Michael Lohan still hasn’t seen those topless shots of his daughter Lindsay.

“I’m not going to look at the photos — that’s my daughter!” he told Usmagazine.com in a telephone interview this morning.

Still, he told Us he approves of his daughter’s decision to recreate the iconic 1962 photos of Marilyn Monroe known as “The Last Sitting” for New York magazine.

“Lindsay is an adult, and she knows the direction she wants to take her career,” he said. “It’s her decision.

“The fact that the photographer [Bert Stern] who did Marilyn Monroe’s pictures would ask Lindsay to re-create them … that’s an amazing thing.”

One thing he hopes doesn’t come from the photo set: “I pray there are no parallels to her and Marilyn Monroe’s destiny.” (Monroe died of an overdose of barbiturates at the age of 36.)

In her New York interview, the actress said she had no plan to end up like Monroe or late actor Heath Ledger.

“I'm not them … I sure as hell wouldn’t let it happen to me,” she told the magazine.
[source]

Jessica Simpson is reportedly engaged to her new boyfriend Tony Romo. Sources say the singer “has never been happier” and is confident that her second marriage would work. Simpson was previously married to singer Nick Lachey.

“Jessica has never been happier than she is when she’s with Tony. She knows her first marriage didn’t work out, but she has a really good feeling about this one, and wants to make her feels for Tony clear,” says a source.



Simpson and the Dallas Cowboys quarterback have been dating since last November. Sources say Simpson’s family approves of Romo.
[source]

The hotel heiress - whose latest movie The Hottie and the Nottie grossed just $9 000 at the US box office in its opening weekend - was devastated after being told she couldn't attend the prestigious event on Sunday night.

A source said: "She cried hot, salty tears when she was banned from the Oscars. She's desperate to be taken seriously as an actress and hoped she would be able to network with film executives."

Paris - who infamously starred in home video sex-tape One Night in Paris - had even splashed out $3.9m on a designer dress for the ceremony at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre.

'The Simple Life star is now considering going to one of the many after-show parties but may have to wear a disguise.

A source added to Britain's Daily Star newspaper: "She's tempted to go to the parties afterwards but might wear her trademark wig to save her dignity."

However, one post-awards bash she won't be going to is the Vanity Fair event.

The magazine has decided to scrap its annual Oscar party in support of the recent Hollywood writers' strike.

The Vanity Fair party is considered the most glamorous and exclusive post-Oscars event, with a guest list strictly reserved for A-list stars and VIPs.

US TV show Entertainment Weekly have also cancelled their post-Oscar bash.
[source]


Paris Hilton onstage with the Pussycat Dolls for her Burlesque Birthday party

Tinseltown is abuzz. Top designers are working overtime dressing the actresses, and ballots marked with X's are pouring into the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, all for Sunday's Academy Awards. Among the categories, Best Picture ... Best Original Screenplay ... Best Use of Food in a Film ...

Oops. They've forgotten that last category -- again! Don't they know that a great food scene can be the most powerful part of a movie? Mindful of that, we decided to announce our own awards: The Sauteed Celluloids. Here are our picks from 2007 for Best Food Film:

"Ratatouille"

Kudos to the filmmakers of this animated movie, which follows the culinary aspirations of a rat who manages to triumph in the world's most demanding food town: Paris.

"Ratatouille" successfully re-creates an authentic restaurant kitchen and hired star chef Thomas Keller to create the most sublime vegetable sculpture ever to grace the silver screen. So, boo to those who think animated films shouldn't be nominated for Best Picture. Bravo and bon appetit!

"Eastern Promises"

In which crime doesn't pay, but the image of a perpetrator's rose-petal cake is priceless. The elegant trans-Siberian restaurant in the film may serve the most stunning Russian fare in London, with a succession of dishes rivaling any layout in Gourmet magazine -- even though the blue-eyed proprietor, Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), is really the head of a notorious crime family. This mild-mannered monster is as fastidious at decorating the delicate rose-petal cake for a 100th birthday party as he is masterminding a cover-up of hundreds of bodies.

In one scene, he sweetly offers the naive midwife Anna (Naomi Watts) a spoon of borscht like her papa used to make, but maybe we understand why the duplicitous hero Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen) keeps his fork to himself.

"Juno"

Thank goodness this is only a movie. Should a pregnant teen really be eating all that? Few healthful items pass through the lips of Juno (Ellen Page), a pregnant 16-year-old with an otherwise level head on her shoulders. She has decided to deliver the baby into the loving arms of a more age-appropriate, nutritionally knowledgeable mom.

Although the slang-speaking pubescent brags to her best friend that her solicitous stepmom won't let her eat red M&M's or stand in front of the microwave, Juno remains, after all, your typical teen, piling cola, fries and chips onto her lunch tray.

