On a wall-mounted screen, Marilyn Monroe sings a chorus from "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" next to a picture of Kristin Scott Thomas pulling off a peroxide wig to reveal the dark hair in a new exhibit on movies and women's hair.


"Brunette/Blonde?", which opened this month at the Paris cinematheque, uses film and television archives, photography and art to retrace how generations of movie makers have used women's hair to seduce and shape their times.


Penelope Cruz stares out from underneath a platinum wig, her sultry Latin looks camouflaged for the camera, for the poster of the show.


"Women's hair is a constant motif for all filmmakers, in all films," said curator Alain Bergala, whether curled and glamorous like Veronica Lake, wild and loose like Brigitte Bardot, or cropped and rebellious like Jean Seberg.


Above all, he said, "the 20th century was the century of blonde imperialism" -- and nowhere more so than on the film sets of Hollywood.


Illustrating the point: a pre-war US archive clip of Lana Turner gives women detailed tips on how to achieve the same hairstyle, with short blonde curls wound cherub-like around her head.


In another, Jane Fonda talks on camera about her early experience of the film industry -- how it judged her too dark to be "commercial", so that for 10 years she was forced to dye her hair and lashes blonde.


A kaleidoscope of "Elle" magazine covers shows Catherine Deneuve through the ages, polished, thick locks at shoulder length in the 1960s to frizzy-haired blonde in the 1980s -- each time a model of femininity for her generation.


But even in the movie world, the image of the blonde flickered back and forth between "pure and impure."


Until the 1930s, the blonde was the demure housewife, and the brunette was cast as a temptress. Then the tables turned -- the blonde taking over as femme fatale, an enduring myth that culminated in the figure of Marilyn Monroe.


"At each period, the viewer knows how to tell the good girl from the bad, even if the codes have changed," said Bergala.


Later, the show moves the viewer away from the stereotype of the eternal rivals on to the 1990s and the cinema of David Lynch and his "idea that there is a blonde and a brunette inside every woman," said Bergala.


In Lynch's "Lost Highway", Patricia Arquette plays both sides of a female figure -- dark and blonde. In "Mulholland Drive" the twin heroines, blonde and dark, are caught in a complex play on identity.


The Paris show also aims for a broader historical sweep, looking at the politics of hair throughout the decades.


From the 19th century Suffragettes or 1920s flappers to Jean Seberg's now-classic crop in the 1960s, short hair symbolised women's liberation, while Black Panther activists adopted the afro as a means of protest.


One gem -- a US propaganda film from World War II -- enjoins women to ditch Veronica Lake-style locks for shorter, practical styles better suited to working on factory machines in the war effort.


On a darker note, the show also highlights how the Nordic cult of blondness was adopted by Nazi Germany as a symbol of racial purity, spreading to Josef's Stalin's Soviet Union which celebrated the ideal of the blonde peasant -- and on to the film studios of the United States.


The Western myth excluded blacks, hispanics and ethnic minorities, but the show makes a point of touching on hair's role in other cultures -- from Japan to the Middle East, Africa or India.


"In Indian cinema, when two characters fall in love they cannot be shown kissing, so they convey emotion by showing the woman's hair lifting in the breeze," said the curator.


Bergala commissioned six filmmakers from around the world to produce short films for the exhibit, including one by Iran's Abbas Kiarostami which closes the visit.


In the film, four-year-old Rebecca stares straight into the camera, all smiles with her chubby pink cheeks, bright green eyes and long chestnut plait.


But when told her lovely locks might have to be snipped off for the purpose of the plot, she falters, chin wavering and little face dropping as she understands the decision facing her.


It takes a few moments but Rebecca's choice is clear: Forget making me a movie star -- I'm keeping my hair.

Kim Kardashian took Tao in Las Vegas on Friday to celebrate her 30th birthday (which isn't until Oct. 21) with her sisters.


Then on Saturday the party moved back to the Big Apple, where Kim toasted her birthday with Ciara, Adrien Grenier and more at Tao NYC's 10-year anniversary bash.


So what does she think of her new city and the men there?


"I love New York," she told me Friday night. "It's so fashion-forward. And I love living with Mason. I get to wake up to him every day."


And her adorable nephew is the only boy she's waking up to right now.


"Unfortunately, it really is kind of tough dating when you live your life on a reality show, so you gotta be careful," she explained. "Do the guys really want to meet you to be on the show—or the ones that you really like don't wanna be on the show. So right now my love life is kind of nonexistent. But I'm 30 and it's my birthday and I'm not going to think about that!"


And if you thought the birthday celebrations were over after back-to-back blowout parties in two different cities, think again.


Although Scott Disick was MIA from both bashes, Kourtney said he's organizing yet another soiree for Kim on her actual birthday.


"He's planning Kim's New York birthday bash," Kim's sister told me. "Kim doesn't just have one party."




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Kate Moss secretly wed her rock guitarist boyfriend Jamie Hince in a ceremony in Sicily in August, according to reports in Britain on Friday.

