- Photos have surfaced of Lily Allen kissing a new, older boyfriend in the Caribbean. We think he looks like Anthony Bourdain. [The Sun]
- Hugh Jackman is no longer in talks to star with Catherine Zeta-Jones in Cleo, a 3-D musical directed by Steven Soderbergh which sets the Marc Antony/Cleopatra love story to rock and roll music. Since Jackman has never met a musical he didn’t like, we’re taking this as a bad sign. [Variety]
- Country legend Merle Haggard had a lemon-sized tumor removed from his lung, but he says he’s not going to let cancer beat him and plans to work harder in 2009 than he has in 20 years. Haggard says he’s singing much better now that he’s quit his daily marijuana habit. [Reuters]
- In case you stupidly went out on New Year’s Eve instead of watching Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper co-host CNN’s Times Square coverage, here’s a clip of Kathy making a dick joke, which CNN later edited out of the re-air. [Media Bistro]
- Charles Barkley was arrested on Wednesday morning on suspicion of drunk driving, but it’s now been revealed that he had a great reason for speeding. He told the cops he was in a hurry to pickup a girl who had given him a blow job one week earlier, which he described as “the best one he had ever had in his life.” [Perez Hilton]
- The surviving members of the Grateful Dead played together in October in support of Barack Obama and had so much fun they decided to get back together and go on tour. So now Obama is reuniting classic bands – is there nothing our president-elect can’t do? [USA Today]
- The magic of New Year’s was not strong enough to reunite Carey Hart and Pink. At midnight he toasted her and led her onstage at his Las Vegas club, but they didn’t share a kiss. Pink played a 30-minute show and they returned to the VIP area to hang out with friends. [People]
- Fergie says she’s working out every day before her January 10th wedding in order to fit into her wedding dress. As you recall, she was tragically forced to gain less than 10 lbs for her role in the upcoming movie Nine. [People]
- Rick Salomon, Paris Hilton’s sex tape partner, is being sued by a woman who claims he and his roommate brutally beat her at a drug and alcohol-fueled party last July. This is truly shocking – he seemed like such a fine upstanding citizen. [TMZ]
- Mark Wahlberg can’t stop urinating in public. Last week he was caught urinating on an LA street, and this time he heard the call while on the golf course and made a mad dash to a nearby bush.[The Sun]
- Heather Locklear has been approached to reprise her role as Amanda Woodward on the new Melrose Place. Could her return spur as much backstage bickering for Melrose Place as Shannen Dougherty’s return to 90210? [Yahoo]
- Elmo, Grover, and Oscar the Grouch will be guest starring on an episode of Scrubs airing on January 20. We expect singing will ensue. [UPI]
- Nick Bollea, Hulk Hogan’s son, wants to serve his five-year probation in California, not Florida, has applied for permission to move. We sincerely hope he’s not planning to use his pre-incarceration appearance on Hogan Knows Best to launch an acting career. [UPI]
- “Yes, my life is incredible but, oh my God. I have to work at it. It’s the same for any working woman,” says Kate Winslet. But if you’re a working woman with a crappy job in an office you’re chances of being nominated for an Oscar or asked to make out with Leonardo DiCaprio are considerably slimmer. [The Telegraph]
- Oprah made a $365,000 donation to the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, telling the school’s director, “I was sitting on my couch and thinking about who I wanted to send Christmas gifts to and I thought about you.” It pays to be on the mind of Oprah! [UPI]
- Amy Winehouse may appear in Norwegian court to appeal marijuana possession charges made against her and Blake Incarcerated in 2007, for which they already paid a fine. Being one of the most famous drug addicts in the world probably isn’t going to help her case. [UPI]
- Khloe Kardashian has been secretly dating Minnesota Timberwolves guard Rashad McCants since the sumemr. How is it that we’ve seen hundreds of photos of this woman shopping, and yet she managed to carry out a secret romance for months? [Perez Hilton]
- Jennifer Garner has yet to give birth, so she has a little more time before she goes on 24-hour “has she lost the baby weight?” watch. [Perez Hilton]
- “Most of my heroes did most of their great stuff before they were 33. It’s not that you can’t do great stuff afterwards. You just have to have deadlines, otherwise you’ll spend all day in the sauna.” – Chris Martin on why he wants Coldplay to “do something good” by 2010, when he will turn 33. [The Sun]