"The Bucket List"

Director Rob Reiner tells a story of how two men -- polar opposites played by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman -- change each other's lives after each is given three to six months to live. Edward (Nicholson) is a demanding multimillionaire, who orders anything he wants to eat and will travel anywhere in the world to get it, while Carter, a mechanic with no regrets, hasn't ventured an inch from his soul-food roots.

On their trip around the world to complete their "Bucket List" (i.e., all the things you want to do before you kick the bucket), Edward introduces his new friend to black walnut ice cream in Hong Kong, Champagne, Beluga caviar and oysters on the half-shell on the French Riviera.

"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"

Julian Schnabel based his film on the memoir of the same name by Jean-Dominique Bauby. Suffering from a stroke that left him paralyzed and unable to communicate, Bauby summoned his memory to re-create the world that he had once indulged in.

He fantasizes a Tom Jones-like bacchanal in Paris, including an exquisite oyster on the half shell with a sip of Champagne, a taste of perfectly grilled sole with a squeeze of lemon and a glass of Chablis, and a magnificent steak with bearnaise sauce spooned over it, accompanied by perfectly prepared pommes frites. And, to finish, an assortment of ripe, runny cheese and a slow sip of sweet wine.

Simple roast chicken

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 50 minutes

Resting time: 15 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Adapted from "Bouchon," by Thomas Keller, and as seen in the film "Ratatouille."

1 whole chicken, 2-3 pounds

1 tablespoon coarse salt

Freshly ground pepper

3 sage leaves

2 teaspoons thyme leaves

Dijon mustard

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Sprinkle chicken and its cavity with the salt and pepper to taste; truss with kitchen string, if desired. Place chicken on a rack in a roasting pan; roast until juices run clear, 50-60 minutes.

2. Remove from oven; add sage and thyme to the pan juices. Baste chicken with the juices; let rest 15 minutes. Carve chicken; serve with pan juices and mustard on the side.

Nutrition information per serving: 263 calories, 55% of calories from fat, 16 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 89 mg cholesterol, 0 g carbohydrates, 28 g protein, 1,497 mg sodium, 0 g fiber
[source]

Pauly Shore is suing neighbor Wes Craven for creating a nightmare on his property in a dispute between the two that began last year.

Shore claimed that a landslide on his Hollywood Hills property in December 2006 was caused by Craven's failure to properly maintain vegetation and landscaping on a hillside on his property, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Superior Court.

The comedian also alleged that Craven, the director of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and the "Scream" series, did not eradicate rodents burrowing in the hill and made improvements on his property that "changed the geology, topography and drainage," according to the lawsuit.

A call to Craven's attorney Wednesday was not returned.

Shore's allegations are part of a countersuit in response to a suit filed on behalf of Craven last June.

Craven alleged that Shore upgraded his home with a pool, spa, landscaping and other improvements that caused water to seep down a slope and damage his property.

Both suits seek unspecified damages and a judgment determining who should be held responsible.
[source]

The folks at Sony are not thrilled that Michael Jackson's "Thriller 25" is on Billboard's catalogue - or oldies - chart.

Even though it's No. 1.

Label sources argue that Jackson's 25th-anniversary album is full of new material and should be on the music-biz bible's Top 200 list.

Sure, it has Jackson's memorable hits "Billie Jean," "Beat It" and "The Girl Is Mine."

But one source says, "It has six new songs. Michael went into the studio and recorded with Kanye West, Fergie, Akon, Will.i.Am - and there's a brand-new song from Michael, and videos. It beat Grammy winners Amy Winehouse and Herbie Hancock, with 167,000 crossing the counter. Yet for reasons unfathomable to folks in the music industry, Billboard has decided to relegate it to the catalogue chart. Catalogue makes it look like same ol' same ol', but with a new cover.

"Michael expected it to be on the Top 200 chart."

Billboard chart guru Geoff Mayfield tells us: "We were approached by Sony and Sony BMG to consider 'Thriller 25' as a current album. But we had to be consistent with hundreds, if not thousands, of reissues that have come to the market. There have actually been new issues of classic albums that include even more new material. We didn't just make the decision on our own. We contacted major retailers [like Wal-Mart and Best Buy], and that was the consensus."

Mayfield was conciliatory. "I always understand when people are disappointed when they don't show as high up on the chart, or on the chart they wanted." But Jackson should be happy, he added: "It's the largest sum for an album on the catalogue chart to be sold in 10 years."
[source]

The private room being held for Jennifer Lopez at North Shore University Hospital is finally occupied.

Monday, we reported the room, which is furnished with a leather couch, had "been sitting empty for two weeks" in preparation for the pop diva's twins. But a recent patient at the hospital told Page Six that during her visit, staffers were aflutter, exclaiming, "J.Lo is here!"

A rep for the expectant songstress did not return calls for a comment.
[source]