Well, I guess we have to give Taylor Swift some credit. I feel like she’s been listening to some of our style criticisms of her, and this is how she answered. Swifty did not wear a prom dress, nor a wedding dress, nor something that made me think “how virginal.” Her Grammy dress was not a pastel. It was not white. It was not made of lace (sort of). It was not “precious”. Now, was this Zuhair Murad gown GOOD? Not really. I like the idea of Swifty graduating to metallics, but this feels like the busted cousin of one of her usual sparkly, lacy prom dresses. The effect with the sheer fabric on her chest is especially bad! That being said, I’m okay with everything from the waist down. The bottom of the dress is interesting.

Oh, and I really, really dislike Swifty’s hair here, but once again, I think I have to give her credit for changing it up. She didn’t do a curly frizz, she didn’t do giant bangs, she didn’t do sleek. She went for a simply, uncomplicated bun – but it just doesn’t suit her face. She looks particularly crazy-eyed this way. As for Swifty’s performance of “Mean”… I found it boring. That “country” stuff seems like a shtick for her at this point.

It struck me as I was watching the first hour of the Grammys – how perfect would it be if Swifty (the tall girl) ended up with Bruno Mars (the short guy)? Think about it – they would be super-cute together!!!!!! I can’t help it, I think Bruno is adorable, and I hope he got even more fans last night with his performance. I want him with Swifty.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Some say that Taylor Swift made the decision to leave Les Miserables. Some say she never really had the part. Some say that she did have the part, but once she got to London, she messed it up somehow. I still don’t really know what happened, but I do think that we’ll be hearing about it in a future song, don’t you? Here’s something even better too – not only did Swifty not end up as Eponine, she also lost out on the chance to date another actor! Yes, while Swifty was in London, she met British actor Eddie Redmayne. I know him from My Week With Marilyn – where he was the weakest link, the lead “assistant” dude who fell in love with Marilyn Monroe. He has cheekbones to die for and he’s got that freckly English-boy handsomeness, but I’m not that into him. Swifty was, though. And now it’s all RUINED!!!!!

Poor Taylor! According to ‘Us Weekly,’ the singer was getting hot and heavy with potential ‘Les Miserables’ co-star Eddie Redmayne, but when she didn’t get the part, he broke up with her!

Taylor Swift doesn’t have much luck when it comes to men, does she?

Taylor and British actor Eddie Redmayne met when she auditioned to play Eponine in Les Miserables opposite Eddie’s Marius, Us Weekly reports.

“They hung out in New York City with the movie’s execs,” a source explains. “And Taylor developed feelings for him fast.”

“Taylor loved the image of a British boyfriend,” the insider adds.

Eddie liked her too, but when she wasn’t cast in the role, their romance came to a halt, since he will be away filming the movie in London.

“Eddie’s not interesting in a long-distance relationship. The elements were against them. It’s a shame,” the source says.

[From Hollywood Life]

OMG HEARTBREAK. Doesn’t it sound like Swifty and Eddie hung out a few times in a group of people and she was all “You’re my boyfriend now!” and he was all “Er, no thanks?” That’s what it sounds like to me. So this isn’t so much “Swifty gets dumped again” as it is “Swifty couldn’t close the deal.” Poor Swifty. This next album is going to be EPIC. You’ve got her “haunting” three-month relationship with Gyllenhaal (“You Never Cried Over Apple Picking, My Glitter-Love” and “The Cuddlefest and the Tears”) and then the whole swan thing in London (“The Swan Princess”) and losing the Les Mis part (“The Untouchable Pony”) and now THIS. This song shall be called “The English Boy Who Got Away”.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

This is really weird news! Weeks ago, it was flat-out confirmed by multiple sources that Taylor Swift had been cast as Eponine in Les Miserables, which begins filming in England very, very soon. Swifty was in London for a few weeks, hanging out with Gwyneth Paltrow, wandering the Princess Diana Memorial park and looking teary as she chanced upon some swans. It’s thought that Swifty was in London as she prepared for the film. But now it’s looking like Swifty is OUT, and a stage actress named Samantha Barks is in? Swifty just got Blake Lively’d.

Samantha Barks is set to play Eponine in the film version of Les Miserables – the role she played at the 25th anniversary concert.

Cameron Mackintosh announced it live on stage at the Manchester Palace at the end of this evening’s performance of Oliver!, in which Barks is currently playing Nancy.

He told the cast and audience that he had a big announcement to make before flying to America, and then revealed that Barks would be taking the role of Eponine.

