Ultra-conservatives can stop worrying. Elton John and his civil partner David Furnish are not going to adopt. The pair have 10 godchildren, from such celebrities as Elizabeth Hurley and Victoria Beckham. And though Elton is playing his final Vegas show tonight, their lives are still “too busy” to settle down with a larger family. They have been in a British civil union since 2005, and have been dating for 12 years, and David says that one reason they decided to have their union legally recognized was for “human rights.”

Sir Elton John may be set to play his 250th and final performance of his show, The Red Piano, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas Wednesday night, but that doesn’t mean he and partner David Furnish will suddenly settle down to build a family.

“I don’t think our lives are suited to raising children,” Furnish, 46, told PEOPLE at last weekend’s GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles. “We’re busy flying places all the time.”

Said Furnish, “Elton is not really going to come off the road. We don’t want to put the raising of children into the hands of nannies and housekeepers. We want to be active parents. We have godchildren [and] kids that we support in Africa, so we’re fine.”

Furnish, 46, and John, 62, have 10 godchildren, including the offspring of pals Victoria Beckham and Elizabeth Hurley.

After dating for 12 years, the two were joined in a civil partnership in December 2005, under a then-new British law for same-sex couples. So while Furnish and John are not married, they enjoy similar benefits to married couples.

Reflecting on their time together, Furnish says, “When all the dust settled, we looked at each other and said, ‘Wow, this feels really nice.’ We did it in Britain in a civil partnership, initially for human rights reasons. We recognized it as ground-breaking legislation we wanted to send a message out to the world that we felt it was something that deserved recognition and support.”

But civil partnership is more than a political statement, says Furnish: “Your love and union has been ratified and accepted by society, and that’s a really nice feeling.”

[From People]

Elton and David have a very realistic perspective on their relationship. Elton recognizes that one of the reasons people had a problem with Prop 8 was the fact that the word “marriage” was included. Elton says that gays shouldn’t get married; they should get civil unions. Heterosexuals, he continues, can keep the word “marriage” for their own. However, civil unions generally don’t give exactly the same rights afforded to heterosexual partners in marriage.

Another reason they may have decided not to adopt is that Elton is 62 and David is 46, which means that their child would have very old fathers. In 2001, Elton told the tabloid Aftonbladet that he had “come to the conclusion that it is too late for me. Had it been 20 years ago, then I would definitely have done it. I don’t want to be 70 years old when my daughter turns 16.”

Elton and David are very realistic about their relationship and its implications - a viewpoint for which you have to give them kudos.

Here’s Sir Elton and David Furnish leaving the Mayfair Hotel in London on December 15th. Images thanks to WENN.com .

Hollywood has gone crazy with re-makes, and when it comes to Jane Austen I think we might have hit breaking point with the whole remake concept - Pride and Prejudice has been remade by television, film, Bollywood and with zombies. And that’s just in the last decade. Now Elton John is bringing in the aliens.

By now, you’ve probably heard that “Pride and Prejudice” heroine Elizabeth Bennet will be fighting off a zombie invasion in Seth Grahame-Smith’s upcoming novel, “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.” Hollywood studios are already reportedly already fighting for the rights to the book, but amazingly, “Zombies” will be beaten by another Jane Austen sci-fi adaptation — “Pride and Predator.”

According to Variety, Elton John’s Rocket Pictures is bringing the project to the big screen, directed by Will Clark, who cowrote the script with Andrew Kemble and John Pape. The story will apparently follow the original novel — until an alien crash lands in the village of Meryton and begins to murder the inhabitants.

Now all those marriage-minded men and women have bigger problems to worry about. “It felt like a fresh and funny way to blow apart the done-to-death Jane Austen genre by literally dropping this alien into the middle of a costume drama, where he stalks and slashes to horrific effect,” producer David Furnish said. Shooting begins in London later this year.

MTV

David Furnish is Elton’s long term partner.

I had Jane Austen rammed down my throat in high school and I have a tolerance for it. I got to watch the good television version, later immortalized in the Bridget Jones’ Diary books, where Colin Firth takes his shirt off. I’ll probably skip this newest version, but I can’t say I hate the idea. All those women sitting around mooning about marriage and social standing seems very out of touch with modern times, and I can’t think of a more realistic, modern dilemma than an alien slasher?

This is a risky venture - some polls have put Pride and Prejudice as the second most loved book (behind The Lord of the Rings trilogy) and Jane Austen still lives on in the hearts of many. While I find her a little wordy and dull, I know why people love it. It’s such a nice idea, a more real to life, adult version of the princess story, that a man is going to come and love us and take care of us and that’s it. The whole story. Except he comes with a bit of land and possibly a minor title rather than on a white horse. The only thing you have to worry about is dying of consumption before you’re thirty. Will aliens breathe new life into this concept?

David Furnish and Elton John are shown at the London premiere of Australia on 12/10/08. Credit: PRPhotos

Elton John has made an argument that sounds like it’s about semantics but is more about basic rights. The 61 year-old pop star has been in a civil partnership with his same sex partner, David Furnish, since 2005. They threw a huge reception for the event with many celebrity guests at an estimated cost of £ 1 million.

