As a general rule I really loathe romantic comedies and chick flicks. Which is why every time I see an ad for Eva Longoria’s new film “Over Her Dead Body” – in which she plays a dead woman who is trying to “sabotage her former boyfriend’s current relationship with a psychic” (according to the Internet Movie Database) – I want to find Eva Longoria and kick her in the ear. A lot. The movie’s oh-so-adorable tagline “Just because she’s passed on… Doesn’t mean she’s moving on” makes me physically ill. So I guess it’s really no surprise that the promotion for the film would be just as nauseating as the film itself (which, to be fair, I should note that I haven’t seen, but detest on principle). Eva’s been making the rounds telling some cute little story about how she really does believe in ghosts or the paranormal or whatever. I’m guessing it’s probably in answer to some reporter’s inane question about Eva’s real-life experience with the paranormal that everyone is supposed to think is clever.

Paging John Edward: Eva Longoria revealed Monday that she’s been contacted by the dead. In an interview with the U.K. talk show GMTV, the actress – currently starring in the supernatural romantic comedy Over Her Dead Body – confessed her own fascination with the paranormal world.

“I’ve had my cards read, and I’ve had my palm read, and I’ve had a psychic tell me things,” the Desperate Housewives, 32, star said. But the most shocking encounter involved a complete stranger. “A woman came up to me on the streets who I didn’t know, and said, ‘Your aunt’s spirit won’t leave me alone until I come to tell you that she’s here.’”

It’s a pretty good line – one Longoria said she might use to land a leading role alongside a certain Hollywood hunk. “I’d be like, ‘George Clooney! So this person is talking to me, I have this spirit [with me],’” she joked. “‘We have to talk. We have to do this movie together!’”

[From People]

Oh how remarkably adorable. I’m pretty sure if Eva Longoria were promoting a movie in which alien abductions happened through a portal in her character’s toilet bowl, we’d be hearing some cute little story about how “something weird back flushed up my toilet, now I really believe in bathroom-based alien abductions” shtick. I realize I’m grumpy today, but I’m pretty sure Eva Longoria is the cause of it. I find it so aggravating when people do these cutesy little fantasy romantic comedies, and then tell ridiculous anecdotes about how something similarly adorably crazy happened to them. Even on the chance some lady really did come up to Eva on the street to tell her about her dead aunt, the fact that Eva Longoria doesn’t know this random street ghost medium doesn’t mean squat. The crazy lady has likely seen Eva a time or two on the magic box that holds the tiny actors in her living room. I don’t think it’s a story about ghosts; it’s a story about people with mental issues. And that’s just not relevant to the movie.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Eva at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Sometime co-host Kathy Griffin has reportedly been banned for a second time from appearing on that post-menopausal bitch-fest, The View. Seems that every time Kathy comes on the show, she uses it as fodder for her stand-up comedy routines, in which she mercilessly skewers the celebrity guests and hosts—including Barbara Walters.

Kathy Griffin is an outspoken comedian who has apparently stepped over the line, at least where Barbara Walters is concerned. Griffin does a dead on impersonation of Babs. She has been performing her standup act in a sold out run at Madison Square Garden. Her final show is tonight, and she had planned to be a guest on this morning’s broadcast of the popular talk show, The View.

Griffin apparently received a phone call yesterday from the shows producer Bill Geddie. He informed her that they have canceled her scheduled appearance because she was too mean to Barbara during her last special on Bravo.

The comedian said that she had been banned once before, but was incredulous to have been rebanned. Griffin is likely to use this momentary setback as fodder for her stand up act. Babs may regret the slight because of the ensuing fallout that is likely to occur.

[From Bitten and Bound]

Barbara Walters really needs to get over herself. It’s obvious that Kathy Griffin idolizes Walters, and is poking fun in the same, good-natured way a kid sister picks on her older sibling. Griffin herself has admitted to antagonizing Walters on the set because she loves trying to “shock” her. It also happens to be hilarious. Besides, Griffin isn’t the first comedienne to mimic Walters—Gilda Radner did a killer impression of Babs on Saturday Night Live back in the ‘70s. If Walters had been hosting this piece of crap show back then, Gilda probably would have been banned, too.

