July 23, 2010
Life After Jail: For Better or Worse?

From Robert Downey Jr. to Nicole Richie, see how stars picked up the pieces
Read More

July 22, 2010
Best Summer Bodies of 2010

Although summer is in full swing, it's never too late to get your bod beach-ready, but unfortunately, there's no magic pill one can pop to attain washboard abs. You simply need to be dedicated to working out and eating healthy. If you're having trouble staying away from BBQs and ice cream (like I am), and need some additional inspiration to help you achieve your goals, MensHealth.com and WomensHealthMag.com are releasing their first annual lists of the Best Summer Bodies.

Click here to see the top 25 male summer bodies.

Click here to see the top 25 female summer bodies.

July 22, 2010
N.Y.C. Bar Serves Up Mel 'Bipolar' Gibson Cocktail

Mood swings got you down? Back away from the phone and have a drink.

The Oak Bar in New York's Plaza Hotel is proposing a toast to Mel Gibson and his alleged telephone tirades and debuting a "bipolar" cocktail in his honor. (The actor once said he'd been diagnosed with manic depression.)

In true Gibson fashion, the concoction calls for a 1 oz. swig of gin. It also features a shot of vodka - and not just any brew. The Oak Room's executive chef Eric Hara went all out on the mental theme with Van Gogh Vodka, in honor of the artist who suffered from the disorder.

"Gibson ... Bipolar ... All these words flying around in the media just jumped out at me. So I made a Gibson, which is a classic cocktail, into something thoroughly twisted," Hara tells PEOPLE.com of his liquid creation, adding, "It's a guy drink, by the way. There's nothing sweet about a Gibson."

July 22, 2010
Meet Tiffani Thiessen's Daughter Harper Renn!

Tiffani Thiessen hoped to use hypnobirthing to aid in the delivery of her first child, but was open to all options. Good thing, because 5-week-old daughter Harper Renn Smith had her own ideas when it came to her June 15 birth.

"First my water didn't break; they had to do it for me. Then the baby wasn't descending, because the cord was wrapped around her neck," the White Collar star - who ultimately delivered via c-section after 30 hours of labor - tells PEOPLE.

"Once she was finally out, I didn't even get to hold her before they whisked her away... The whole thing was very surreal."

July 22, 2010
Lindsay Lohan's Jail Hell: No Smoking, Tweeting or Hair Extensions

Lindsay Lohan is now a "fish."

That's what new inmates at the women's jail are called, and to underscore their lowly status, each is given what's called a "fish kit," which is a sandwich bag containing a small tube of toothpaste, a white toothbrush, three packets of cream deodorant, three packets of shampoo and a small bar of soap.

"Nothing is name brand. They're all generic and cheap quality," says Michelle, a former inmate who declined to give her last name, about the intake process at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, Calif.

As Lohan, 24, begins her 90-day sentence for violating probation in a DUI case, a strange and surreal world awaits, far from the perks and freedoms she enjoys during her jet-setting lifestyle - save one. She'll have a show-business neighbor.

According to a jail insider, Lohan will be housed in a 12-by-8 cell next to E! reality TV star Alexis Neiers, 19, who's currently at Lynwood on a six-month sentence for her part in burglarizing Orlando Bloom's house.

But Neiers got the more famous digs: She's in the cell once occupied by Paris Hilton.

Holy Smoke

Lohan, who will be housed in her cell alone, was placed in the special needs unit - which is for high-profile inmates such as celebrities, police officers and public officials who could be targets for attack by other inmates, Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore previously confirmed.

The biggest shock for the actress will likely be the approximate 22 hours of daily confinement in her cell, where she'll be eating her meals. Smoking is also strictly forbidden, though an onsite medical staff is available if her nicotine withdrawal reaches dangerous proportions. Jail doctors also will provide Lohan with any medication she needs based on an evaluation.

She also will have to give up her Twitter habit since inmates have no access to Internet or cell phones, a jail chaplain confirms, though she can still relay messages during visiting hours for friends and family to post.

In fact, anything Lohan had on her person when she arrived at the facility was confiscated, including her watch, any jewelry, her medication, undergarments - hair extensions, if she's wearing them - all which will be returned to her upon release.

But Lohan won't be completely cut off from the outside world. "The inmates on that pod [where she is housed] can watch TV through the window of the door on their cell," the jail insider says. "They watch I Love Lucy, Wheel of Fortune, and a local news channel all day long."

