Gwen keeps it real after all her recent talk about her diet. Her tour rider posted below requests nothing but healthy, mostly organic foods.
On a side note, I love the font her name is in.

Justin Timberlake says he finds it hard to maintain long-term relationships, because he’s “still a man.” The SexyBack singer — who split from Cameron Diaz last Christmas and has since been linked to Jessica Biel and Scarlett Johansson — blames his noncommittal attitude on his masculinity. JT says, “As much as I’ve learned, I am still a man so I have some kind of learning disability. And women wouldn’t have us any other way.” Uh… what? Poor thing. That learning disability must affect his English, too, because I have no clue what he just said.

Guess who’s out partying?

To see whose skinny jeans are a little bunchy, just

read more

Mischa Barton at SAFE Campaign Magazine Signing.

I’d like to personally say thank you to William Phillips for taking a fellow contract worker hostage and killing him at the Johnson Space Center. Thank you for continuing the job that Lisa Nowak started in February of completely discrediting NASA and making the people who work there look like assholes. Thanks, you two. That’s exactly what the Space Program needs right now.

Cue Homer Simpson: “Oh, and in case you couldn’t tell, I was being sarCASTic!“

Just a few days after Virginia Tech, and we’ve got another shooting. The question people are asking, once again, is: “How can this sort of violence be prevented?” And they look at the gun laws and wonder what can be done. But I have a question that not many people seem to be asking: Why is everyone so fucking pissed these days?

This isn’t the first time we’ve had to hear about someone going postal at work. Hell, “going postal” is kind of a punchline these days, because it’s been going on so long (since at least the 1980s) that we’ve become numb to it. We almost expect it–someone at work is tense enough to explode.

But these are the late-20th and early 21st century equivalent of the slave revolts of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The post office shootings (or revolts, if you like) started up because, a study showed, the coporate culture of the post office (forced on them by Richard Nixon’s scheme to privatize the USPS) was particularly brutal, authoritarian, and stressful. It’s not surprising that this jumped into the private sector; the private sector has turned us into such a servile position that the term “wage slave” is now a bitter joke. And there are more people who are just finally pushed too far. Handgun-Free America did a study in 2004 showing that there had been 164 shootings between 1994 and 2003; 290 people had died in them. It’s not guns, it’s not violent movies and video games, it’s not sociopaths who have a psychotic break. We’ve always had guns and psychos; we’ve always had violence in culture. The people who do these are seemingly random; both the FBI and the Secret Service have been unable to come up with a profile for who is apt to snap (remember that right now while pro-gun conservative apologists are deflecting the gun issue and talking about recognizing “symptoms”).

Here’s your problem in the workplace: the CEOs and their corporate policies. In 1978, CEOs earned 35 times what their average employees did. By 1997, it was 115 times. By 2001, it was 531. You want to know who’s destroyed the middle class? Adjusting for inflation, the average white-collar worker earned just six cents more per hour than he/she did in 1973. Since Reaganomics, America has the single worst gap (by far) of any advanced economy between the wealthy and everyone else. 531 times what the average employee makes. For every dollar the bottom 10% of the work force makes today, the top 0.01% make an extra $18,000. Since the 1980s, people are taking shorter lunch breaks and less vacation time. They work harder to make basically the same amount of money they were making in the 1950s, while the cost of living goes up, more services are privatized (so their costs go up), and the amount of free time they have disappears. And, unlike every other advanced economy in the world, we’re not even guaranteed health care. So we have to work even more for much, much less.

Think about all of that the next time some company tells you they’re raising their prices in order to “stay competitive.” Or the next time they tell you they’re shipping your job–but not you–to India or Mexico to “stay competitive.” Competitive to what? That extra $18,000 not doing it anymore?

Companies now seem to operate on a policy of terror and stress. It’s in their best interests to keep the hive humming, but not to keep them thriving. Corporations are grabbing all of the wealth they can and leaving us nothing but stress, anger, and sickness.

And no one cares.

I remember Lewis Black talking about the Enron or Worldcom CEOs, and remarking that he was surprised “the employees didn’t rise up as one and slay them.”

I also remember, in the movie 1776, about the writing of the Declaration of Independence, a character pointing out that “most people would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich than face the reality of being poor.”

Good luck. But keep this in mind: 52% of workplace shooters have experienced a negative change in employment status. Only 13% have a history of mental illness.

Say what you will about the French, but at least they take to the streets in protest. Why are we so afraid?