Elton says a civil union is all that same sex couples need and that they should confuse the issue by asking for full marriage rights like opposite sex couples:

Elton John says the reason Prop. 8 in California passed, banning gay marriages, is because of one word — marriage.

“I don’t want to be married,” he told USA TODAY’s Donna Freydkin at a New York fundraiser last night. “I’m very happy with a civil partnership. If gay people want to get married, or get together, they should have a civil partnership,” said John. “The word marriage, I think, puts a lot of people off. You get the same equal rights that we do when we have a civil partnership. Heterosexual people get married. We can have civil partnerships.”

Of his partner David Furnish, he says, “We’re not married. Let’s get that right. We have a civil partnership. What is wrong with Proposition 8 is that they went for marriage. Marriage is going to put a lot of people off, the word marriage.”

[From Blogs.usatoday.com via Showhype]

Marriage may just be a word, but it also involves a whole set of rights and allowances not afforded in a civil union in the US, particularly recognition by the federal government. Activists say that civil unions are a kind of “separate but unequal” partnership for same sex couples and that they still face countless legal and monetary issues that don’t affect married couples. Elton John doesn’t care about any of that stuff, though, he’s richer than some countries and doesn’t have to worry if his partner will get insurance money or his government pension if he dies or becomes disabled. He thinks that all the other gay couples be satisfied with a tenuous legal status too. Maybe he’s secretly worried that his assets won’t be protected if he ends up getting married.

Elton John and David Furnish are shown on 11/11/08 at a benefit for his Aids foundation at Cipriani Wall Street in NY. Credit: WENN

Sharon Stone has appeared at Elton John’s Oscar Party wearing a lucky rat’s foot. No, that is not a typo - she wore a rat’s foot, not the traditional lucky rabbit’s foot.

PETA, who have never been a fan of the fur wearing actress, have launched an attack on the jewelery. I can’t blame them - the badge is just so ugly.

In a scathing attack on Stone for her fashion attire, PETA campaigners said: “Maybe Sharon, passed over by the Academy yet again, was jealous of ‘Ratatouille’’s Oscar win and thought a rodent paw might go with her haggard look.”

“Her accessories these days are as dead as her career.”

San Francisco Chronicle

Now, Sharon is said to be wearing the foot as it is an item that Scotsmen wear on their wedding day. I’ve never heard of this tradition, or been to a Scottish wedding, so I’m not sure if it’s meant to be lucky for the groom. I’m not sure how it is lucky, unless it’s because we’ve just had Chinese New Year and it’s the year of the rat. I guess we can safely assume that the brooch wasn’t so lucky for the rat that is now missing a paw.

At least this zebra print outfit was fake, although I think that’s the nicest thing that can be said about it. When did Sharon Stone lose her sense of style?

At the same event, Sharon donated a vintage Corvette racing car for the auction raising money for Elton John’s AIDS foundation. A guest started the bidding at $1 million, only he didn’t have the money. It seems his was just a dummy bid, and he was planning to drop out when someone bid more. Unfortunately even the most shiny of vintage cars is unlikely to net $1 million, and the bidder had to explain he didn’t actually want the car. Whoops.

Sir Elton John owns the largest collection of 20th century photography in the world, and has his own gallery, the Sir Elton John Photography Collection. He loaned 150 of his photographs by Nan Goldin to the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, England, which appeared to be what started the controversy. Nan Goldin’s images are very provocative and unusual and often elicit a very visceral response – however it hasn’t ever lead to her being accused of creating - and Sir Elton being accused of owning - child pornography. One of the photographs John lent was titled “Klara and Edda Belly-Dancing,” and depicts two young girls, one laying on the ground naked with her legs spread apart, the other standing over her belly dancing. The image doesn’t really seem that provocative to me, but more the playing of children who aren’t yet aware of the strict social morays that will come to govern their bodies. However an employee at the Baltic Centre complained that the images were pornographic, which has caused quite a stir for Elton and Goldberg.

“Police in Northumbria, in northeastern England, were called to the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead after fielding a complaint from the gallery’s management. ‘We attended the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead last Thursday at the invitation of the management, who were seeking advice about an item for an exhibition prior to it going on public display,’ a police spokesperson told the Times of London. ‘This item is being assessed, and Northumbria Police, in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service is investigating the circumstances surrounding it.’

“In a statement on his official Website, the 60-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer confirmed that he had purchased the picture in 1999 from the White Cube gallery in London. Titled ‘Klara and Edda Belly-Dancing,’ the image is one of 149 images comprising the ‘Thanksgiving’ installation of acclaimed American photographer Nan Goldin.

“‘The photograph exists as part of the installation as a whole and has been widely published and exhibited throughout the world,’ the singer said in defense of the artist. ‘It can be found in the monograph of Ms. Goldin’s works entitled “The Devil’s Playground” and has been offered for sale at Sotheby’s New York in 2002 and 2004 and has previously been exhibited in Houston, London, Madrid, New York, Portugal, Warsaw and Zurich without any objections of which we are aware.’”