July 22, 2010
Bristol Palin Postpones Wedding After Sarah Palin Disapproves

Bristol Palin is postponing her wedding because "My mom doesn't approve." The 19-year-old says her mother is "apprehensive and concerned" about her engagement to bad boy, Levi Johnston.

Last week Bristol said that she would tie the knot within weeks, but in the new issue of Us Weekly, Bristol says she needs more time:

"Levi and I have a lot to do to rebuild this relationship."

She also reveals that Sarah Palin won't even say if she'll attend the wedding.

"Bristol said that she thinks Sarah and Tood will attend the wedding. She believes that they will but she thinks that they both want to see what Levi's going to do. Is he really going to be there, get a job, get his education," Caroline Schaefer, executive editor of US Weekly, said.

Bristol isn't the only one reconsidering the wedding plans. A family source told INSIDE EDITION that Levi is also getting cold feet and looking for a way to break off the engagement.

If a wedding does take place, Bristol says Levi's sister, Mercede, definitely "won't be invited." Mercede Johnston has a blog that bashes the Palin's. Bristol also reveals that she and Levi are seeking marriage counseling.

July 22, 2010
Jon Gosselin calls Kate an 'absentee mom'

Jon Gosselin claimed to be supportive of his ex-wife Kate's stint on "Dancing With the Stars," but filing a petition for full custody of the kids seem to suggest otherwise.

Jon has lawyered up with attorney Anthony F. List, who has filed a petition with the courts asking that Jon be granted full custody of their eight children.

According to List, Kate is an absentee mom, and he is expected to use "DWTS" as evidence that she does not spend quality time with her kids. Furthermore, List has asked the Berks County Court to review his child support payments.

According to the Associated Press, Jon says in court papers that Kate "abuses" her authority when it comes to his visitation rights, and that an arbitrator didn't require her to provide proof of the children's expenses.

Slideshow: Celebrity sightings

Kate's attorney Mark Momjian takes issue with claims regarding Kate's parenting. "There was an offensive comment made about our client's parenting. To the extent that that comment was made, we think it was completely reckless and it is patently untrue."

Kate's reaction was similar. "I am not willing to comment in public on the custody discussions regarding my children," she said via her publicist. "What I will say is this: I am and always will be a mother first, but as a single working mom I will do everything necessary to provide for my kids despite the opinions of others."

A source close to Kate points out that Jon's timing seems suspect. "His girlfriend, who he was living with across the country - just kicked him out."

July 15, 2010
Husband Of The Year Award 2010

Last year the Husband Of The Year Award went to the Irish...the picture was of a husband carrying a six pack while the wife left carrying the whole crate.

Today we will have to say goodbye to the Irish winners of the competition and say hello to our new winners from Iran!

July 15, 2010
The 100 Greatest Movie Insults of All Time

View the 100 greatest movie insults of all time.

July 14, 2010
Gibson's Explosive Racist Rant

Mel Gibson was caught on tape spewing a vile, hate-filled racist rant and RadarOnline.com has exclusively obtained the audio proof.

We broke the story that Mel told Oksana Grigorieva, the mother of his love child, "You're an embarrassment to me. You look like a f***ing bitch in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of n***ers, it will be your fault." RadarOnline.com had heard the tape.

Now, in a blockbuster world exclusive, RadarOnline.com is posting the audio of Mel's disgusting outburst. You can listen to it here.

WARNING: This audio contains graphic and racist language. It has been left unedited so that the full impact of Mel's rant can be heard.

The tape begins with Mel berating Oksana about her breast feeding because she has implants. "So you're not lying to me about fake t*ts?" he says.

"I never have," she answers.

This is the buildup to his racist rant.

Mel gets enraged and tells Oksana that she lied to him. When she denies it, he says about her breasts: "They look ridiculous. Get rid of them why don't you."

But Oksana tells him it's none of his business and Mel rants, "Keep them if you want, they look stupid. Keep 'em if you want. Look stupid. See if i give a f*ck. They look like a Vegas whore. And you go around sashaying in your tight clothes. I won't stand for that anymore."

Oksana answers that she doesn't walk around in tight clothes.

"You go out in public and it's a f*cking embarrassment to me. You look like a f*cking bitch in heat. And if you get raped by a pack of ni**ers it will be your fault. Alright? Because you provoked it. You are provocatively dressed all the time with your fake boobs that you feel you have to show off. I don't like it. I don't want that woman. I don't want you. I don't trust you. I don't love you."