Drew Barrymore and Justin Long, who’ve been photographed trying to exit restaurants from the back and who seemed like they were going to great lengths to conceal their relationship, were photographed kissing and hugging on the red carpet at the LA premiere of “Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show” last night. Drew looks a little tipsy. Star notes this week in what seems like a recycled story that Drew has been supposedly partying too hard. They seem to come out with a story that she’s partying too hard every time she gets photographed out with a drink in her hand. She doesn’t look entirely sober here, but it could be the look of love instead of inebriation. Star reports that Drew and Justin “were all over each other” at a Pussycat Dolls show on January 17.

Drew and Justin have been dating for over five months, according to The Sun.

Thanks to PRPhotos for these pictures.

Though it’s not exactly a surprise, Lindsay Lohan appears to be back on the booze again. Again. Again. This is the third time she’s been spotted drinking in public since her massive rehab, right? It gets hard to keep track. I’m only one person – if I were to actually try to keep track of all the terrible and salacious things Lindsay Lohan does in one day, I would have to cease all activities. Including sleeping and bathing. Both of which I’m pretty sure Lohan herself avoids. According to Rush & Malloy, Lindsay was spotted downing at least two vodka cocktails at the Beatrice Inn on Friday night. According to the report, Lohan was actually with ex-boyfriend Stavros Niarchos (who’s also dated an Olsen twin [I really don’t think it matters which one] and Paris Hilton) though Brody Jenner was also with the couple. Various reports said Lohan was all over Jenner… which would make sense, considering she was supposedly actually there with Niarchos. It just makes more sense – in the Lohan context – to come with one guy and have sex in the bathroom with another. On top of making a gross spectacle of herself as usual, Lohan also partook of some “liquid courage” – not that she needed any.

The “I Know Who Killed Me” star knocked back “at least two” vodka cocktails Friday night at the Beatrice Inn and later snapped at snappers trying to take her picture, according to our spies.

Lohan, who checked out of a Utah rehab center in October, downed the drinks while partying with ex-boyfriend Stavros Niarchos and MTV reality “star” Brody Jenner, sources tell us.

[From the Daily News]

But don’t worry, one of Lindsay’s ever-present enablers was on hand to quickly explain her behavior.

“Lindsay is learning how to work through her addictions and, once in a while, she chooses to have a cocktail,” says a friend, attempting to explain. “People overexaggerate [sic] her behavior when in fact on Friday night, many people commented to her on how composed she was.”

Lindsay’s last reported slip was on New Year’s Eve, when she was caught on video swigging Champagne on the Italian isle of Capri. One source contends that drinks were showing on Linds on Friday. Confronted by paparazzi at the Beatrice, “she started going berserk,” claims a witness. “She didn’t want them taking shots of her with Brody.”

“[If she got in a fight,] that would be shocking,” argues her rep. “Most likely, there were so many photographers and she probably couldn’t get to her car. Lindsay is always polite, but sometimes doesn’t want to have her photo taken.”

[From the Daily News]

My heavens, we wouldn’t want to overexaggerate anything. If Lindsay’s behavior was so bad that her friends (all of whom I’m sure are well-educated and joking) are forced to make up new, redundant words like “overexaggerate” then things must have really gotten out of hand. Oh wait, the friend is actually claiming that Lindsay’s behavior was really restrained and she’s well-behaved when drinking… it’s the rest of us that are overexaggerating everything. Got it. Honestly I really don’t understand why she bothers to keep up the charade. There are some people for whom you can tell rehab will never hold. At least until she’s hit rock-bottom, which Lohan clearly hasn’t. It’s pretty obvious that her many trips to rehab this year were just done to save her “career”/get her out of legal trouble. She clearly doesn’t take her sobriety seriously. At least stop insulting us Lindsay. Like we really believe you just had two drinks. I misunderestimated you.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Lindsay Lohan leaving Barbuto after eating dinner with friends last night. She later stopped by club Socialista in New York City. I’ll give you two guesses as to what’s in her purse. Scratch that. I’ll give you two guesses as to how many bottles are in her purse. Images thanks to Splash Photos.

