I hope Britney Spears was watching the Grammy awards last night. Amy Winehouse, whose personal life last year rivaled Spears’, won five awards, including Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Female Vocal Performance and Record of the Year for “Back to Black.” But the real triumph of the night for Amy was her performance, broadcast live from London via satellite. Not only did she look better than she has in ages– including new teeth, radiant looking skin and some much needed weight on her frame, but the old sparkle was back in her eyes. She performed two songs, “You Know I’m No Good,” which she nailed both vocally and performance-wise; and her anthem, “Rehab,” which she fell apart on a bit during the middle, as if she realized the irony of that song now. She appeared nervous, but sober.

Winehouse, sporting her signature beehive and looking healthier than tabloid readers have seen in a long time, tore into “You Know I’m No Good.” Then, appearing to lose the nerves as she went on, she segued into her smash hit “Rehab,” once again making people wonder, upon looking at her fragile frame, where that devastatingly mature voice comes from.

The overseas connection was made just in time for Winehouse to look positively flabbergasted at hearing her name called for Record of the Year. She immediately disappeared into the hugs of her band and various supporters, and the intimate crowd assembled to hear her performance in London started chanting “Amy, Amy!”

“Thank you to everyone at Island Records, everyone at EMI Music Publishing…to my mum and dad, to my Blake incarcerated…and to London, this is for London!” the quirky songbird shouted.

[From E! Online]

If anyone in the music industry could make a fresh start with the public, it’s Amy. While her personal life is beyond ridiculous, what with the drugs and the user husband in jail and the drama — she could do a country album based on her life– there’s no denying that she has amazing talent. Let’s hope her victory at the Grammy’s reinforces her desire to stay off drugs and get back to what she does best. At this point, she has the good will of the listening public on her side– let’s keep our fingers crossed that she doesn’t blow it.

Boy Harvard sure is a popular place for actresses these last few days. Yesterday both Paris Hilton and Charlize Theron spent the day at Harvard University. Paris accepted her award as the Harvard Lampoon’s Woman of the Year, while Charlize was given the slightly more prestigious Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year award. Neither actress attended college - or even graduated from high school - but both seemed to get a kick out of their respective honors. Since it’s Harvard, I feel like I should spell it honours. We’ll go fancy today.

So what is she going to do with her prize, the coveted Pudding Pot?

“I’m going to make a stew [in it], and then I’m going to eat it,” [Theron] told reporters at the event, hosted by Hasty Pudding Theatricals (the nation’s oldest collegiate theater group, known for burlesque musicals featuring cross-dressing men). “I’m going to look at it and remember today and how much fun I had.”

Fun, indeed. Her Harvard hosts gave her apple cider – in honor of her role in The Cider House Rules – and, she joked, “I think it was laced with something, which made it much better.”

Still, the actress seemed torn when asked which was the biggest honor, the Pudding Pot or her Academy Award for Monster. “I know you want me to say that the Oscar sucks and this is better,” she said. “There are no men in drag at the Oscars like there are here. I’ve never been surrounded by so many fake breasts.” Then again, considering Hollywood’s penchant for plastic surgery, she added, “Actually, I think I was at the Oscars.”

[From People]

Interestingly, Hasty Pudding has been giving the Woman of the Year award since 1951, but didn’t start handing out awards to the men until 1967. Wikipedia notes that the awards are usually treated with great seriousness by the honoree, who always attends. Apparently a satellite feed is not encouraged. A parade is always given in the winner’s honor. When John Wayne was asked to be the parade marshall in 1969, he somehow obtained an M-113 armored personnel carrier and rode it into Harvard Square. And he wasn’t even Man of the Year. While Charlize Theron appears to have left all military vehicles at home, she did wedge herself in between two cross dressers for some lovely photo ops.

Here’s Charlize at Harvard yesterday.

Amy Winehouse has been looking quite improved and healthy after just under two weeks of rehab. She was allowed to leave briefly to apply for her travel visa to the US on Monday, and everyone was talking about how gorgeous she looked on Wednesday when she was seen out visiting her husband, Blake Fielder Civil, in jail. She seems to have gained some much-needed weight and instead of the look of intense dread and anger that she’s often photographed with she actually looks quite happy and proud. Sobering up has really done wonders for her.