Mel and Oksana have an eight-month-old daughter Lucia.

Mel is being investigated by the L.A. County Sherriff's Department in connection with domestic violence charges. Oksana has told police that Mel punched her on January 6, knocked out two of her teeth and was violent with her on several occasions, a source told RadarOnline.com.

Oksana taped Mel because she was afraid for her life after he threatened to kill her, a source told RadarOnline.com. And on one part of the tape Mel tells her: "I am going to come and burn the f**king house down... but you will blow me first." (That excerpt is not posted here.)

Mel and Oksana dated after his marriage to Robyn fell apart. RadarOnline.com posted the first photos of Mel and Oksana together, as they romped on a beach in Costa Rica. Robyn filed for divorce shortly after those pictures were posted.


But his relationship with Oksana blew apart violently and Oksana went to law enforcement on July 5 and filed a domestic violence complaint against the Braveheart star.

Mel has not commented on RadarOnline.com's series of exclusives about his racist and profane rants that are caught on tape. He berates Oksana, calls her a "whore" and a "c*nt" and calls a Latino worker a "wetback."

The actor has been condemned by Rev. Jesse Jackson, the NAACP, anti-domestic violence groups and others in the wake of our ground-breaking exclusives on his behavior.

Now we've released the first piece of audio showing Mel at his sickening worst.

July 14, 2010
'The Hills' Comes to An End: What Are Your Top Moments?

Tonight is the series finale of MTV's "The Hills" and the end of a certain pop culture era. In 2006, we all saw ourselves as Lauren: a young girl arriving in a new city, looking for friendship, love, and success. We could relate to her attempts at having it all, and she and her friends were just like us... with much more glamorous wardrobes, homes, and jobs. (Well, ''jobs.'') There were a few surprises and there were plenty of episodes we just loved. After six seasons of hookups, breakups, friends, jobs, and dating, which moments from ''The Hills'' stuck with you? Our top picks:

Heidi Reveals Her New Look

It would have been more of a shock to viewers had she not appeared on the cover of several magazines prior to Season 6, but Heidi's big reveal to her family was still must-see TV. Making her first trip home to Colorado post-plastic surgery, Heidi endured confused looks and tough love from her family, who couldn't understand why she would put herself through that much pain. As she struggled to talk at a normal decibel and finish chewing her dinner, "The Hills" became much more real and much, much sadder.

''The Girl Who Didn't Go to Paris''

When Teen Vogue West Coast Editor Lisa Love offered Lauren Conrad the chance of a lifetime - the opportunity to travel to Paris for the summer - we were giddy with excitement. What more could a budding fashionista ask for? But young love proved to be stronger than career ambition, and Lauren decided to pass up the trip for a summer at the beach with then-boyfriend Jason Wahler. We watched Whitney Port roll her suitcase up to the LAX curb, cheerfully greeting Lisa Love, ready to take the fashion world by storm. Lauren would be remembered as ''the girl who didn't go to Paris,'' raising the question, love or career? Can't we have both?

Heidi Moves in with Spencer

Lauren and Heidi were both new to Los Angeles, and together they navigated their new city and new lives. Being roommates was drama-free until sweet little Heidi met Spencer Pratt. Lauren had her doubts - Spencer initially pursued Audrina as well - but when Heidi announced she planned to move in with her new boyfriend, Lauren was at a loss. In season two's dramatic finale, the girls' time as roomies had ended, as well as any shred of normalcy in their relationship (or Spencer's psyche). As the U-Haul pulled away, Heidi left Lauren, and the rest of us, for good, choosing Spencer as her new partner.

Kristin Shows Up at Heidi and Spencer's Wedding

Lauren swallowed her pride and attended Speidi's wedding, opting for a low-key entrance and exit, which would be her last appearance on the show. The presence of Kristin Cavallari in the church set the stage for the new era of "The Hills," in which the ''man-eater boyfriend-stealer'' wreaks havoc on everyone's lives. While Cavallari can play the mean-girl role perfectly (and lacks enough class), "The Hills" never felt the same without Lauren as our heroine.

