Deborah Harry, looking angular and plugging Blondie's new Panic of Girls album, has a rather somber interview with New York (August 29, 2011), in which she remembers an economic downturn in the band's fortunes:

"Chris got really sick. Our record company folded. We had poor management. Mercenary management. Suddenly we were broke. The IRS took our house. I was famous. I'd hear myself on the radio, and it felt like the whole world collapsed around me. I didn't sing for years."

Does she regret not becoming as big a brand as Madonna? It's not Madonna she uses in this hypothetical:

"Big as we were, sometimes I am completely miserable about not becoming a giant megastar, like Beyoncé or someone. I tell myself my little art pretensions held me back, kept me at a certain level, like a cult figure, and how truly awful that is. Then I see myself in the mirror and just laugh because that stuff is just stupid, you know?"

Dominic Cooper is looking sexy in New York (August 1, 2011). He's about to "become quite famous," they predict, for his role in a dual role in The Devil's Double as Saddam Hussein's late son Uday and Uday's double.

Above, Aaron Eckhart shows some skin in Entertainment Weekly (June 17, 2011). Below, while I was drying my eyes after reading in People (June 13, 2011) about how Wes Bentley "felt myself dying" during his drug years, I was scanning this intense shot of him. Looking at it, I can feel myself living:

The same issue offers up a slab still-sexy older (52) hunk Kevin Bacon:

More after the jump...

I loved Roseanne Barr. At first. I was a fan of her show and liked her boundaries-testing humor. She was the fat Madonna before Madonna was the skinny Oprah.

A stinging article in New York covers Madonna's devotion to Kabbalah at biblical length. One key take-away (with thanks to Joe):

"Women, as it turns out, don’t need to be on Earth—their reincarnation is assured, and they’re here only to help men achieve their purpose. 'Satan, which we also call the opponent within, knows that women are the key to a man’s success, and the reason the world suffers is because women aren’t doing their job,' says Phillips. 'Women need to kick men’s asses! I’m serious. Kicking ass is more sexy and a turn-on than anything else, because now the woman is talking to my soul.

"'You can see why such a philosophy might appeal to Madonna, with her bondage outfits and bayonetlike brassieres. Madonna became close with the Bergs, and they with her; Karen has even noted that Madonna 'keeps a kosher home, she observes Shabbat, she circumcised her son and had her [ex-] husband circumcised.' (Yes, you read the last part correctly.)"

So Madonna may not be castrating bitch so many of her detractors say she is...but you're getting warmer!

The article is quite cynical about Kabbalah, but then again so am I. I think it's made Madonna feel better about herself and I cast no aspersions on her desire to better the world. But the rest of it I find as silly as most other spiritual belief systems. Meanwhile, the author has her own detractors.

Overall, I think it's not a bad thing to scrutinize what a big star with a big ego is doing with tons of donations meant to help kids, and while some of the details raise an expensively arched eyebrow, I still think Madonna's intentions are pure and that she will follow through on her goals. (Jeez, that sounds flowery and delusional, but I call it like I see it!)

Lady GaGa is now officially the Queen of Twitter—and she's even posted an inaugural message. But as for another title...

...Madonna's not conceding just yet.

I haven't yet read the "How This Little Girl Became Lady GaGa" cover story in New York, but I can't wait thanks to that brilliant design. Look at that mug! And I couldn't resist: 

He's playing Georges, not Albin...

Outspoken Broadway veteran Arthur Laurents has several choice comments in Out (April 2010), including a slam against Tom Ford's A Single Man ("The book has a man sitting on a toilet ruminating. The film has a man sitting on a toilet that is shot for Vanity Fair."), being asked what he thought of Rob Marshall's Nine ("I didn't.) and summing up whether he's still friendly with Larry Kramer ("Not for a moment.).

Considering his disdain for Broadway ("I dislike Broadway intensely. On Broadway, everybody has an agenda. The excellence of the production is not high on the list.") and his immense ego, it's not surprising that he isn't looking forward to the new, "cockamamie" production of his play Anyone Can Whistle. But his animosity toward the new version of La Cage aux Folles, the original of which he directed in 1983:

"It's in vogue now, this so-called darker side of everything, which I think is just muddy. And cheap. Literally, in both meanings of the word. I saw it in London. I thought the production was homophobic."

New York (March 8, 2010) offers a glimpse of what it's like to wake up next to Sam Rockwell, above. Below, Matt Lanter in the middle of a 90210 scene from Us (March 15, 2010): 

From Star (March 15, 2010), Nerijus Bagdonas is a 25-year-old model who won the AMI/Wilhelmina Model Search. He looks pretty great. Meanwhile, the female winner, Viktoria Telek (who'se 28) looks scary-thin:

Kellan Lutz must be getting used to all the ogling by now. Here, he's spotted running errands by In Touch (March 15, 2010):

Finally, my Jake Pavelka fix arrives in the form of a shot of him getting "gr-abbed" by lucky bitch Vienna from People (March 15, 2010) and raising his hand (he feels dry now) from OK! (March 15, 2010):

  

Short answer: No fucking way. I responded in the comments of the article, too.