FLAMBOYANT FUN

Credit: HBO

Gay Stories (As In Happy) From Behind The Candelabra

By Elizabeth C.

HERE’S MICHAEL DOUGLAS AS LIBERACE AND MATT DAMON AS HIS LOVER IN promotional stills from Steven Soderbergh’s very “gay” biopic on Liberace. Douglas looks like a groovier fey version of himself circa The Streets of San Francisco era. Only here he sports a pastel peach coat jacket, white slacks and gold medallion around his neck. His beefier boy toy is Matt Damon in blonde wig, double-breasted beige suit and peach shirt. Not exactly “Las Cage Aux Folles on steroids” yet, but the movie’s producer Jerry Weintraub promises the film will be just that.

Director Soderberg, Matt Damon and Michael Douglas’ wife Catherine Zeta-Jones have all spoken recently about the highly anticipated HBO drama about the Las Vegas showman and his assistant/lover Scott Thorson. The movie’s based on Thorson’s book of the same title published in 1991. “These two men were deeply in love and in a real relationship — a marriage — long before there was gay marriage,” Damon told Playboy. “That’s not an insignificant thing. The script is beautiful and relatable.”

There’s no official release date for the movie other than “spring,” but the PR machine is already winding up.

‘IT’S MILEY, B*TCHES’

Miley Shows True Cosmo Girl Spirit In Saucy Cover Shot

By Jacob Wittich

SHE MAY BE ENGAGED BUT in true Cosmo girl fashion, Miley Cyrus cannot be tamed.

Remember when Miley took those racy photos in her underwear while she was still a Disney star? Well she’s done it again with a topless photoshoot for the March issue of Cosmopolitan — only this time it’s a lot more classy even if little is left to the imagination.

‘FILM’ HAS LOST INFLUENCE

Credit: New York Magazine

Steven Soderberg on George Clooney: ‘He Inspires People’

By Elizabeth C.

NEW YORK MAGAZINE throws the literary equivalent of a going away party for Director Steven Soderberg, who promises he’s retiring to paint following next week’s release of Side Effects. To celebrate his self-imposed surrender, Mary Kay Schilling shares a long and leisurely conversation with the “prolific chameleon” during which he touches on everything from the limitations of narrative, accusations of”style over substance,” and the innate leadership of George Clooney.

RAP SHEET

Chris Brown & Frank Throw Down; Rick Ross Escapes Drive-By

By Elizabeth C.

CHRIS BROWN AND FRANK OCEAN THREW DOWN OVER THE WEEKEND, ostensibly over a parking spot, but we know it’s more about ego.

TMZ first reported that the two hip hop stars exchanged blows Sunday night at Westlake Studio in L.A. Sources told the online tab that Ocean started the fight when he blocked Brown from leaving. “Frank said, ‘This is my studio, this is my parking spot,” TMZ reports. Which if true, we’ve gotta ask: then why not let Brown just walk out the door?

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND

‘Panhandle Party’ Pranks New York Subway Straphangers

By Elizabeth C.

NEW YORK’S TEEMING SUBWAYS PROVIDE A CAPTIVE AUDIENCE FOR THE city’s competing con artists, pan handlers and street performers. But what if they all converged on one train car at the same time? “Actor, comedian, jackass Gary Lee” set out to find out, throwing a ‘panhandle party’ one evening last August on a No. 4 train.

SHOOTING HERSELF IN HER STALLION BOOTY

Real Housewives Of Atlanta: Something In The Buttermilk Ain’t Clean

By Karen Malmquist

BETWEEN THE BUTT PADS AND THE ASHY ACCUSATIONS, Sunday was busy night of shade-throwing for the South’s favorite housewives. All this fighting over stealing ideas and intellectual property on a booty improvement video has turned Real Housewives of Atlanta into a sassier version of The Social Network.

SURPRISING NO ONE?

Liberty Ross Files For Divorce From Rupert Sanders

By Elizabeth C.

SO MAYBE THE SCANDAL WASN’T A PUBLICITY STUNT? Model Liberty Ross has filed for divorce from her director husband Rupert Sanders who was caught in flagrante delicto with actress Kristen Stewart.

TMZ reported Friday that Ross filed paperwork in Los Angeles Superior Court and is seeking joint custody
of the couple’s children ages 5 and 7.

BILLBOARD’S NO. 1

Thrift Shop Proves Found Treasure For Hip-Hop Duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

By Elizabeth C.

TALK ABOUT FINDING TREASURE IN UNEXPECTED PLACES: Seattle Hip-Hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have hit the jackpot with their catchy anti-consumerist anthem, Thrift Shop. For the first time in 20 years — and only the second time in history — an independent artist has reached number No. 1 on Billboard. The last and only time it happened was in 1994 when then-unknown Lisa Loeb reached the top with Stay (I Missed You).

Macklemore, a.k.a. Ben Haggerty, claims he never saw it coming.

“Never, never, absolutely not,” Haggerty told MTV Friday. “I thought it was going to be like a niche demographic that some of our fanbase would like. I never thought that it would be much more than that.”

STOLEN MOMENT

Banned Photo Of Diana Spencer Sells For $18,306

By Elizabeth C.

A SAN DIEGO REAL ESTATE INVESTOR added to his holdings Thursday when he snapped up a rare photo of a teenaged Diana Spencer for the sum of $18,306.

The intimate photo depicts the future princess curled on a bed as a male confident reads nearby. It was believed purchased by the Daily Mail two days after Diana’s announcement to Princes Charles was announced on Feb. 26, 1981. The photo, apparently considered too sexually suggestive for a future princess, is marked “Do Not Published.”

‘BEST COUCH EVER ASSEMBLED’

Watch Matt Damon Pirate Jimmy Kimmel Sucks

By Elizabeth C.

TELEVISION’S LONGEST INSIDE JOKE CAME TO A GIDDY CLIMAX LAST NIGHT when Matt Damon hijacked Jimmy Kimmel and commanded his late night talk show, going so far as to record a new opening.

“Let me ask you guys this: as an audience, is it weird to see a person with actual talent host this show?,” a sneering Damon asked the crowd. “…I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long, long time. This is like when I lost my virginity, except this is going to last way longer than one second.”

Faux bumped from Kimmel’s show for years (Or, exactly, 1,205 times) and mocked for being “extremely overrated,” the Bourne Identity star kidnapped Kimmel, restrained him with duck tape and gagged him with a tie. “I am in command of this ship,” Damon announced. “Tonight, good triumphs over evil. I am Luke Skywalker and Kimmel is the Death Star, big and round and easily destroyed through his garbage hole. Look at him over there…with a gag in his mouth. You’ve never been funnier my friend.”

Then Damon proceeded to kick out Kimmel loyalists and replace them with his own staff: Sheryl Crowe takes over the band, Andy Garcia usurps Kimmel right-hand-man Guillermo. “Are you prepared to be my faithful sidekick?,” he asks Garcia. “Si, I brought my taser,” Garcia responds.

“He’s got a taser and he’s in character,” Damon says. “Excellent amigo.”