Heidi vs. Lauren at Les Deux

After Heidi moved out, her friendship with Lauren continued to disintegrate as the war between her former roommate and her current boyfriend Spencer raged on. When rumors of a tape allegedly showing Lauren and ex Jason Wahler being intimate surfaced, Lauren thought all signs pointed to Spencer, with Heidi guilty by association. The two crossed paths at Les Deux, and armed with new best friend/roommate Audrina, Lauren publicly called Heidi out for her suspicious ways, for all their fellow clubgoers to hear. The tape rumors had been circulating the media as well, making one of the earliest references to the newfound ''celebrity'' that had found ''The Hills''' cast. From that point on, no one ever seemed to be unaware of their role on a reality show. Call it the end of innocence, the official death of a friendship, or just a good old fashioned cat fight, but ''you know what you did!'' will forever live in reality TV infamy.

July 14, 2010
Mel Gibson: Despicable he, but will his behavior keep you from buying a ticket to his movies in the future?

A second purported audiotape has emerged in which Mel Gibson heaps disgusting verbal abuse and threats on the ex-girlfriend who is the mother of his baby daughter. You're on your own if you want to find the tape and eavesdrop; I'll skip it, thanks. Instead, I'm here to wrestle with how what we know about an artist's character and personal life influences our appreciation for that artist's work. And whether it should. (I'm leaving the private lives of politicians and others who work in the public trust out of this conversation.)

The truth is, I wish I didn't know anything at all about Mel Gibson. Nothing. Lucky for me, the man has no effect on my daily existence, and I make no dent in his. I'm curious about Gibson only insofar as he is an interesting actor and filmmaker ("interesting" - how's that for a deliberately neutral term?) whose projects suggest a complicated, angry interior that, in turn, makes his projects so...interesting. (I assume you enjoy dabbling in cheap, dime-store psychoanalysis as part of your moviegoing enjoyment as much as I do.) The public Mel Gibson's movies tell me plenty.

In a piece on her website The Daily Beast, Tina Brown declares that ours is a "culture of destructive transparency." Then she applauds the release of those tapes, arguing that listening in provides a kind of vindication on behalf of "every frightened woman...living in fear of a man who has all the financial cards." My question: How? Do you really benefit from knowing that, if this leaked evidence is to be believed, the private Mel Gibson is a racist, a bigot, a misogynist, a person unraveling in hate? His sins (to put his actions in terms that he, a religious man, would understand) certainly matter to his unfortunate ex-girlfriend, to anyone he has insulted in person, and to his God.

But to put the matter in terms the godless marketplace understands, will what you know affect whether you buy a ticket to Mel Gibson's next movie? Will you boycott his work? (I won't.) Or will you be even more curious to see what he does next? His talent agency just announced that he has been dropped as a client. But he is a very rich man, with money enough to finance his own productions. What should our public response be to Mel Gibson's private bad behavior?

July 14, 2010
A man's guide to marriage: the speeches

Heartfelt or hilarious? Short and sweet or a grand performance? Share your tips on wedding speeches for the groom, best man and father of the bride.

Ladies, gentlemen, comrades ...

Unaccustomed as I am to speaking to a room full of people who are actually listening to me, I'd like to take this opportunity to share a few thoughts on wedding speeches.

As this is a blokes' guide to weddings, I'm going to talk about the father of the bride, the groom and the best man. As this is a Guardian column, I fully expect some heckling about how it shouldn't just be men who give speeches at weddings. Of course brides, their mothers, chief bridesmaids and best women should give speeches if they want to. It is just that my advice is primarily aimed at blokes. Indeed, at a speechwriter's wedding I attended a couple of years ago, the groom admitted that he'd been upstaged by his new wife's brilliant speech.

My top speech tip is to remember to leave a gap between each sentence just in case there is laughter. It's annoying to get a laugh only for the audience to miss the next part of your speech.

Now I'm going to hand you over to some good advice shared on this wedding series over the last few weeks.
Father of the bride

Heartfelt and affectionate seem to be the winners. Potty training and embarrassment are (mostly) losers.

sumaire: In the speech my dad gave at my sister's wedding, he made the customary joke about speaking for hours then only spoke for maybe five minutes. During that time he gave us one or two anecdotes about my sister growing up (no potty training or 18/30 frights involved) before he explained how much he loved and admired her - he said that she had never done anything to make him less than proud. It was wonderful to hear him say in front of all our family and friends.

However ...

minileon: "My dad talked about my conception, which was not excruciating for me, as it's a bloody funny story (he had the good sense to leave out detail), everyone laughed, a lot, he was touching, interesting, clever, funny, he had everyone singing, and he shed some very rare tears. He was brilliant. Because he's my dad."