It seems to have come as a surprise to Barks – audience members reported that “the look on her face was priceless”.

She tweeted soon after the curtain call: “Most incredible moment of my life!!!! X”
Fellow cast member Jack Edwards, who plays Mr Bumble, called it “amazing”. Matt Harrop, in the ensemble, added: “so happy for my nancy babes. Amazing and incredible news. So worthy! Mx”, with Kade Ferraiolo saying: “Congratulations to the amazing @SamanthaBarks I’ll never forget what just happened on stage:-)”

Barks’s former castmate Lucie Jones, who played Cosette in the West End, tweeted: “I’ve never been so proud I’m literally BURSTING!!! TEARS and everything!!!”

Lea Salonga, who played Fantine alongside Barks in the 25th anniversary concert and previously played Eponine, said: “It’s official: @SamanthaBarks will be Eponine in the Les Miz movie!!! Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!!! Thank you, casting gods!!!”

Frances Ruffelle, who created the role, tweeted to Barks: “So proud of you!! Well done my darling girl xxxxx”

Taylor Swift had originally been linked with the part.

One audience member tweeted: “Best night ever just knowing I was there when Samantha got told. She really was the best Eponine!”

Samantha Barks trained at the Arts Educational school for a year before entering “I’d Do Anything”, the BBC search for the new ‘Nancy’ in Cameron Mackintosh’s “Oliver!” where she finished in the top three. Following “I’d Do Anything” she took part in the workshop for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Love Never Dies”. Samantha made her stage debut as ‘Sally Bowles’ in the national tour of “Cabaret”, before taking the classic role of ‘Aladdin’ in “Aladdin” at the Theatre Royal Windsor. Last year Samantha made her West End debut in the role of ‘Eponine’ in “Les Misérables”, and played the role again in the “Les Misérables 25th Anniversary Concert” at The O2. Television credits include the lead role of ‘Zoe’ in the Disney TV series “Groove High”.

[From Broadway World]

Everyone is using this Broadway World story as their source for the “Swifty got pushed out” stories, so am I wrong in thinking that this might not be a done deal? I think it’s sketchy – Swifty was in London, seeming to prepare for the film, although she came back to California this past weekend. Did she mess up? Did she have the part at one point, but producers rethought their choice? Did she get sent packing, shunned from England? Oh, this is going to be a good song.

I’m not joking when I say that it seems like Swifty just got Blake Lively’d. The same conversation we had about Rooney Mara getting cast over Blake… we need to have that conversation about Swifty now. Maybe Hollywood simply isn’t ready to make Swifty a movie star yet. Maybe they’re worried about her immature, princessy, girly image.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

Taylor Swift has been in London this week – and she’ll be there for months, I believe, as Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables begins production soon. So Swifty arrived in London early to do some photo ops around town, looking sad and winsome, of course. Swifty will be playing Eponine in the production, which… sure. I don’t have a strong opinion on, honestly. Les Misérables is one of my least favorite musicals/books/whatever, so it’s not like I’m even going to see the movie when it comes out. I’m including a photo of Swifty at the London Zoo, and lots of pics from Swifty’s forlorn trip to (no joke) the Diana Memorial. She looked weepy in the rain, she stared at some swans. It was all very intense.

Also intense? Swifty’s love life, of course, but if her Vogue Magazine interview was any indication, I don’t think she’s as bad off as people think. Swifty’s Vogue article was surprisingly good, especially when she talked about boys and her latest dating rules. But that Vogue piece was the jump-off point for some “sources” to go to Us Weekly and talk about how Swifty is still very much screwed up over Jake Gyllenhaal! OMG JAYLOR.

One year later, Taylor Swift is still smarting from her split with Jake Gyllenhaal. “It was earth-shattering,” Swift told Vogue about the end of her three-month romance with the actor, 31. Adds a Swift source, “She’s haunted by that relationship. He totally screwed with her mind.”

Indeed, she’s been having a hard time moving on: “She doesn’t know hot to meet anybody new.”

As least there’s a bright side – Swift is once again using heartache as inspiration. “The songs on her next album are intimate and revealing,” says another source, confirming, “Some are about Jake.”

