Spice Girls will be reuniting for a new album and possible tour:


THE SPICE GIRLS are giving their fans what they really really want by confirming they are getting back together ... Yes, MEL B, VICTORIA BECKHAM, EMMA BUNTON and GERI HALLIWELL have finally persuaded MEL C to put her solo promotion on hold to reform. Today the girls announced a press conference for Thursday, when they will reveal their "top secret" plans for the future. The wheels have been spinning on this project for a while. Management company 19, who are behind the reunion, recently bought website spicegirlsofficial.com in anticipation of the comeback. Mel C also cancelled a string of commitments for the next few weeks, proving her commitment to Girl Power. Whether they will be known as Posh, Baby, Sporty, Scary and Ginger is yet to be revealed. Personally, I think it'd be okay if all the girls women used the moniker Old Spice. Publicly I have been very hesitant to believe any of the rumors surrounding this reunion but privately I have it on very good authority that the Spices have already recorded 3 songs. It looks like it's really gonna happen ... so dust off those platform boots, y'all ... it's about to get all Spicy in this beyotch! [Source]

Here is our first look at Harrison Ford on the set of the new Indiana Jones movie:


This pic from the official site was snapped by Steven Spielberg and shows a not-too-worse-for-the-wear looking Indy lounging in a chair on set. Finally ... I can start wearing my Indiana Jones hat out in public again! [Source]

And finally, Rufus Wainwright has released the new video for his song Rules and Regulations:


The video features Rufus wearing long underwear and choreographed muscle men dancing behind him ... and that's about all you need to know so watch it :) [Source]

Les News:

• Lauryn Hill is finally getting to work on that new album.
• Pete Doherty publishes his private diaries.
• Shemar Moore has just been charged with driving under the influence.
• Hmm ... Paris Hilton's "psychiatrist" sounds like the real slim shady.
• Woody Allen to direct an opera in LA. Only in LA.
• Tony Bennett finally gets hitched.
• Now YOU too can write Open Letters just like Candy Spellling, courtesy of Gallery of the Absurd.
• John Edwards does Men's Vogue.
• Sophia Bush does "the dip".
• Elisha Cuthbert makes a permnent mark on Hollywood. Er, it's not as cool as it sounds.
• George Clooney takes the hog out for a spin.
• Naomi Watts should be exploding baby any day now.
• Donald Faison is 33, Cyndi Lauper is 54 and Meryl Streep is 58 years old today. Click HERE to see who else is celebrating a birthday today.
• JK Rowling lets her hubby in on the ending of Hary Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
• That's a nice ring, Jenny McCarthy ... got anything to tell us?
• Yikes!

Last night I met up with Mike and his sister and we made our way to Playa Vista, CA for the Harry Potter Video Game Release Party at Electronic Arts LA. I knew that Hayden Panettiere was hosting so I didn't want to miss this little soiree. The place was really fun, decked out so that it looked like Hogwart's School. Here are a few pics from the party:


Here is a cute, short vid of Hayden testing out the video game with Masi Oka giving her some pointers:


Milo Ventimiglia was supposed to be there with his Heroes cast mates (and, trust me, I really wanted him to be there) but couldn't make it becuase he was too busy shooting scenes for the second season of Heroes. Ah well, hanging with Hayden more than made up for it. She was really sweet and we had a nice little chat. I have to send out much thanks and lots of love to Ben and Rembrandt (extra lurve to him for gettin' me a copy of the game for my Wii) for taking such great care of us last night. We're on for dancing ... y'all better not flake!

After the party, the three of us grabbed some food in Brentwood before we went back hom. So yeah, that was pretty much my night. Yesterday afternoon I went thru all my closets and dressers and managed to gather together 5 bags of clothes to donate to Planet Aid. I was running out of room so I just donated everything that I hadn't worn in a while or what I figured I didn't need anymore. I brought all the work shirts I wore as a teacher with me to LA for some unknown reason and now they are gone forever. It felt good to purge all that stuff and for such a great cause.

If you have stuff that you'd like to donate to Planet Aid you can click HERE to see if there is a donation box nearby.

Tonight I'm lying low because I have an early flight tomorrow to NYC. I'll only be there for 3 days but I gots ta see my boo.

It's Friday! Have a great weekend! I am out.

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