Don't go on for hours: short and sweet is often best.

babytiger: "My father-in-law gave the first speech at our wedding. We were a bit nervous about it, as he's quite forthright in his views and isn't usually backward about sharing them - but he shamed us all with a beautiful, moving speech which knocked all the others into a cocked hat. It lasted about 45 seconds."
Groom

You are guaranteed a cheer for your first "My wife and I". Anything remotely funny will get a laugh because you are in a room full of people who love you. They are all there for your big day. Remember to say lots of thank yous, and something nice about your new life partner.

babytiger: "I did write some notes but in my own terrible handwriting, and was doing a joint speech with my wife who spent the whole time trying to decipher it over the mic. Not to be recommended."

gelert: "One groom whose wedding I attended somewhat unwisely decided to make his speech a rather cerebral contemplation on the nature of love and whether one could ever tell if one was really in love. The marriage didn't last."

paulheadon: "One of the points at our wedding that worked really well (at least for me and two others) was to do our speeches before the meal - that way the best man, bride's dad and groom can all enjoy the meal and have a few drinks, instead of bricking it all the way through and getting hissed at by their respective wives for drinking too much before making the speech. Get the speeches out of the way, relax and enjoy the rest of the night."

But the groom doesn't have to be funny because of the ...

Unfortunately, all the pressure is on you. All people will have been saying to you all day is, "Are you nervous?" and, "Hope it's a good speech." Nobody will say: "Well done for remembering the rings."

Anecdotes are good. But not ones about the stag, former girlfriends, or pretty much anything to do with sex.

If you can, try to learn the stories off by heart, as if you have been telling them all your life, so you don't constantly need to check your notes. If you've known the groom all your life then this should be easy. My best man had obviously told the story about my cricket hat many, many times. Even though It. Isn't. True. It got a big laugh, though.

Over the course of their engagements, I quizzed my grooms (that I hadn't known since childhood) about their younger years. It's amazing what you can learn on the QT and you get a laugh from the older rellies as well as the younger guests.

benulek: "If you're not naturally funny, no amount of trying will compensate. Whatever you do, don't use one of those bloody cookie-cutter speeches where you simply fill in the names. Belly laughs are immediate, but sincerity is what really gets remembered. One of the finest best man speeches I ever heard barely contained a laugh, but was full of genuine sentiment and emotion, and you could feel the tension lift in the room as everyone realised they weren't going to have to force a laugh at weak and badly delivered jokes. Most important of all, tell the groom what he means to you and what an honour it is to be chosen as his best man. Even if these aren't things you're accustomed to saying, it'll mean the world to him."

crosby99: "The best man must thank the appropriate people (parents, ushers, bridesmaids, etc). It leaves a bad taste in the mouths of the oldies if this is forgotten."

ragworm: "I was dreading the speech but, for once, I was semi-inspired. I organised a slideshow consisting of old photos with bits of old film footage and background music. I gave a brief introductory speech and did a talk over. It worked a treat, in fact it's an idiot-proof way of triumphing, I so recommend it.

gotet: Write the speech in rhyme/limericks. Works very well - there are even websites which will give you a rhyme for something. And it allows you to keep it short and simple.

gelert: Don't forget the bride. Tell the bride she looks lovely, as do the bridesmaids, [they may] have been forced to wear magenta - they'll thank you for it. Then with the help of the chief bridesmaid, you can reveal a few of her well-kept secrets. Bearing in mind of course that her mum and dad will be there and revelations suitable for a groom might not sit well with her family and friends.

intotheblue: "Do not say anything which can be remotely construed as 'dissing' the bride. I witnessed a best man's speech which contained not only a 'blonde' comment about the bride but an ill-advised reference to the happy couple having on one occasion left a used condom at the best man's house, both of which produced deathly 'tumbleweed moments' and ensured that the speech was completed in an atmosphere of unimaginable iciness. Use your common sense."

SaptarshiRay: "I think it's very true what people say about best man's speeches: the good ones blend into one another but you remember the bad ones vividly. In my experience I've only seen a couple of car crashes, but it generally seems to be people who go either too serious or too wacky. They think of it as a lecture or performance rather than a speech."

bennnnnnnn: "We've been to plenty of weddings with more than one best man, all of which worked very nicely, except the one with four best men. It was interminable, as they all seemed to want to fulfil every duty, rather than divvying them up. The speeches lasted over two hours."
From speech to song

Personally, I like to use a prop or two. As all my (three) grooms had longer hair when they were younger, they all got to wear wigs while I did their speeches. And I like to finish with a song - a song that the guests can join in with. So the Geordie got the Blaydon Races and the groom who emigrated to Australia got Waltzing Matilda.

