I think the only person even remotely impressed with Paula Abdul‘s career at this point is Paula Abdul. And in her latest quirky quote, she has credited herself for the success of pop/R&B powerhouses Rihanna and Beyonce.

“My videos stand the test of time. They are like the almanac for every performer,” Abdul said in a recent interview. “Even Rihanna has come up to me and said ‘I hope you don’t mind.’ And Beyonce. You can see the influence of what I’ve done. It’s really fun to see that I’ve left a mark. It was my idea to create an animated character. It takes a lot of focus, a lot time, and a lot of money.”

Riiiiiiight, Paula. We know- you’re a devoted, rich genius. Keep on smokin’ that good stuff, sister!

[images: WENN]

It is really hard to pull off a dress straight from the runway. Afterall, designers create the gowns to fit six foot tall bean pole skinny girls, and how many women actually look like that in real life? It could be especially hard if you are a shorter, super-curvy chick like Jennifer Lopez, but the sexy siren totally pulls it off.

She wore this Marchesa metallic gold gown that made it’s debut on the runway at New York Fashion Week in September, and she wore it much better than the model. I like what her curves do for the draping of the fabric around her hips, and her chiseled and muscular shoulders, chest and arms look smokin’ hot. The girl was on fire at the Golden Globes, and she managed to bring that dress from the runway to the red carpet in major style.

A simple clutch, minimal jewelry and pulled back hair showed off the dress’ beauty and she looks like a total glam goddess. I love me some J-Lo!!!

[image: people.com]

Though Molly Ringwald plays mom to two teenage girls on her hit ABC Family show The Secret Life of an American Teenager, in real- life she has a five year old daughter, Mathilda Ereni. But the child star- now 40 years old- has just announced that she is expecting twins (a boy and a girl) with hubby, Panio Gianopoulos, 33. The babies are due in August, and the pregnancy will be written into her show.

Ringwald starred in such teen classics as Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, and Sixteen Candles.

On Secret Life, she plays the sympathetic but overwhelmed Anne Juergens – a woman reeling from her husband’s affair, her mother’s Alzheimer’s and, most poignantly, her 15-year-old daughter’s pregnancy.

Congratulations to the happy family. I can’t wait to see how this gets worked into the already too complicated storyline.

[images: WENN]

I never pick on celebrity’s kids… It’s not fair to them that their parents are weirdos sometimes. However, I wonder if Sarah Jessica Parker is confused about whether her son James Wikkie Broderick is a girl or a boy. His hair is past his shoulders, and she has him in a LOT of pink as she walks him to school through the West Village in Manhattan. Pink in the hat, pink in the pants, pink striped socks, and pink in the shoes. I mean, I am all about men being secure enough in themselves to sport some pink now and again, but is it necessary to dress your young son like that?

The only thing that halfway masculinizes the outfit is the blue scarf and coat, but geesh. I mean, would Carrie Bradshaw commit such a fashion travesty on her child? I think not!!

[images: WENN]

Ex-wife of Travis Barker, former Playboy Playmate and beauty queen Shanna Moakler hosted an evening at Prive nightclub inside the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino last night in Vegas. (I never understand what “hosted an evening” means exactly, but oh well). Shanna’s t-strap peep toe black shoes: hot. Those curvy muscular legs: hot. Her gorgeous smile: hot. The color of her “dress”: hot…

But why is she wearing a garbage bag? Seriously? The chick has a rocking body and she draped herself in an ill-fitting, unflattering, could-fit-another-person-in-there dress!! Then she decided to go with the 1950′s mommy haircut and drag-queen make up. This girl’s got major potential to be a ridiculously hot girl, but she did not make good fashion choices last night and ends up a major fashion flop. And what’s up with those hooker hoop earrings and matching stud cuffs?

Poor friend needs a stylist or something!!

[images: WENN]

Here is the much talked about video of the alien (what the heck else could be in it) UFO that supposedly flew over the Inauguration of Barack Obama on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

“If that’s a bird, it’s a damn big bird!” – I love the Talladega Nights commentary on this video.

So is the object in the video a UFO or something else?

Brazilian model Mariana Bridi da Costa has died from the infection Pseudomonas aeruginosa which derived from an urinary tract infection according to officials from a Brazilian hospital.  Mariana was just 20-years old.

Bridi fell ill in December and doctors originally diagnosed her with kidney stones, local media said. But her condition worsened and doctors then diagnosed a urinary tract infection that spread. She was hospitalized on Jan 3.

Once she was hospitalized, doctors discovered septicemia had set into her limbs, cutting off circulation.

They were forced to amputate.

The amputation was not enough to stop the spread of the infection that spread throughout her body and ended up taking her life.

Mariana was a Miss Brazil World finalist twice and had a rather successful modeling career in Brazil.  See several of her modeling photos at the bottom of this story.

Septicemia is a deadly disease that can being from something as common as a urinary tract infection or other infections of the body.

Septicemia is the presence of bacteria in the blood. It’s a serious, life-threatening infection that rapidly gets worse. It can arise from infections throughout the body, including infections in the lungs, abdomen, and urinary tract, the National Institutes of Health said on its Web site.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mariana’s family. I would like to also encourage all women to get immediate medical help when signs of an urinary tract infection arise.

More Photos of Mariana Bridi da Costa

go on reading »

Hall-of-Fame N.C. State women’s basketball coach Kay Yow died on Saturday in North Carolina. Yow was 66-years-old and had been battling breast cancer for two decades.  She is one of the most successful coaches in women’s college basketball history.