People were excited to hear that Amy was going to the Grammy Awards this Sunday and that she was set perform. Her manager has announced that she’s been denied a US Visa, though, and considering the fact that she was widely seen on video smoking crack I suppose that’s understandable:

Amy Winehouse will not be attending Sunday’s Grammy Awards after all.

She has been denied a U.S. Visa, her rep said in a statement Thursday.

“Amy has been progressing well since entering a rehabilitation clinic two weeks ago and although disappointed with the decision has accepted the ruling and will be concentrating on her recovery,” The Outside Organization, which counts the troubled retro-soul sensation among its clients, said in a statement obtained by the Associated Press.

[From US Weekly]

That’s unfortunate for Winehouse’s fans. She’s got a unique talent, and I know I was looking forward to seeing if she could sing without mumbling when she’s sober. Maybe it’s just as well for her, though, as it might be way too early in her recovery to travel and be around temptation again. Her single “rehab” is nominated for song of the year and record of the year and she might just win a Grammy or two while she’s there.

There is some good news for Winehouse despite this minor setback. There were reports today that the composer responsible for the Jame Bond soundtrack wants her to record the new theme song for the next movie starring Daniel Craig. There’s no title yet, and it’s expected to be out sometime this year. Composer David Arnold said:

“Amy Winehouse did the best record of last year. I haven’t asked her yet but I think she’d be good, although Bond songs can be a bit of a war zone.

“The next film will be in 2008 and we’re almost finished with the script.

The books are all done now so this one is going to be an extension of what happens to Bond, continuing the story from ‘Casino Royale’. We haven’t a title yet but anything without death, dying, tomorrow or dies would be fine by me!”

[From AZ Central]

Keep getting well Amy. The world is waiting to hear more of your fabulous songs. And James Bond won’t be able to get his groove on without you.

Update by JayBird: People reports that Amy will still perform at the Grammys via a satellite uplink from a London studio.

Amy Winehouse is shown visiting her husband in jail on 2/6/08 in the header and on Monday, 2/3/08 below. Thanks to WENN.

Amy Winehouse’s rehab seems to be coming along nicely, everything considered. Although she had to be taken to the hospital last week and put on an IV due to dehydration, she’s stuck with rehab so far. Her previous record was something like four days. Amy has just completed her eleventh day. The carrot at the end of her stick? The hopes of being able to obtain a travel visa and go to the US so she can perform at the Grammys. Winehouse is also nominated for three awards: album of the year, record of the year, and song of the year. Amy was allowed to leave rehab today and was awarded a travel visa, though it came with several conditions.

Amy Winehouse is set to go to the Grammys, a source close to the singer confirms to Usmagazine.com. She briefly left a London clinic this morning to go to the U.S. embassy to renew her visa, her rep tells Us.

“Yes, that’s true,” the rep says.

Her father Mitch told reporters that she has since returned to the clinic and “has not left for good.”

A source told Us that Winehouse, 24, “is desperate to go and has been told she can go on the condition that she has a minder there and returns to rehab when back in the U.K.”

[From Us Weekly]

Amy is nominated for her single “Rehab” for record of the year and song of the year. That’d be a pretty ironic win. I’d love to hear what she’d say in her speech. She’s the only songwriter listed for that track on the Grammy’s website. I always assumed she’d gotten some help with it - but if anyone knows how to write and sing about rehab - and refusing to go to rehab - it’s Amy Winehouse. I’m not sure if her winning a prestigious award for a song she wrote about refusing to treat addiction would be a good thing or not, given where she is right now. But it’s through actually going to rehab that Amy is able to receive the award if she gets it. Oh the layers of irony.

Picture Note by JayBird: Here’s Amy as she briefly left rehab to get her visa today. Images thanks to Splash.

When Angelina talks people listen - and often have emotional reactions which are completely out of proportion to whatever it is she said. The overly-candid actress spoke to the crowd in a question and answer session at the Santa Barbara Film Festival where she accepted the Outstanding Performance of the Year Award for A Mighty Heart. She may not have been nominated for an Oscar this year, but someone should give her an award for the ability to remain controversial while making benign statements.

Angelina talked graciously about one of her ex husbands, calling Billy Bob Thornton “an amazing artist” when someone brought him up. She let us all know that she’s not trolling the ‘net reading up on the vitriolic gossip about her by saying that she doesn’t even know how to turn on a computer. And she seems to have opened up a whole can of dead dried out worms by mentioning how she met her partner again, saying she was reluctant at first to take her role in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but that “obviously I’m very glad I did it – It changed my life.” She even brought up her strained relationship with her dad. Of course all of this is taken out of context and she was specifically asked about these things.