As a return tribute, my ushers performed a song, employing Bob Dylan Subterranean Homesick Blues-style cards. At the risk of being self-indulgent, here is what they sang, to the tune of That's Entertainment:

A lump of cheese and a doorstep sandwich
Painted toenails and a five quid haircut,
Big fat belly, year round suntan
Loves his Mum even more than his sofa

That's Steven Busfield
That's Steven Busfield

A donkey jacket and those ancient boots
An England shirt and a ripped old jumper
Yorkshire pudding and roast beef on Sundays
Listening to Robbie and supporting the Vale

That's Steven Busfield
That's Steven Busfield

La la la, La la la

Days in Leeds spent watching Yorkshire
Hissing down with rain at boring Headingley
Keeping score and eating melon medley
No-one there except him and his Ma

That's Steven Busfield
That's Steven Busfield

Ma ma ma, ma ma ma

The Great Escape and the Cooler King
Cardiff City and playing at full back
Endless emails and taramasalata
Watching the telly and wishing you were Darren Gough

That's Steven Busfield
That's Steven Busfield

That's Mrs Busfield
That's Mrs Busfield

(Words: D Taylor/A Gilgrist. Music: P Weller)

Over to you for your anecdotes, advice and top tips.

July 14, 2010
Brad Pitt shaves beard

Brad Pitt's foray into facial fuzziness is finally over -- for now!

On Monday, the 46-year-old actor showed up completely clean-shaven for his first day of work on the L.A. set of his flick Moneyball. (It's also his twins Vivienne and Knox's second birthday)

Pitt has been sporting a shaggy beard since last fall, although he was spotted with a closer-cropped beard and mustache a month ago.

Why did the father of six and love of Angelina Jolie get so shaggy? "It's boredom," he said recently. "No other reason than that." See more pics of Brad without his beard.

His love Jolie claimed to Vanity Fair that she didn't mind the scruff. "I love Brad in every state," she said.

July 14, 2010
'Eclipse' Shrewdly retro or or just backward, you decide

Lots of things in life, including movies, are love-it-or-hate-it. But when you listen to the two clashing camps of opinion trying to shout each other down over the Twilight books and movies - let's call them Team Rapture and Team I Can't Stand This Garbage - you really get the feeling that its members are standing not just on opposite shores but in opposite worlds, on distant planets in enemy solar systems. You get the feeling that they've had, and are talking about, two entirely distinct, utterly non-overlapping experiences. It's no wonder that the twain shall never meet, or even pretend to be civil.

To recap: Either you're a hater or you're a Twihard. Either you identify with Bella Swan as a fresh and noble ordinary girl who has a small touch of the extraordinary about her - a lovely wallflower who blooms under the gaze of her courtly vampire beau - or you think that she's a drippy, passive doormat in thrall to the kind of male-centric romanticism that should have died out around the time of Gone With the Wind. Either you think that the stories are tepid, meandering, and wishy-washy repetitive, or you think that they coast along on wistful currents of yearning, loneliness, and desire. Then, of course, there's the Great Edward Debate, which got played out here last year in the fury of responses to my New Moon post. Is he a swooningly idealized James Dean/Heathcliff/Brad Pitt figure, an amorous obsessive with just the right touch of otherworldly danger? Or is he a blood-guzzling "stalker," an erotic harasser who will break into your house and stare at you while you're asleep because he's the kind of guy whom any sane girl would avoid at all costs?

What fascinates me, listening to the noisy battle of Team Rapture and Team I Can't Stand This Garbage, is that the war of opinion over the Twilight saga isn't just a disagreement about books and movies. It touches something deeper, something that pop culture has always touched and even defined: key questions of what love and sex and romance should look like and feel like, of what they should be. A movie like Eclipse may be a far cry from art, but it's increasingly clear, at least to me, that the movie hits a nerve, even in people who say they hate it, because it embodies a paradigm shift: a swooning re-embrace of traditional, damsel-meets-caveman values by a new generation of young women who are hearkening back, quite consciously, to the romantic-erotic myths of the past. The Bella Swan view of the world may, on the surface, be the opposite of "rebellious," but the reason her story sets so many hearts aflame is that it is, in a way, a rebellion - against the authority represented by a generation of women's-studies classes. Bella's story is, by nature, a meditative, even meandering one because it's the story of how she wants to be acted upon, to be loved, desired, coveted, fought over, protected. A movie like Eclipse represents nothing less than a new and unambiguous embrace, by women, of the male gaze.