[From Us Weekly, print edition]

“He totally screwed with her mind.” Of course he did! She was 20 years old, dating a man a decade older who actively did NOT want to do anything but go apple-picking and have the occasional “clothes on” cuddlefest. And then he dumped her over the phone. Admit it, you would be screwed up about it too. As for the Jake songs… I can’t wait.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Taylor Swift covers the February issue of Vogue, after many, many rumors that Adele would take the cover. Weird, right? Maybe Anna Wintour is putting Adele on the cover of the March issue (the power issue) or the April issue (the body issue, I believe). As for Swifty’s editorial… it’s cute. I like the 1970s-rocker-chick vibe, and it suits Swifty with her long hair and willowy body. She’s reminiscent of Carly Simon here, if that’s not too offensive of a comparison. As for the interview… do you mind if I don’t read the whole thing? On a good day, I like Swifty but find her supremely boring. I’m just going to skim and try to pull a few highlights:

Swifty is awkward: Clearly, her school days remain all-too-vivid. Swift, who grew up on a Christmas-tree farm in rural Pennsylvania, tells me that when she was in fourth grade her family moved to Wyomis­sing, an affluent suburb of Reading. “So . . . middle school? Awkward,” she says, launching into the first of many comic riffs. “Having a hobby that’s different from everyone else’s? Awkward. Singing the national anthem on weekends instead of going to sleepovers? More awkward. Braces? Awkward. Gain a lot of weight before you hit the growth spurt? Awkward. Frizzy hair, don’t embrace the curls yet? Awkward. Try to straighten it? Awkward!” She starts to laugh. “So many phases!”

She’s always felt like an outsider: As hard as it is to imagine now, Swift always felt like an outsider. “I think who you are in school really sticks with you,” she says. “I don’t ever feel like the cool kid at the party, ever. It’s like, Smile and be nice to everybody, because you were not invited to be here.”

She‘s not going to end up crackie: “Ever since I was sixteen, the question that I get in every single interview is ‘So, all the pop stars right now who are stumbling out of clubs and going crazy—are you going to do that?’ When I was younger, I had to be more insistent with people because they would say, ‘Yeah, they all say that when they’re sixteen, honey. Just wait till you’re nineteen or 20. That’s when it all goes off the tracks!’ But you know, as time has gone by, I’ve gotten that question less and less. I think, for me, the bigger pitfall is losing your self-awareness. Even though I am at a place where my dresses are really pretty and the red carpets have a lot of bright lights and I get to play to thousands of people . . . you have to take that with a grain of salt. The stakes are really high if you mess up, if you slack off and don’t make a good record, if you make mistakes based on the idea that you are larger than life and you can just coast.” She pauses. “If you start thinking you’ve got it down, that’s when you run into trouble—either by getting complacent or becoming mouthy.” She laughs. “And nobody likes that.”

Swift’s homes: Swift splits her rare days off between her condo in Nashville (“very Alice in Wonderland imaginarium”) and a little cottage she recently bought in Beverly Hills (“cozy, Anthropologie, grandma chic”). She’s been spending time in L.A. because she’s quietly looking for the right role in the right movie.

On working out: “I don’t ever want to be that person whose self-image overtakes who they are. I am not a fan of working out that much. There’s no regimen. There’s no personal trainer. I love to go hiking because it’s an experience. If I need to gain stamina for a tour, I will run every single night on the treadmill, but I don’t necessarily like being at the gym.”

Swifty on Jake Gyllenhaal and boys in general: She seems to bring both worldviews to her romantic life. As she puts it, “I think I am smart unless I am really, really in love, and then I am ridiculously stupid.” Swift has famously dated some famous boys—Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner, John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhaal. When she was eighteen, Jonas notoriously broke up with her over the phone—in a call that lasted 27 seconds—an experience that fueled her songwriting. She wrote a damning song about Mayer called “Dear John.” She dated Gyllenhaal through the fall of 2010 (he broke up with her around the Christmas holidays). When I ask her if she is seeing anyone, she says, “I got nothing going on! I just don’t really feel like dating. I really have this great life right now, and I’m not sad and I’m not crying this Christmas, so I am really stoked about that.” Were you crying last Christmas? “I am not gonna go into it! It’s a sad story!”

[From Vogue]

The stuff about boys is very interesting, isn’t it? Oh, but there’s more! Swifty lists the “red flags” she has about dating now, and some of them are super-interesting.

1. “If someone doesn’t seem to want to get to know me as a person but instead seems to have kind of bought into the whole idea of me and he approves of my Wikipedia page? And falls in love based on zero hours spent with me? That’s maybe something to be aware of. That will fade fast. You can’t be in love with a Google search.”

2. “If a dude is threatened by the fact that I need security, if they make me feel like I am some sort of princessy diva—that’s a bad sign. I don’t have security to make myself look cool, or like I have an entourage. I have security because there’s a file of stalkers who want to take me home and chain me to a pipe in their basement.”