Brit Brit wasn’t a happy bunny yesterday as she visited a beauty salon in LA yesterday. Probably because of her Daddy releasing that statment to the NY Post yesterday. (I’m happy because she got rid of the pheasant hat but she replaced them with a greater evil, these boots)

Britters was much happier on Thursday afternoon when her and Allie stopped off on the side of the road to buy some strawberries:

Brit’s close friend,choreographer and So You Think You Can Dance judge, Brian Friedman (who is over in England at the moment acting as a judge in Grease In The Word) gives an exlcusive interview in The Mirror today about the pop tart’s impending comeback:

PS: 3 Tracks have been confirmed to E! from Britney’s new album:

Pull Out

Love

Kiss Me All Over

Every decision she’s made in the past month has been positive,” says Brian, who was with her last week as she recorded tracks for her next album.

“I’ve worked with her over the last couple of months in the studio on stuff with new music,” Brian confides. “It’s all very top secret. Will her new image involve her showing off her shaved head? We’ll see. It’s definitely going to be a change.”

“I’m not just talking about going to rehab. More than that. Her life is going in a very positive direction.”

But behind the scenes, Brian will continue to do what he does best – being a dependable friend to one of the world’s biggest pop stars as she begins the next stage of her life.

“She’s a strong woman and I’m sure she’ll do what’s best,” Brian says. “I’m proud of her for taking control.”

Brian’s probably equally as delusional as Brit Brit though as he doesn’t rule out a reconciliation with JT:

Brian believes she could return to the big love of her life – the man many believe she has never stopped caring for – megastar Justin Timberlake.

Brian, who’s worked with Justin and hangs out with him socially, says: “I’d never rule anything out. They made a cute couple. I’m not going to try to be their matchmaker though.”

Carmen Electra, actress, dancer, former lover and wife of Dennis Rodman, Dave Navarro and other fortunate men which we envy, justifiably. But, it is not our fault that this beauty likes to be photographed so much, and who would not with such a surreal body and her equipment that attracts weak male hearts throughout the world.

Carmen Electra recently publicised an interesting fact, remembering her debut for Playboy magazine in 1990: -When I received the magazine s offer, I was not sure if I would take it or not, I was terribly shy. Still, I saw it as a good opportunity to set myself free of this trait that was holding me back. Of course, after I did it, nobody wanted me to stay dressed any more- Contactmusic reports.

There, as you can see, even the prettiest girls are self-conscious which can equalise them with Carmen in the end, they only need an attitude like hers. Sometimes, it is all in the attitude which, unfortunately, can hardly be obtained over-night still, who tries and works on themselves, results always follow in the end.

So here is the dilema: birthday present for a 18 year old girl. She’s a family friend of mine and I want to get her a very fabulous present that she would absolutely adore that her family wouldn’t think of giving her. So I thought, what would a girl who is about to go to college want?- MAKE-UP! She doesn’t usually wear make-up (not when I see her anyway), but a girl has got to start some time right? And who doesn’t love make-up? I have capped the price at around $30 and here are a few things I am considering:
The first thing that comes to mind is the classic make-up essential, mascara. You really can’t go wrong with mascara. So I thought of getting her this DiorShow Blackout Mascara ($23) in conjunction with . . .

. . the Shu Uemura eye lash curler ($18). She’d be all set for perfect lashes. Except now I am way out of my budget.
I could get her this wonderful MAC pencil eye liner ($16 I think) with the eye lash curler. .
. . and throw in a cheaper mascara, like this one from Maybelline (which also works great!), because it would be too strange to give someone just an eye lash curler and a pencil as a gift. But still, how weird is it to give a gift of 2 black sticks and a metal contraption even though it makes complete make-up sense?
Presentation is the key after all. So I next thought of getting her an eye shadow palette. I personally LOVE eye shadow palettes. Like this Spring Eye Shadow Trio by Stila ($32) (I got their one last year and absolutely LOVED it and actually used it all the time. Actually I still use it!). . .

. . and this Tokidoki eye shadow quad by Smashbox ($30). They even fit the budget perfectly. My only problem is deciding which colors to buy, everyone’s taste and skintones are different after all. . .

Now this one I’m seriously considering: The Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes kit. For only $30, you get eye concealer, 2 eye shadow shades in pink and brown, a shimmer eye shadow, a concealer brush and a contour/liner brush AND instructions on how to apply. Its a bargain AND a great starter set of make-up for anyone. The only thing is that it looks very tiny like a sample case and not very awesome present like. But I guess the best gifts comes in small boxes?

And just to throw in as another consideration, the classic Nars blush/bronzer duo in Orgasm ($36), another make-up staple.

So thoughts? What would be the perfect gift for a 18 year old birthday?

Photo Credits: Sephora, Mac, Maybelline