(MSNBC.COM) 22 May 2008:

The American Idol audience brings posters and signs for the show tapings with names of their favorite contestants. One such sign at a recent taping read “Cougars for Cook.” Yes, that’s right, Cougars. Think Demi Moore and any woman of a certain age that would rather be with a man of a much younger age. Think May-December romance except the woman in the relationship is the December.  Soccer moms love David Cook, the latest American Idol winner.  42-year old Linda Sharp from Texas voted 473 times for Cook after his final performance. She said, “The biggest thing: He’s legal, and that goes a long way. He’s 25. That’s old enough that we can openly ogle him, and we can drool over him, and it doesn’t make us feel like we could be his mother.”

(MSNBC.COM) 14 May 2008:

Angelina Jolie confirmed that she’s having twins…after her “Kung Fu Panda” costar Jack Black spilled the beans in an interview with the TODAY show’s Natalie Morales.

Black made the announcement and Jolie confirmed the news:

“You’re gonna have as many as (the) ‘Brady Bunch’ when you have these,” Black joked.

“It’s confirmed? Is it two?” Morales asked.

“Yeah, yeah, we’ve confirmed that already,” Jolie responded. “Well, Jack’s just confirmed it actually.”

“Is that true?” asked a surprised Black.

“Yeah, you did,” said Jolie.

“Sorry!” said Black.

Jolie is keeping the sex of the babies private, but said that she may “possibly” give birth to the twins in France.

(CNN.COM) 1 May 2008:

Barbara Walters confessed to Oprah Winfrey that she had an affair with married U.S. Senator Edward Brooke. She made the startling confession during the taping of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,: which will air on May 6. Their affair lasted several years in the 1970s. Brooke was the first black to be popularly elected to the Senate.

The distinguished newswoman said she was “infatuated” and that Brooke was “exciting and brilliant.” Brooke later divorced and is remarried.

(MSNBC.COM) 13 March 2008:

Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer resigned today after getting caught in a prostitution scandal. Politicians and scandals are nothing new, but this is the same guy that built a reputation on being scrupulously honest and railed against crime and corruption throughout his political career.

The scandal erupted only two days ago when allegations that the family man spent thousands of dollars on a hooker at a Washington hotel on February 13.

He’s not out of the woods, however. He is working on a plea deal in this public corruption scandal.

(MSNBC.COM) 8 February 2008:

Is Simon Cowell getting soft? Early in the season, he gave several sympathy passes to Hollywood, including one to a mother and car accident victim with so-so singing skills. There were none of the vicious personal attacks as in previous seasons (“You look like a bush-baby.”) during the initial auditions. Any criticism he has doled out has been based solely on performance and talent.  Some consider these early antics part of the genius of Simon. Executive Producer Ken Warwick said, “He’s nice for three weeks, and then suddenly he’ll flip and he’ll turn out being (a) bloody horror again.”

(BITTENANDBOUND.COM) 30 January 2008:

Russian model and “celebrity bodyguard” Anna Loginova was killed while trying to prevent a carjacker from stealing her Porsche. She reportedly clung to the doorhandle and was dragged down the road at high speed. Not only did Loginova work the security detail for wealthy Russian clients, she previously worked as a model for Chanel and BMW.

(CNN.COM) 18 January 2008:

Lindsay Lohan is going to be spending time with some stiffs. The young actress has been sentence to work at a morgue as part of her punishment for drunk driving.  She'll spend 8 hours total seeing dead people.

Will Lohan be scared straight or will she continue her partying ways? Stay tuned.

(DAILY MAIL) 14 January 2008:

It’s no news at this point that Britney Spears is dating a member of the paparazzi that only weeks ago stalked her trying to get the money shot.

Word has it that she’s now made her new boyfriend, Adnan Ghalib, her new driver and assistant, paying him several thousand dollars a week and buying him a new Mercedes.

According to sources, he is looking to profit as much as possible from his relationship with the fallen pop star. He even tried to sell photos of the two together for almost a million dollars. He ended up getting only $40K.

And now the stalker is the stalked. He’s begun lashing out at…the paparazzi.

(THE BOSTON GLOBE) 11 January 2008:

In the wake of Hillary Clinton’s tearful moment in the New Hampshire primaries women are speaking up about the double standards (or perhaps different standards) to which they are held in the workplace. When men show emotion, anger perhaps, or frustration, this is considered to be normal. But when women show their emotions at work, this is thought of as a regretable lapse, a showing that they are not fully with the program.

An example of the way in which male norms still dominate the workplace perhaps.

(MARKLIVESINIKEA.COM) 8 January 2008:

Comic Mark Malkoff spent last week living in a New Jersey IKEA while his apartment was being fumigated for roaches. Hotels in New York are prohibitively expensive, so he approached IKEA and asked if he could live there for a week or so. He was surprised when they said yes. He’s documented his stay at a Web site. His last publicity grab was patronizing each of Manhattan’s 171 Starbucks in a single day. He spent $369.14 doing so.  Mark works at the audience coordinator on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.”