Mischa Barton has been doing the Sundance press circuit over the last few days, promoting her movie “Assassination of a High School President” – which is actually getting some good reviews. But what she really wants you to know is that her empty-headed, party girl image is undeserved. I never knew Mischa Barton was so freakishly intelligent. According to an interview she just gave, she’s down to earth and smart. Mischa described herself as, “really academic.” And by that, it appears that she meant she has at some points in her life gone to school. She doesn’t give a single example of how she was academic, nor does she say anything that would lead a reasonable person to believe she possesses an ounce of intelligence beyond the very basics that get you through life. You know, the breathe in, breathe out, repeat thing. Not dodging in front of fast moving cars. She seems to grasp the basics that have kept our species alive, but not much else.

Mischa Barton didn’t seem so smart when she was arrested recently for suspicion of DUI. However, the star of the upcoming (and very buzzed about) “Assassination of a High School President” insists that despite her character’s mischievous ways, she was actually “academic” in her school days.

“I went to public school in New York until I was about 15, so I had a definite school experience, the whole nine yards,” the now super-blond starlet told Pop Tarts, curled up on the couch in her Uggs at Sundance.

“But I loved school, though. I was actually really academic, so I liked it … it was a lot of fun.”

[From Fox News]

School does tend to be a lot of fun when you skip most of it to film an occasional scene with a cute boy and hang out with your on-set tutor. Mischa goes on to talk about her upbringing in the film industry. Be warned, she uses the word “kinetic.” I think she most likely learned it from her Word-a-Day toilet paper.

And even though Mischa spent several seasons on the small screen as Marissa on “The O.C.,” the actress definitely seems to prefer doing films.

“I started doing film when I was 1, and I love it — it is the best experience for me,” she said. “Each film that you do — it is like a little group that you make friends with and you have that for life. When you go on a television series, it is a different thing. Of course you have it for life, but it’s a long-running show and it’s not the same kind of temporary kinetic energy that you get from a movie.”

[From Fox News]

Mischa you probably didn’t get that same “temporary kinetic energy” from your television show because you were supposedly a nightmare to deal with. You showed up late, hung-over, (sometimes still drunk…), were a total diva, refused to work with people, and generally made everyone’s lives such a living hell that they killed of your character by having her tumble off a hill in a car. Working on a film is probably a better fit for Mischa, since people only have to tolerate her for much shorter periods of time.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Mischa with all of her free swag from Sundance. Splash notes: “Actress Mischa Barton has her hands full with some Sundance freebies including a Nintendo Wii Guitar Hero game and a couple of umbrellas as she makes her way through Los Angeles International Airport. Barton was attending the festival in Utah to promote her new movie ‘Assassination of a High School President.’” Images thanks to Splash Photos.

Amy Winehouse is reportedly doing surprisingly well in rehab. After months of crazed and public drunkenness and drug use, Amy finally went to rehab – most likely at the insistence of her record label. Even though an addict generally needs to hit rock bottom and really want to go to rehab and make a change (and a record label forcing you to go isn’t quite the same thing) it appears that Amy is actually doing well in rehab. Of course these reports are coming from The Sun, so take them with a massive grain of salt. But The Sun generally likes to report negative stories – so if they’re saying someone is doing well, I’m a little more inclined to believe there’s some truth to it.

The Back To Black star spent her fourth day in rehab yesterday, where she is delighting doctors with her progress. Especially because she hasn’t even tried to do a runner. For the first time it actually looks like Amy is making an effort to sort herself out. A relieved close family friend said last night: “Although Amy is still taking each day at a time she has done the hardest thing in the world by going into rehab. She has been ill and is withdrawing but at least she is sticking with it as she detoxes. With her family’s support we are hopeful that there is finally light at the end of the tunnel as she weans herself off drugs. She will stay in rehab for as long as it takes even if it is three or four weeks. Nobody is saying it will be easy, but things are looking good at the moment and doctors are encouraged.”

[From the Sun]

Amy’s loser jailbird husband Blake Fielder-Civil supposedly told Amy to quit smoking crack or she’d be dead within three months. This of course comes not directly for Blake’s mouth, but from his mother Georgette Civil. She has always claimed Amy is the whole problem and to blame for all of her son’s issues, even though by pretty much everyone else’s account the reverse is true. Georgette told News of the World that Blake said, “I’m so relieved she [Amy] has finally taken my advice after I begged her to go into rehab.” Yeah right. Funny Blake would beg her to go, considering the first time she went to rehab this summer Blake insisted on coming along, and quickly talked Amy into leaving after he found out that couple’s rehab isn’t so fun. Georgette clearly can’t stand that the entire UK seems to hate her son. But she’d do herself a lot more good by keeping her mouth shut, instead of giving such ridiculously fabricated quotes to the press.