In many ways, the debate over these movies reminds me of the kinds of arguments that first coalesced 20 years ago around the Susan Faludi book Backlash, in which the author argued that a widespread retreat from many of the mores of traditional feminism was, in effect, a kind of cultural conspiracy, one that reached from corporate boardrooms to the cosmetics industry. I think it's become clearer in hindsight that what Faludi regarded as a coercive step backward to the dark ages was a lot more complicated than that - that what she viewed as a back-lash was, in reality, a back-swing of the pendulum. With the Twilight saga, that pendulum swing may finally be complete - and some women, let's be honest, are horrified at that.

A grand paradox in all this is that a great many professed Twilight haters are young men who, though they may not acknowledge it, are threatened by this pop cultural juggernaut. Otherwise, they wouldn't need to hate it; it represents a notching down of their clout. (That Eclipse broke the single-day Wednesday record set by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen may well be an iconic box office statistic; it's a case of woozy, florid, pinup romanticism beating out action toys. Talk about a backlash!) That said, if Bella and her vast sisterhood of fans represent a newly powerful young female demographic, do they also, as some would claim, represent a retreat from personal power? They might indeed if Bella Swan's behavior were looked at literally, as if she were merely a role model. Yet the Twilight saga, let's remind ourselves, is a vampire story, a pure fantasy. It should be watched as a kind of retro dream, a vision not of life as it is but of internal emotions made thrillingly external.

The line in my review of Eclipse that provoked the most anger is the one in which I described the books as "Stephenie Meyer's girl-power-meets-retro-Harlequin-fantasy series." On the comment board, people railed: How dare I use the words "girl power" to describe Bella Swan? Who could be less powerful than Bella? Yet power, especially in human relationships, is a funny thing. Bella is, of course, a girl who longs to be swept up in Edward's power, yet what renders her powerful as well is the way that she refuses to shrink from her fear of his attraction. She seeks out, and embraces, the most dangerous love in the room. And that's a kind of power, too - a very old kind of power that is also, in the Twilight saga, a startlingly new kind of power. It's not just power but a force. And it is with her.

So we already know that lots of you love Twilight, and that lots of you hate it. But here's what I want to know: Who relates to it, and doesn't, as a vision of romance? And does it represent a retreat from feminism - or, in fact, the embrace of a new kind of feminism?

July 14, 2010
Mel Gibson and the Tale of the Tape

Listening to the rage and ugliness and incipient boiling violence of Mel Gibson's eight-minute-long over-the-phone rant at his former girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, that was made public Monday on RadarOnline.com, I had a reaction that, I suspect, mirrored that of many others. I was horrified - and I was mesmerized. I cringed, sometimes visibly, at everything he was saying; I also hung on every hideous, seething, bottled-up, paranoid, vengeful word. The sheer drama of the tape is staggering - for eight minutes, it just about stops time. It's likely that there has never been a public breakdown this awful and spectacular by a modern celebrity. (The conversation in question may technically have been private, but its leaking is just another demonstration that there no longer is a private.) Coming on the heels of the recent Gibson audiotape, with its tangle of threats and racial slurs, and four years after his infamous anti-Semitic rant at police officers during a DUI bust, Monday's domestic-tantrum-tape-from-hell - with another tape having just leaked - feels, in a scurrilous way, like a deliverance. The full seething anger of Mel Gibson is now on display, for all time, and no one is ever going to be able to put that frothing genie back in the bottle. Mel has made his bed of red-hot nails, and now he's going to have to lie on it.

Can his career as a movie star, which was already in mid-slide, recover? It's seriously doubtful. Apart from the sheer shameful stigma of it all (how many people are there left who will now work with him? produce his movies? distribute them? go to see them?), who could Mel Gibson now conceivably portray in a movie? If he tries to play someone smiley and nice, it would look like a bad joke. But if he takes on the role of someone brutish and mean, a walking-tall cauldron of righteous payback - in other words, a typical Mel Gibson character - it will put the scandal of his domestic explosion front and center all over again. A lot of actors have demons, but Mel Gibson's demons, it's now clear, are bigger than he is. Those demons now dwarf and engulf him. For all his range as an actor, he has been playing Mad Mel, in one form or another, for more than 30 years (going back to Mad Max, in 1979, and up to and including Edge of Darkness, his thriller from earlier this year). But there's a difference between doing variations on a big-screen persona, having that persona leak, dangerously, into your public life (as happened to Russell Crowe during his phone-flinging hotel blow-up), and having "Mad Mel" branded forever onto your forehead.

