Happy holidays everyone!

We'll be back in 2009

New York, December 17, 2008 – Ben Affleck was at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday to unveil his newest directorial project, a short film called Gimme Shelter.  Intended to raise money and humanitarian assistance for people displaced by fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Affleck joked that perhaps they should recruit an attractive actress to draw attention to the cause.  (Many famous actresses, including Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie, and Drew Barrymore are U.N. ambassadors for various causes.) 

But Affleck spoke passionately about the devastation in the Congo, and said he was humbled to be speaking before people to whom he normally listens.  The audience included famed photographer James Nachtwey, whose 2006 book, Forgotten War, documented the African nation’s crisis; Congolese-born NBA star and humanitarian Dikembe Mutombo, and Rose Mapendo, a genocide survivor turned activist. 

New York, December 13, 2008 – Matthew Broderick, who gives voice to the title character, a mouse, in The Tale of Depereaux, says he is not frightened of mice.  “I’m not really scared of them.  I don’t really like them in my house, but if I see a mouse, I don’t scream or jump on a table,” he said at a special screening on Saturday.  Co-Star Kevin Kline says he actually like mice.  “I think they’re kind of cute,” Kline said, however, he added, he doesn’t find rats to be cute.  Sigourney Weaver, who narrates the animated movie, agreed.  “I think mice are sweet,” the Alien star said.  “I’ve had one fall on me by mistake, and he kind of looked at me like, ‘I don’t know what you’re doing here, this is my house,’ and then he jumped off,” Weaver recalled.  “But I wasn’t afraid; it wasn’t scary,” she said. 

New York, December 12, 2008 – Z100’s Jingle Ball rang in the holidays with a beat on Friday, and for sure, Santa never looked so good as Katy Perry in her short red sparkly dress with white fur trim.  Everyone backstage at Madison Square Garden wanted to sit on Katy’s knee and tell her how naughty they’d been! 

As usual, there was a lot of action and much giggling in the backstage gift suite.  At a display of Hasbro games, American Idol alum David Archuleta said he likes to play Trivial Pursuit and Clue.  Archuleta also said that he loved touring with AI, and got to hang out with the other contestants.  Nick Lachey’s favorite board game is Taboo – he plays with girlfriend Vanessa Mimnillo, but he says they always end up arguing. 

The Dooney & Bourke bags were a hit – with the guys.  30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer picked out the Zebra pattern and quipped, "Now I need an outfit to match."  And Ne-Yo nabbed a Jungle Tote but swore it was for his mom.  Uh-huh.  Hey, the guys also went for Paris Hilton’s fragrance Fairy Dust, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Christian Siriano scooped up some of the D’Annunzio jewelry – it’ll be interesting to see how Sirano’s boyfriend looks in diamonds. 

Brandy said, "People always say that I look like a Bratz doll, I'm serious.”  Okay.  She looked pretty good, as did Ashley Tisdale, who said she’s been keeping her hair dark because when she’s blonde, people associate her with her High School Musical character Sharpay. 

Twilight star Peter Facinelli showed us his actor’s ego while checking out the Soda-Club sparkling water machines – he assumed the flavor called “Peter’s Choice” was named after him. 

Photos: Kristn Callahan

Archuleta, Ne-Yo & Facinelli photos by WireImage

New York, December 11, 2008  - The tanking economy has put a huge strain on food banks, with more and more people out of work and trying to feed their families.  So it was great to see such a nice turnout for the annual Lunchbox Auction, where lunchboxes designed by the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz, Tony Bennett and Martha Stewart, to name a few, were auctioned to raise money for the Food Bank for New York City.  As always, hosts Michael Stipe and Mario Batali rallied a stellar crowd to Milk Studios.  Mike Myers, who in the past we’ve seen slip in unnoticed, happily did his signature Dr. Evil pose with pinky in mouth.  And we don’t know what got into the usually aloof Julia Stiles - she was in an unusually good mood, smiling and laughing all evening.  Piper Perabo, John Ventimiglia, Salman Rushdie, Chris Madden and Emeril Lagasse were also roaming around, looking at lunchboxes. 

This event kicked off a one-week online auction where all the boxes are up for auction.  The online auction continues through December 18th at midnight.  Great holiday gift idea!

The Lunchbox Auction

Photo: WireImage

New York, December 9, 2008 –The planet kept on rotating but Broadway traffic came to a standstill at the big, splashy, star-studded premiere of The Day the Earth Stood Still on Tuesday.  Chaos reigned as Keanu Reeves shook hands, posed for photos and signed autographs for fans lucky enough to secure a spot on the red carpet at the AMC Loews Lincoln Square Theater.  Fans' screeching reached a fever pitch when Will Smith made the scene.  His son, Jaden Smith, is one of the movie’s stars, and dad told us he was trying to stay out of the limelight.  “I’m supposed to be letting him do his thing tonight, so I’m supposed to be stepping back,” Will said.  Proud mom Jada Pinkett Smith said that her 10-year-old son had a great time working on the movie.  “I’m very proud of him,” Jada said, beaming. 

As for young Jaden, he wasn’t overly concerned with recreating the 1951 sci-fi classic.  “I didn’t really see the last movie, so I didn’t know what I was up against and stuff like that,” Jaden said.  “I think it’s going to be really good,” he added. 

Reeves also claimed not to be anxious about reprising the iconic role of the alien.  “I can’t deal with the iconic aspect of it, you know.  I treated it as any other role,” he said.

Kathy Bates, who also stars in the remake, reserved her opinion on how it turned out. “I haven’t seen the movie,” she confessed.  “I’m going to wait and see if I like this one,” Bates said before the screening. 

New York, December 4, 2008 – Jimmie Johnson was the man of the hour on Thursday at Marquee, at a party celebrating his NASCAR Sprint cup series victory.  Again - this was Johnson’s third consecutive win.  But also grabbing our attention was DJ AM, spinning and seemingly in good shape after his harrowing plane crash in September.  Fellow DJ Samantha Ronson shared duties – is that what caused her to argue with Lindsay Lohan?  Biggest news to us was Aubrey O’Day claming that she and her female date were lesbians, and are, like, totally upset about the passage of Proposition 8 in California.  O’Day also stood up for animal gay rights, noting that her lapdog, Ginger, who was in her arms, is also a lesbian. 

Other NASCAR partygoers, none of whom confessed to being lesbians, included Ricki Lake, Alessandra Ambrosio, Gavin DeGraw and NJ Nets’ Rashad McCants. 

Photos: Marion Curtis/Starpix