3. “If you need to put me down a lot in order to level the playing field or something? If you are threatened by some part of what I do and want to cut me down to size in order to make it even? That won’t work either.”

4. “Also, I can’t deal with someone who’s obsessed with privacy. People kind of care if there are two famous people dating. But no one cares that much. If you care about privacy to the point where we need to dig a tunnel under this restaurant so that we can leave? I can’t do that.”

[From Vogue]

#4 is obviously Jake Gyllenhaal, correct? It was rumored that he didn’t like how public his cuddlefesting relationship was with Swifty. I think #3 is John Mayer – he seems like that kind of dude. #1 must be some non-famous person, I guess.

All in all, I ended up reading more than I intended too! That’s Swifty for you – she sucks you in. Like a death trap baited with vanilla.

Photos courtesy of Mario Testino/Vogue.

A few days ago, Taylor Swift debuted her new bangsy haircut on her Twitter page, tweeting a photo of herself right after a fluffy blowout. She looked awesome in that photo, but I suspect that Swifty’s hair might be similar to mine – you can use all of the product you want, you can get the best blowout ever, and 30 minutes later, our hair is still going to be limp. These are photos of Swifty outside of the Billboard Music Awards, where she was named the Artist of the Year. As you can see, the bangsy cut is real, it’s not just a new wig. But as you can also see, her hair looks pretty flat. I still like it better than the old, fried mall hair, but I feel for Swifty and her hair issues. She discussed the situation with Stylelist:

Stylelist: How did you decide to cut your hair?
I was on a photoshoot and they wanted to do, like, clip-in bangs and straighten my hair. I just said, ‘Why don’t you just cut them?’ They did.

Is it hard to have bangs with curly hair?
It’s actually not. I think I can figure out a way to incorporate them, I was playing around with it in my hotel room and I think that it might work both ways, but we’ll see. It’s just fun to play around with your hair and change it up. I never change it up, so this is nice.

What inspired your transformation?
I wanted to change my look a little bit and I’ve loved the way that bangs look on other people. I always seem to want to straighten my hair in the winter. And I think I just decided to go a step further this time.

How does your style routine generally change in the winter?
I usually wear more jeans. Spring and summer, I’m usually all dresses and skirts, so winter is like jeans, leggings, tights, dresses, dark colors and straight hair.

Are there any pieces in particular you’ve invested in for winter?
I’ve gotten a lot of Rugby and Ralph Lauren stuff because I think it looks very winter-y and Christmas-y, so that’s been stuff I really liked getting.

What’s your go-to New Year’s Eve outfit, hair and makeup?
It would probably be some sort of sparkly dress and straight hair and maybe a bold smoky eye and a nude lip.

[From Stylelist]

“…Some sort of sparkly dress and straight hair and maybe a bold smoky eye and a nude lip…” – that’s her basic look for red carpets too. That’s her red carpet uniform, pretty much, although I like that she mixed it up a little bit with this bold and pretty red Oscar de la Renta – it’s princessy, but it’s more grown up than the stuff she usually wears.

But let’s get back to her hair – is she using a straightened on her hair? Because that might be why it looks kind of limp. What would it look like if she just let it air-dry straight out of the shower? Curly-haired girls, tell me! What happens if you let your hair air-dry and then just brush it out? It would look like Nicki Minaj’s wig, wouldn’t it? That reminds me, I’m also adding some photos of Nicki Minaj and her Swifty wiglet, and including the closeup of her latest nose. Yes, it’s man-made. No, I don’t know how many noses Nicki has had in the past two years.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I’ve been accused of hating on curly hair, right? I think some people accused me of that at some point. So, for the record, let me be clear: I don’t hate curly hair. At all. I love curly hair. I had an Irish friend who had the most luscious curly, brunette hair ever. I loved her hair so much, but it was the bane of her existence any time the humidity reached a certain level, and since we were in Virginia, humidity happened very often. Still, I often wondered what it be like to have curly hair. I often wonder what it would be like to have hair that “kept” a curl, because mine won’t even do that. Anyway: I do not hate curly hair.

But I did dislike the way Taylor Swift styled her naturally curly hair. I disliked the “mall girl” vibe I got from it, and the way her hairstyle made her seem even younger than she really was. But as Swifty continues to rise unabated, her hair is improving. Once again, “improving” does not equal “straightened.” “Improving” means to me that she looks her age, that her hair style makes her look prettier and more sophisticated, and that she found a look that works for her. Well, after YES straightening her curls lately, Swifty just announced on her Twitter that she got a haircut. She added bangs, took off a few inches from the bottom, and got a blow out. I… don’t hate it. At all. Those bangs look – gasp – good! Now she looks like she’s in her 20s. Now she looks like she sees a professional hair stylist. She looks glamorous. I whole-heartedly approve.