The Sun speculates that once Amy hears about Blake’s supposed “quotes,” she may not pay for his lawyers in his upcoming trial. Wouldn’t that be tragic if he ended up languishing in jail? If Amy takes rehab seriously and gets Blake out of her life, she could really be poised for a comeback. And she’d have some pretty interesting stuff to sing about.

Picture note by Jaybird: Amy Winehouse and her dad Mitch arrive at a clinic in Marylebone, northwest London on January 22nd. Images thanks to WENN.

I love irony. Speaking of which, always perma-tanned-to-the ugliest-shade-of-orange-you’ve-ever-seen-in-your-life Spice Girl Victoria Beckham has joined forces with designer Marc Jacobs to create an anti-skin cancer t-shirt for the Interdisciplinary Melanoma Cooperative Group. Wait, this isn’t irony so much as it is hypocrisy. I’m assuming it’s actually like those anti-smoking ads that feature people who just couldn’t quit – and they’re smoking a cigarette through their surgically-created neck hole. So Posh is basically their stoma.

Despite her recent foray back into global pop stardom, Victoria Beckham has still managed to find time to strip off and pose nude for a new designer campaign. Covering her modesty with her hands and the caption “Protect the skin you’re in” Posh Spice is the official face of a T-shirt created by Marc Jacobs to raise awareness of the damage sun can do to skin.

Although it is sure to gain the campaign column inches and a significant following, using perma-tanned Posh could be seen as a bit of an odd choice to be the face of such a cause.

However, the Spice Girl, who has not sported the pale and interesting look since back in the nineties, claims her attitude to skincare has changed since moving to the States. “I have realised how important it is to practise safe sun for myself and to keep the skin of my three boys well protected as well,” she says.

[From the Daily Mail]

While I’m guessing the shirts are supposed to be sexy, I think they actually serve as a warning. If Victoria’s image were in color instead of black and white, you’d really get the picture. “Stop going to the tanning booth or you could end up looking like this!” While it’s good she claims to have had a change of heart and at least covers her kids, Victoria’s still looking like she hits the tanning beds. Though I suppose she could just be really good at applying self-tanner. It’s going to be really uncomfortable when we see Posh out and about, sporting the shirt which clashed so terribly with her carrot-laced skin.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s a collection of recent (past six months) photos of Posh. To be fair, anyone would look tan next to Dita Von Teese. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Tracy Morgan asked a waitress if he could father her baby [Dlisted]
Naomi Campbell’s Former PA Commits Suicide [Bossip]
Life Sucks and Then You Die: “Breaking Bad” review [Pajiba]
Tony Romo & Jessica Simpson in Hollywood [Celebslam]
More scary details about Sam Lufti [Yeeeah!]
Alyssa Milano At Rockin’ Skate NHL All Star Game [I'm Not Obsessed]
Nicky Hilton Got Wasted @ Villa Nightclub, Hollywood [The Bastardly]
Sean Young admits herself to rehab [In Case You Didn't Know]
Maria Menounos Pumping Gas (Site NSFW) [Drunken Stepfather]
Jessica Alba is Confusing and Showing [CityRag]
Jordan says big boobs are so 2007 [Seriously? OMG! WTF?]
How does Woody Harrelson manage to grow more unattractive with each passing day? [Agent Bedhead]
Jenna Jameson pops out of a cake for her boyfriend [The Blemish]
Best Animated Short Films [CityRag]
More On Sean Young [Crazy Days and Nights]
Jim Carrey Really Throws Himself Into His New Role [Popsugar]
More Jenna Jameson Stripper Pictures [The Grumpiest]
Michelle Williams’ Film on Hold [Evil Beet]
Michael Lohan is Ready to Beat Some Ass [CelebWarship]
Tony Romo Will Never Learn [I Don't Like You In That Way]
Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson are doing a music video. Sadly, MC Skat Kat is nowhere to be seen [Glitterati Gossip]
The Spice Girls Arrive In Boston With Their Kids In Tow [Celebrity Baby Scoop]
Fashion against AIDS with Rihanna [Popbytes]
Mariah Carey’s Diamond Drawer Needs Refilling [A Socialite's Life]
Rumer Willis is a Frequent Flyer [Just Jared]
Uma Thurman Bikini Pictures [Egotastic]
Look at Tom Cruise’s new toy [Lifeline Live]
Ryan Seacrest Butches It Up For American Gladiators 2000 [Best Week Ever]