• She retains fond memories of sharing a single acting scene in Tomb Raider with her father Jon Voight, from whom she’s currently estranged. “Strangely enough, the scene was about a daughter and her father who had not spent their lives together and had a lot of questions for each other…[It was] kind of therapeutic for us to get some things out and talk. We spent that time as two artists, and it was a special time. It was an important time.”

• When her ex-husband and Pushing Tin costar Billy Bob Thornton was mentioned, she said “I thought he was an amazing artist, and still is.”
• Prior to screening the famous tango scene clip from Mr. & Mrs. Smith, she was asked if she or Pitt was the better dancer: “I think we’re about equal,” she replied. “Equally not so good.”
• Despite starring in several high-tech productions, she’s technologically challenged in real life: “As Brad knows, I don’t really how to turn on a computer.”
• After back-to-back clips featuring romantic scenes with Brad in Mr. & Mrs. Smith and she and Matt Damon in The Good Shepherd, Jolie said she looked like she was “out on one date and went out on another.” Given the choice between former [Pitt] and current [Damon] holders of PEOPLE’s “Sexiest Man Alive” title she responded “I’m going with the first one.”
• Both she and Pitt were initially reluctant to take on their roles in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but “obviously I’m very glad I did it – It changed my life.”
• When asked if her humanitarian efforts were an even greater passion than acting, she chose a third alternative: “I love being a mom, and I think that’s my big passion: being with my family.”

[From People.com]

The way that Angelina Jolie seems to elicit very strong feelings in others often baffles me. But reading this interview, distilled and excerpted down to the key issues that people have with her, helps me understand how she’s become such a target. She doesn’t say anything controversial in this talk, but manages to address all the reasons she is controversial. Maybe this doesn’t have anything to do with her, and she’s just trying to graciously answer all the questions without deferring. When she said she wouldn’t talk about the Jennifer Aniston W Magazine cover face-off everyone bashed her for it, so maybe she can’t win either way.

She should hire a publicist and a personal coach to help her talk around things though. She could also make friends with Reese Witherspoon. Now there’s an A-List actress who manages to make statements about her personal life without revealing much. But I suppose you can’t blame Angelina for addressing all the bullet point reasons that people use to bash her. After all, she can’t turn on a computer and presumably doesn’t know how much fury some seemingly minor statements can unleash. (Don’t make me turn off the comments on this post.)

Brad and Angelina are shown on the red carpet at the Santa Barbara film festival. Reporters were instructed not to ask questions about Angelina’s rumored pregnancy or to question Brad about his rare lapse in fashion judgment. Thanks to Splash News for these photos.

Victoria’s Secret released their third annual “What is Sexy?” winners, and I have to say the results are pretty shocking. Surely no one would agree on everything, as sexy is in the eye of the beholder. Most of us think it has to do with a lot more than just appearances… it’s a quality. Like if Paris Hilton happened to also be reasonably intelligent, a good person, and not have that wonky eye, a person could find her sexy. But you’d have to be around her to evaluate. Yet you can just look at her now and instantly rule her off the list. There are certainly a few people I would argue are inherently not sexy here… but we’ll let you be the judge.

Sexiest Male Athlete: Tony Romo
Sexiest Couple: Fergie and Josh Duhamel
Sexiest Style: Scarlett Johansson
Sexiest Smile: Ryan Seacrest
Sexiest Eyes: Kate Bosworth
Sexiest Legs: Ali Larter
Sexiest Mom: Victoria Beckham
Sexiest Dad: Justin Chambers
Sexiest Funnyman: Dane Cook
Sexiest Beach Body: Josh Holloway
Sexiest Lips: Jessica Biel
Sexiest Actress: Eva Mendes
Sexiest Actor: Eric Bana
Sexiest Female Musician: Rihanna
Sexiest Male Musician: Chris Brown
Sexiest Cast: Dirty Sexy Money
Sexiest Newcomer: Blake Lively
Sexiest Newlyweds: Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelly

[From CNN]

I have a real issue with anyone calling Fergie sexy. Pencil-thin over arched eyebrows are not sexy. She just looks pulled and tight and fake. And even though she looks like she puts a lot of effort into her appearance, somehow whenever I see a picture of her I can’t help but think that she probably has some type of body odor issue. And there was that time she peed herself on stage, which she recently admitted to. So there’s a lot of unsexiest going on there. Ryan Seacrest’s smile is not sexy, it’s chiclet. Equating Ryan Seacrest to sex is like equating a sand dollar to dinner - they just don’t go, and all it does is leave you confused.