PS… Are you as obsessed with Swifty’s cat as I am? Swifty posted a video of her kitty a few weeks ago, and there’s a new photo too:

Photos courtesy of WENN and Swifty’s Twitter.

I was going to yell at Taylor Swift for being so bland at the American Music Awards, but as I was going through the photos, I had a realization: SHE is bland, not her clothes. Her Reem Acra dress is very pretty, she straightened her hair into a chic, low ponytail, her makeup was understated and lovely, and her (cabochon emerald?) earrings are beautiful. Everything is working in this outfit – except Swifty herself. You can style a piece of white bread beautifully, but at the end of the day, it’s still just a piece of white bread.

Still… I kind of like Swifty, you know. I go back and forth on that, but now that she and Jake Gyllenhaal are over, and John Mayer is firmly in the past, I have high hopes that Swifty will date someone nice and appropriate. Swifty got a lot of love at the AMAs too – she won several awards, including favorite country female artist, favorite country album and the Artist of the Year. You can read more about the awards and performances here at People Mag.

I didn’t watch the AMAs because… you know, I just don’t care about the current pop music scene, I guess. I’m an old fart. But because CB and I cover all of these myriad music award shows, I’m vaguely familiar with Swifty’s rise to power (the triumph of her will!). If Swifty is nominated in multiple categories, at this point, everyone knows she’s going to win. So why does she keep pulling these overblown “shocked” faces? I understand humility – even if it’s feigned. But feigning “shock” time after time, victory after victory? It’s so dumb.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I was going to lead in with Taylor Swift, who took home entertainer of the year at last night’s CMAs, but that was before I got a look at Faith Hill and her stiff lion’s mane hair. DEAR GOD. Now, I love Faith Hill. I think she’s got a great voice, she’s beautiful and she’s always seemed like a cool woman who is secretly a bitch (and I love bitches). I think Faith could look good in almost anything, but she often pushes the boundaries with the worse fashion. Last night her dress was Chado Ralph Rucci, and it… just looks like meh Calvin Klein. Remember when Calvin Klein was just doing these simple white long-sleeved dresses? The only thing really disturbing about this look is her hair. This is a disaster.

Now for Taylor Swift in her puffy wedding gown. I get so bored with her in these princess/fairy dresses. This J. Mendel one is especially bad, and Swifty’s hair is terrible.

Next up: Ginnifer Goodwin in Prabal Gurung. It seems way too busy, but I really like the way Ginnifer’s hair has grown out.

Carrie Underwood had a million costume changes, but this was her red carpet look – Reem Acra. Boring pageant girl.

And finally, Miranda Lambert in Haute Hippie. She’s a compact little hourglass isn’t she? Maybe it just seems that way because Blake Shelton is so obscenely tall.

Photos courtesy of PR Photos.

People who have been reading this blog long enough know that I’m a cat person who just happens to currently be in a long-term relationship with a dog. My puppy is a very sensitive, needy soul, and he’s very possessive. He doesn’t want me to have any other animals (or people) in my life besides him. So… no cats. First of all, there’s the possessive thing. Secondly, my dog is a hunter. I worry that if I introduce another animal into our home (it’s as much his as mine), my puppy will eat the animal.

Now, that being said, I’ve been in a mood for months now, wondering if I should go to the Humane Shelter and see if they have any kittens up for adoption. It’s gotten so bad that I’ve been trolling the newspaper classifieds for kittens too. I know, I know. A kitten would just be a snack for my dog. But my thought process is, “Maybe there’s a right way to introduce my dog to a baby kitten. Maybe if it’s so small, he wouldn’t attack it.” This is how I justify it in my mind.

Anyway, Taylor Swift just adopted a new kitten and JESUS CHRIST is this an adorable cat. It’s a Scottish fold, just like my avatar on CB. Swifty began posting photos of her kitteh, Meredith, on her Twitter page with messages like, “Hanging out with my new roommate, Meredith” and “cat lady”. I’m just… in love. Gawd, I want a cat so badly. What should I do? I shouldn’t adopt one, right? I would feel awful if I adopted a kitty and my dog attacked it. Gah!

Photos courtesy of WENN, Swifty’s Twitter.