I debated all day about publishing this story. Given how empathic our readers have been towards Heath Ledger and his family, I wasn’t sure if it would be too upsetting to read this story. There’s nothing inflammatory, nor is there any speculation; it’s just hard to think about. So with that caveat, police are reporting that a con artist posed as Heath Ledger’s father, Kim Ledger, in order to trade on Health’s name and get free stuff.

…police were still trying to find a twisted impostor pretending to be [Heath’s] grieving father. The imposter cruelly duped superstar Tom Cruise into consoling him over the phone – and nearly got John Travolta to buy him a plane ticket to the United States, sources told The Post.

The sick scammer also suckered the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home in Manhattan, where the tragic actor’s body was held before being flown to Los Angeles, into booking him and his “family” rooms at the ritzy Carlyle hotel nearby on Madison Avenue, sources said. The hoaxer even got them to send free stuff to their rooms “when nobody was there,” a source said.

And the man falsely claiming to be Kim Ledger spoke on the phone with the doctor who performed the autopsy on the “Brokeback Mountain” star, a spokeswoman for the Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed.

[From the New York Post]

The major media outlets are reporting that the police have no idea who the con man is. I’m guessing they’ve got some ideas and are just playing it close to the vest. I mean the man stayed in a hotel, they’ve got to have some video. And it’s logical to assume hotel employees would remember someone who’s supposedly Heath Ledger’s dad. Police had detectives at Ledger’s funeral hoping they might find the con artist but didn’t have any luck. They also say the man tried to get Mel Gibson and Christian Bale’s telephone numbers from one of the celebrities he conned. This story is incredibly sad and the last thing the Ledger family needs to deal with. Unfortunately it’s not that shocking. There are all sorts of con artists who prey on people overcome with grief. Considering all the press this story has gotten today, I’m guessing the NYPD is working overtime to find the guy.

It seems that once people came to grips with David Beckham’s billboard bulge - or gave gripping it some thought - they noticed something else besides the bulge: his personal grooming habits. Becks had what is called a Boyzillian, the male equivalent of the brazillian bikini wax. Otherwise known as the classic back, crack and sack. Google this if you’re still unsure, I’m not sure I can explain it without being gross.

Becks had some smooth thighs and a distinctive lack of hair in those ads, and it seems that he’s started another must-have hair craze.

Kim Lawless, who calls herself the Wax Queen, runs the Brazilia Waxing Studio in Upminster, east London, and specialises in intimate waxing for both sexes. “But most of my clients are men,” she said, adding that most of them were straight. “They come from every walk of life and profession - accountants, stockbrokers, teachers, boxers, models - but I’ve noticed that a lot of my clients are in the building trade.”

Business is booming. “A year ago I was doing three men a week. Now I am doing three men a day,” she said. “I don’t know why it has suddenly become more popular, but when people come in they do mention David Beckham. Now that celebrities like him are open about waxing, it makes other men feel more comfortable about it.”

Guardian

Before you decide that a little manscaping is a good idea, let me warn you. It really, really does hurt. Friends of mine claim it hurts more than getting a tattoo (although it is over with quicker) and a few claim it hurts worse than childbirth. In the interests of research I’ll be sending my husband to confirm this for me.

What makes my mind boggle is not the fact that people follow celebrity fashion trends, but who would even notice David’s public hair, or lack of it? That didn’t seem to be the dominant feature in the poster.

In the article, beautician Amanda says that while the women scream a lot more than men, she thinks that might just be a case of ‘male bravado’. I can’t get over the fact that anyone would pursue a beauty treatment that involves screaming. And pay between £40 and £60 for the privilege.