Am I the only one who, as I listened to Gibson's phone rage, heard echoes of other actors? I don't mean their private lives; I mean their performances. At full righteous boil, Gibson sounded like some walking, sputtering fractured-man psychodrama from the 1970s - Pacino's Sonny in Dog Day Afternoon (1975), say, or De Niro's Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull (1980), railing away at the arm-candy wife who he thought had trampled on his soul. I don't mean that to be a glib comparison. Life is life, and movies are movies - I get that. But a number of those fabled '70s films have lasted because they were such memorable studies of the pathology of male rage, and the twisted forms that that rage can take in a society where men feel - rightly or wrongly - that their power has been leeched away.

Throughout the tape, Gibson, like the veteran actor-director he is, orchestrates the situation like a piece of threatening theater, only with himself as the tormented and "victimized" protagonist. For let's be clear: In every gasping, panting, fulminating breath, in every weirdly articulate epithet-spasm ("You need a f-ing doctor! You need a f-ing brain transplant! You need a f-ing soul!"), Gibson expresses the conviction that he is the one who has been wronged. That's what makes the tape so perversely gripping: the sick grandeur of Mel Gibson's self-delusion. On the other end of that line, Gibson, a powerful celebrity, acts out the warped drama of his perceived lack of power, his spiritual impotence, his need to control. It may have been a rant, but like so many rants, it's really a kind of ultimate personal Method performance - the sound of a Raging Bull gone over-the-top. One of the things we want from actors, or at least that we used to want from them, is to see and hear them bare their souls. But now that we've heard the full madness of Mel Gibson's Method, he may finally have ended up baring too much of his soul to bear.

So what's your reaction to the Gibson tape? How is hearing it different than reading excerpts from it? And how, if at all, does it influence your feelings about Gibson the actor and filmmaker?

July 14, 2010
Barefoot Bandit arrested in the Bahamas

Colton Harris-Moore Colton Harris-Moore, dubbed the Barefoot Bandit, was arrested before dawn on Eleuthera island. Photograph:AP

After two years on the run from the US authorities the suspected thief known as the Barefoot Bandit has finally been stopped in his tracks.

Colton Harris-Moore, 19, who was given his nickname after allegedly leaving shoeless prints at a series of crime scenes in the US, was arrested in the Bahamas. Police claim that he crash-landed in the archipelago a week ago after stealing an aeroplane in the US and making a 1,000-mile flight. They allege that since arriving in the Bahamas he has been implicated in at least seven burglaries on Abaco island.

Harris-Moore is suspected in the US of stealing cash in innumerable burglaries, and taking several cars and boats as well as at least five single-engine planes despite a lack of any formal flight training. His alleged exploits have resulted in a string of arrest warrants issued by local forces in the US as well as catapulting him to celebrity status. He has thousands of Facebook followers, a fan club selling "Run, Colton, Run" T-shirts and songs have been written about him.

Growing up just north of Seattle, Harris-Moore gained his first theft conviction at 12 and in 2007 was given a four-year sentence in juvenile detention. He escaped from an open window and went on the run after being moved to a halfway house.

The 1.96-metre (6ft 5in) tall teenager evaded US authorities, in part because of his constant movement and also because the only people seeking him were local police forces - a lack of any serious crimes meant the FBI had little interest in him.

He was arrested before dawn on the Bahamas' northern Eleuthera island, a police official said. Local officers picked up his trail in Eleuthera after recovering a 13-metre (43ft) power boat stolen from a marina on Great Abaco, 40 miles to the north, near to where Harris-Moore had allegedly ditched a single-engine plane stolen from Bloomington Indiana. Bahamas police had warned that the teenager should be considered armed and dangerous, but since escaping from the juvenile detention centre he has not carried out any violent acts.

Harris-Moore's mother, Pam Kohler, said last week that many of the allegations made against her son were false but that she was hoping he would eventually reach a country without an extradition agreement with the US. "I'm glad he's able to enjoy beautiful islands, but they extradite. It doesn't help matters at all," she said.

July 5, 2010
Miley Cyrus Pole Dances at Teen Choice Awards !!

Watch the Video