48 year-old actress Sean Young, whose career has stalled following a series of crazy stunts and a general reputation of being unstable, didn’t do herself any favors over the weekend at the Director’s Guild Awards. She was escorted out by security after repeatedly heckling presenters and award winners.

Apparently over-served actress Sean Young was thrown out of the Directors Guild of America awards in Los Angeles after getting into a drunken argument with director Julian Schnabel as he delivered a speech.

“She yelled out, ‘Hurry up with the speech,’ and he looked like Raging Bull. He shot back, ‘Have another cocktail sweetheart, or would you rather finish my speech for me?’” a witness to Saturday night’s row said.

“The entire room gasped,” the insider continued.

“He almost charged off without finishing his speech, to the point where the music started to play. But he calmed himself and came back and finished.”

Young, 48, who was sitting at Helen Hunt’s table near the front, also heckled “La Vie en Rose” actress Marion Cotillard - in French; and she became unruly during a video clip of George Clooney.

“Her date was whispering to her that she was drunk, and she would push him off and slur, ‘No, you’re drunk. I’m not leaving. YOU leave!’” the witness said.

Young, a former model, achieved fame with roles opposite Harrison Ford in “Blade Runner” (1982) and Kevin Costner in “No Way Out” (1987).

But her feisty temperament began costing her work, and a 1988 romance with “The Boost” co-star James Woods famously ended with him suing her for harassment.

[From NY Daily News]

I remember reading a lot of dirt on how Young went crazy after James Woods dumped her and mailed him photos of dead animals. Defamer points us to this interview with her in Entertainment Weekly that chronicles the decline of her career along with the allegations by Woods. She compared herself to Jodie Foster, who was harassed by Reagan’s would-be assassin John Hinckley and said that “[The Woods story] boils down to two people plotting to set me up and make me look like I was a crazy person, partially because of their own mental illness, partially because of revenge,” and “How many actresses do you know whose leading man and leading man’s girlfriend have sued them? And what was Hinckley? What do those two things have in common?” Craziness? “That’s right. And what do you think that does to a person? You either get it together real fast, or you get eaten up by it.”

Defamer reminds us that Young famously appeared on the The Joan Rivers Show in a catsuit trying to land the role of catwoman that ultimately went to Michelle Pfeiffer. She also showed up at Warner Brothers offices dressed in full catwoman gear vying for the role. It’s a wonder she was passed up.

Here’s the video of her on The Joan Rivers show, thanks to Defamer for linking it. It doesn’t have sound:

Thanks to Access Hollywood for the photos of Young on the night in questions.

I wanted to post as many photos of the celebrities at the SAG Awards last night as possible, so instead of just doing “Best” and “Worst” Dressed or posting by single celebrity, which takes too long, I’m adding an “Undecided” category for those dresses that don’t hit either extreme.

Some outfits are obviously bad, like Sandra Oh and her giant bow, and Tilda Swinton’s oversized purple metallic jacket. I feel bad for putting Cate Blanchett on the worst dressed list, and usually she would get a pregnancy pass for that busy flowery dress, but we hold Blanchett to a higher fashion standard than everyone else and she’s expected to look fabulous throughout her pregnancy.

Other gowns are just not to my taste but don’t deserve a “Worst Dressed” label, like Terri Hatcher’s too-tight white gown with a silver and bronze flower print. It wasn’t a hideous dress, the print just looked like wallpaper to me. Simple clean lines and solid colors are what I prefer to see on the red carpet. I’ve been aptly criticized in these best and worst dressed posts in the past for being too conservative in my fashion tastes, though. I didn’t adore Angelina Jolie’s dress - the cut was lovely for a probably pregnant woman, but the colors seemed kind of muddy to me.

Michelle Pfeiffer was striking in a sleeveless tan dress with matching peep-toe shoes and subtle accessories. Holly Hunter cut a striking figure in cowl neck white dress with a grey ribbon. Kyra Sedgwick and Marcia Cross wore flowing dresses in bright hues of blue. And Ellen Pompeo seems to have escaped her sometimes-fug fashion past with a gorgeous silver gown with subtle layers of soft fabric.