[From E! News]

Elton John has an amazing photography collection that includes works by Richard Avedon, Man Ray, Ansel Adams, and Diane Arbus, my photographic hero. I don’t find the image to be all that provocative, or even that special from an artistic point of view. I truly can’t see what the problem is – though for the sake of not offending others, I’ve chosen not to put the image on the site but to link to it above. The gallery has chosen not to display this image, which I think is a shame. To let one person’s perception of art affect everyone else’s jeopardizes creativity. There is certainly a line, but I don’t think this image is near it.

Picture Note by Jaybird: Here’s Elton John and husband David Furnish at the GQ Magazine Men of the Year Awards on September 4th. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Sir Elton John wants to be Britney’s knight in shining armour. Or Armani. He’s offering her a safe house (That’s what they call it in rehab I think) to stay while she gets her act together. Hopefully a better act than the one she managed at the VMA’s.

One source said: “Elton has been watching Britney spiraling out of control over the past few years.

“He has decided enough is enough and reckons he has plenty of experience in the business to help her.

“He feels so sorry for her because she had fame at such a young age and hasn ‘t handled it well.”

It is not the first time Elton has offered his support to a fellow star.

In 1997, the 60-year-old musician and his partner David Furnish “kidnapped” Robbie Williams to take him to rehab after the Angels singer binged on heroin, cocaine and ecstasy.

Sydney Morning Herald

I wonder if the offer includes a place for her kids to stay, as I’d be terrified to have two toddler’s in Sir Eltons house. They might knock over that glass sculpture of a tiara, or spill juice on one of his famous stage costumes.

Sir Elton is no stranger to the perils of fame, on a television program that ran this week in the UK he confesses to turning to cocaine to overcome his shyness.

The Rocket Man star claimed he was too shy to handle his fame until he was introduced to the drug in the 1970s: “It gave me the confidence to join the game. But I wasn’t the kind of person who would do one or two lines. I did a gram and then called out for more.”

But the drug caused John to meltdown. Besides almost killing him, he confesses it turned him into a detached and demanding diva, adding on the show: “I was once staying in a hotel in London and it was really windy outside. I rang up the office and asked if there was anything they could do about it. That’s how bad it got.”

Ireland Online

It certainly worked. Maybe a little more reticence of Sir Elton’s part would have been a good thing. Drugs are bad kids.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Britney Spears is shown with new dark hair she probably dyed herself yesterday. She was photographed entering a Subway restaurant bathroom, where she disturbed diners and caused a big ‘ol ruckus. Thanks to Splash News for these pics.

There was a wedding in Auckland a few years ago on the same night as a Ricky Martin concert. The connection? Ricky did two shows that night, one of which was at the wedding. Ricky was rumoured to have caught a helicopter into the island wedding, swivelled his hips for a song or two, and then hopped back away on his helicopter.

How much do you think this would cost? Not as much as having the Eagles sing.

The ageing rockers earned just under £4million singing Hotel California at a private party in New York in 2003.

The Rolling Stones, in second place, made £3.5million for an hour’s work when they appeared at the 60th birthday party of Texas tycoon David Bonderman in Las Vegas in 2002.

Celine Dion, at number three with a £2.5million fee, gives private party performances two or three times a year.

Number four, Elton John, made £2million when he sang at the wedding of London pub supremo Peter Shalson in 2002.

And in fifth place is Christina Aguilera, who was paid £1.8million to sing at the wedding of Russian banker and industrialist Andrei Melnichenko to Miss Yugoslavia, Aleksandra Kokotovic, two years ago.

The Daily Mail

I think it might be kind of cool to have a band appear at my birthday, but not at my wedding. I drank nothing but diet water leading up to my wedding, and the dress cost a fortune, I wanted to be the biggest star there! Unless you‘re a big star yourself it’s probably best not to have a real one turn up.

Rounding out the top ten of the most expensive performing fees for private parties, were George Michael (£1.75m), Destiny’s Child (£750,000), Jennifer Lopez (£700,000), and Paul McCartney and Aerosmith tied for tenth place at £500,000.

I think I’ll just buy some new albums for my next birthday party, and a really nice cake. Then people will say “What a delicious cake” instead of “How much do ya reckon she paid for the Spice Girls?”

In more Robbie Williams news …

Elizabeth Hurley, Ashley Judd, breast cancer survivor Anastacia, and Elton John and his partner David Furnish were among the attendees at “The Very Hot Pink Party” in New York last night. Proceeds went to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Elton John and Tony Bennett performed.

Elizabeth Hurley is launching her own line of swimsuits and has just signed up to represent the handbag firm, Lancel.

Elton John has done a lot of charity work recently. He cleaned out his closets to donate more than 10,000 items with the proceeds to benefit his Aids foundation.

Here are the photos from the benefit. Ashley Judd is shown with her husband of five years, Italian racecar driver Dario Francitti. Elton John’s partner David Furnish escorted Elizabeth Hurley to the event.

Update: pictures from the ribbon cutting on Elton John’s closet.