Yow won more than 700 games in a career filled with milestones. She coached the U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal in 1988, won four Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championships, earned 20 NCAA tournament bids and reached the Final Four in 1998.

She also was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2002, while the school dedicated “Kay Yow Court” in Reynolds Coliseum in 2007.

But for many fans, Yow was best defined by her unwavering resolve while fighting cancer, from raising awareness and money for research to staying with her team through the debilitating effects of the disease and chemotherapy treatments.

Yow, an inspirational to men and women alike, was the N.C. State women’s coach from 1975 until just recently when she was forced to take a leave of abscence due to her health.  Her impact on college basketball and courage amidst two decades of breast cancer will never be forgotten.

First Lady Michelle Obama is none too happy about toy maker Ty using the names and likenesses of her two daughters, Sasha and Malia, to create two new dolls.  She went as far to say that Ty was “inappropriate.”

Ty, the toy company that rose to fame in the 90′s from their extremely popular Beanie Babies, has named two of their new ethnic dolls ‘Sweet Sasha’ and ‘Marvelous Malia’ according to CNN.

The first lady’s office said Friday Ty was out of line. “We feel it is inappropriate to use young private citizens for marketing purposes,” said a spokeswoman for Michelle Obama in a statement.

A Ty representative told CNN the company generally avoids naming dolls for “any particular living individual,” because doing so might interfere with how kids use their imaginations to play with them. But they wouldn’t reveal the source of their inspiration for the new figures, telling CNN that information relating to the development of the company’s merchandise — including how it comes up with products, product names, and trademarks – is proprietary.

Welcome to national fame and popularity. I have a feeling the girls probably like the dolls. I know I would have been super-pumped to have had a My Little Pony G.I. Joe named after me as a kid.  I disagree with Michelle on her statement that the two girls are private citizens.

For better or worse, when your husband becomes President, the entire family becomes national figures and celebrities in their own right.  I believe it is even more true when you have your daughters do interviews with you on TV and you bring them on the stage at conventions and campaign rallies for curb appeal.  Michelle should save her energy.  She is going to have a lot larger battles to fight in protecting her daughters, than the issue of dolls sharing her girl’s names.

Katrina Darrell made her way to the top (if appearing on TV in nothing but a bikini can be called top!) quickly from Hooters, where she used to work, to hot lesbian parties with friends and straight to your TV set opening this season of the famous “talent” show “American Idol“.

According to RadarOnline, the 21 year-old “bikini girl” worked last year as a Hooters Girl in West Covina, but she quickly got fired when she started skipping work and leaving in the middle of a shift to go to auditions.

“Some girls who work at Hooters are embarrassed by the tight shorts and skimpy tops they have to wear, but Katrina loved it. She always had her shorts pulled up the tightest and her T-shirt knotted up to show off the most midriff. She loved the attention.” her pal tells RadarOnline.com.

“All Katrina ever talked about was becoming famous,” said a friend, “Her one aim in life was to make it in Hollywood.”

From Hooters to TV, I say Katrina made a big improvement but she will actually eventually need some type of talent to make it big in Hollywood as she wishes. Not everyone can be Paris Hilton or Heidi Montag!

“American Idol” Bikini Girl Katrina Darrell Lesbian Party Photos HERE>>

“American Idol” Casey Carlson Audition & Bikini Photos HERE>>

Actress Natalie Portman walk her dog through the rain with a friend in North Hollywood today (Jan, 23rd). The 27 year-old beauty dared to face the bad weather and the awaiting paparazzi with nothing more than her jogging apparel and absolutely no makeup. We have to give her props to going out, being normal, being just like any of us… too bad that she still looks so damn good and cute even with any sparkly Hollywood glamor!

[images: WENN]

Actor Tom Hanks basically just spit on his own plate when he claimed the Mormons who supported Proposition 8 (which prohibits gay marriage) were un-American at the “Big Love” third season premiere party last week.

For those of you who haven’t heard or even seen “Big Love”, it tells the story of a fundamentalist Mormon family living in a normal neighborhood in Utah that practices polygamy and Tom Hanks is the Big producer of the show.

“The truth is a lot of Mormons gave a lot of money to the church to make Prop-8 happen,” Tom Hanks told FOXNews.com. “There are a lot of people who feel that is un-American, and I am one of them. I do not like to see any discrimination codified on any piece of paper, any of the 50 states in America, but here’s what happens now.”

This led to a response from a spokeswoman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Kim Farah says: “expressing an opinion in a free and democratic society is as American as it gets.” Right on!! Freedom of speech, religion and beliefs.

Bill McKeever, a rep for the Mormonism Research Ministry, added, “Personally, I find it un-American to tell people that they shouldn’t vote their conscience.” Well I find it very un-American calling other Americans un-American! Are you still with me? So Tom did what everyone would do to NOT get their ass sued, he apologized!

“Last week, I labeled members of the Mormon church who supported California’s Proposition 8 as ‘un-American,’” the actor said in a statement through his publicist. “I believe Proposition 8 is counter to the promise of our Constitution; it is codified discrimination.”

“But everyone has a right to vote their conscience; nothing could be more American,” the statement continues. “To say members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who contributed to Proposition 8 are ‘un-American’ creates more division when the time calls for respectful disagreement. No one should use ‘un- American’ lightly or in haste. I did. I should not have.”

It sounds like this apology is kind of empty. Tom pleas mea culpa but still thinks exactly what he said. He is just not going to say it out loud ever again! Good boy! Everyone has the right to their opinion and to support whatever they think it’s right and I think that’s the essence of being American…

Photos of Tom Hanks at HBO’s “Big Love” Premiere

[images: WENN]