Thanks to PRPhotos for these pictures.

Best Dressed: Michelle Pfeiffer, Holly Hunter, Kyra Sedgwick, Marcia Cross, Ellen Pompeo, Marion Cotillard, Brittany Snow, Nancy O’Dell, Jamie Lynn Sigler, Glenn Close, Lymari Nadal, and Becki Newton:

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Worst Dressed: Tilda Swinton, Sandra Oh, Amanda Bynes, Melora Hardin, Nikki Blonski, Jane Krankowski, January Jones, Dana Delaney, Debra Messing, Missi Pyle, Christina Hendricks, Cate Blanchette

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Undecided: Kate Beckinsale, Eva Longoria, Edie Falco, Chandra Wilson, Christina Applegate, Teri Hatcher, Maria Gay Harden, Lisa Rinna, Sara Ramirez, Rebecca Romijn, America Ferrera, Ellen Burstyn, Sophia Bush, Alison Janney, Vanessa Williams, Nicolette Sheridan, Ashley Tisdale, Tina Fey, Angelina Jolie, Sally Field.

Stars flocked to the annual award ceremony for the Screen Actors Guild, which was granted a waiver by fellow unionists in the Writers Guild of America, who promised not to picket the show. The Golden Globes were canceled due to the writer’s strike, and the upcoming Oscars, scheduled for under a month away on February 24, are also likely to be scrapped. There are negotiations going on now, but it is not known if the strike will be amicably settled in time for the biggest Hollywood award ceremony of the year. For now we’ll have to settle with the SAG Awards, which were suitably star-studded and often predict the Oscar winners. Even if the Oscars have to be mailed in this year, we’ll still have the SAG Awards. This lighter awards schedule helps remind us how the people in the industry are suffering while we’re sitting back waiting for our favorite shows to come back or run out.

Top honors went to No Country for Old Men as best film cast, with Daniel Day Lewis winning best actor for his role as an oil prospector in There Will be Blood. Julie Christie took home the best actress award for Away From Her, in which she plays an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

The Screen Actors Guild gave its top 2008 Actor Awards to the cast of “No Country for Old Men, Daniel Day-Lewis and Julie Christie.

In film, the Screen Actors Guild honored Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, “There Will Be Blood,” Actress: Julie Christie, “Away From Her”, Supporting actor: Javier Bardem, “No Country for Old Men,” Supporting actress: Ruby Dee, “American Gangster” and cast: “No Country for Old Men.”

In Television the winners are Actor in a movie or miniseries: Kevin Kline, “As You Like It.” Actress in a movie or miniseries: Queen Latifah, “Life Support,” Actor in a drama series: James Gandolfini, “The Sopranos,” Actress in a drama series: Edie Falco, “The Sopranos,” Actor in a comedy series: Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock,” Actress in a comedy series: Tina Fey, “30 Rock,” Drama series cast: “The Sopranos” and Comedy series cast: “The Office.”

[From HollywoodToday.net]

Here are pictures from the press room, including some of presenters Kate Hudson and a newly-shorn Matthew McConaughey. Thanks to PRPhotos.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt attended the Screen Actors Guild awards last night, and Angelina was looking pregnant in a flowing vintage Hermes gown that emphasized her growing bustline and hid any evidence of a bump. There are rumors that Angelina is pregnant with twins, and that might not be true but I would bet that she’s at least pregnant. She’s gained some much-needed weight recently and was seen at the Critic’s Choice Awards with a small lower bump. Now that she’s wearing a loose gown she really looks like she’s hiding something.

Brad and Angelina were seen kissing at the event and generally looking cuddly. Angelina was nominated for best actress for her role as Marianne Pearl in A Mighty Heart, with Julie Christie ultimately winning the award for Away From Her. Given how happy Brad and Angelina looked, it’s not likely that she minded.

We contacted Brad’s rep about the recent rumors that Angelina is pregnant with twins and that Brad wants to adopt a Katrina orphan. She said “I’m not commenting on unsubstantiated rumors from tabloid magazines.” Now that I’ve read the whole Katrina orphan story in Star Magazine, it does sound like a crock of shit to me. The twin rumor also seems a bit too good to be true, but it would be great news if it were. Either way, it seems like congratulations are in order.

Images thanks to PR Photos.