Moss, 36, and Hince, 40, exchanged vows before a handful of friends and family in a ceremony on the Mediterranean island, the Daily Mirror tabloid reported.

The model walked up the aisle barefoot and wore a see-through white gown for the ceremony in a small church.

Her daughter Lila Grace, from a previous relationship with magazine editor Jefferson Hack, was one of three ring bearers at the wedding.

Moss met Hince, guitarist with The Kills, three years ago.

The Daily Mirror reported that the wedding plans had been kept secret because the couple wanted to avoid media coverage.

Following the ceremony, local villagers reportedly joined in the celebrations outside the church.

Before her relationship with Hince, Moss had been romantically involved with Hollywood star Johnny Depp and wayward rocker Pete Doherty

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie said Friday that she wants to meet a group of war victims to clear up any misunderstanding after Bosnia revoked her licence to film this week.

Her licence to shoot scenes in Sarajevo and the central town of Zenica in November was cancelled when the Women Victims of War (WVW) association complained after media reports the film would depict a love story between a Muslim victim and her Serb rapist.

"I have great respect for all the work of the WVW association ... and I would like the opportunity to speak with them to personally clear up any misunderstandings about this project," Jolie said in a statement issued through the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, in Bosnia.

She added that part of the reason to make her first movie as a director was to remind people of what happened during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and to give attention to the survivors of the conflict that left some 100,000 people dead.

"My hope is that people will hold judgement until they have seen the film," she added.

Bakira Hasecic of the WVW, whose members are all wartime rape victims, said Friday that she would gladly meet with Jolie.

"We would like her to show us the script so we can see if it contains elements that falsify history and the truth," she said.

Hasecic has not seen the script yet and the WVW complaints were based solely on the press reports.

A local production company working with Jolie on the project said Thursday that they had sent the script of the as yet untitled movie to the culture ministry of Bosnia's Muslim-Croat Federation.

Edin Sarkic, a representative of the company, was confident they would get their filming license reinstated and insisted that the film was not a rape love story.

On Friday Sarkic said he had not yet heard back from the ministry since he submitted the script.

"They told me to be patient," he said, adding that he was "reassured that things will be worked out".

"It would be a shame for all of us on the project and the local crew in Sarajevo, if unfair pressure based on wrong information were to prevent us from shooting in Bosnia," Jolie's production company for the project GK Films said in a separate statement Friday.

International organisations have estimated that thousands of women were raped during the 1991-95 Bosnian war that was sparked by the break-up of the communist federation of Yugoslavia.

In February 2001, the UN war crimes court for the former Yugoslavia convicted three Bosnian Serbs of crimes against humanity and war crimes after they were found guilty of rape and forced prostitution of Bosnian Muslim women in the southeastern town of Foca.

The verdict marked the first time an international court had ruled that rape was a crime against humanity.

Jolie, one of Hollywood's highest paid actresses, has hired mostly local Bosnian actors for the English-language movie and will not appear in it herself.

The 35-year-old, who most recently starred in the spy thriller "Salt", paid a surprise visit to Sarajevo in August when she called on Bosnian leaders to speed up the return of thousands of refugees from the civil war.

LONDON: Aaron Sorkin, flanked by Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake, landed in the British capital Thursday ahead of the U.K. rollout of "The Social Network" and the start of its overseas' quest for Oscars and British Academy voter attention.

Organized by Sony Pictures, Sorkin provided heavyweight answers on his role in bringing the movie to the big screen while at the same time filling big shoes in the absence of the movie's director David Fincher.

Fincher is, as Sorkin reminded the room, shooting the English-language remake of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," under the watchful eye of "Social Network" producer Scott Rudin in Sweden.

When asked how much his studio backers had sweated over making a fictional movie about real-life characters, all of whom are still alive, Sorkin made no bones about how important it had been to get everything checked.

"I can't speak to how much a studio sweats generally but I can say there was absolutely nothing left to chance with this movie." Sorkin said. "There is a moral obligation not to mess around with someone's life for the sake of a good movie scene."

His script, he said, was subject to constant legal checks. "I was required to deliver an annotated script to the studio, by which I mean one with notes on the [multiple] sources for everything that is said," Sorkin said.

He name-checked Amy Pascal at Sony and his producers for being fully behind the project from the word go: "I want to thank them for making the movie without saying you're going to have to put some sugary frosting into it."

But for a film that tells the story of how the social network of the title Facebook was created in a Harvard dorm room and wound up creating the world's youngest billionaire who is -- less than eight years later -- only 26, everyone involved is a great pains to explain one thing.

Neither Eisenberg, Garfield, Timberlake nor Sorkin are on the popular social networking website. Garfield used to be on it, he said, but isn't anymore. All noted its use to attract greater attention to charity events or social issues. But as individuals, Facebook isn't really their thing

She looks as if she’s dancing at home in front of a mirror: At her Glamour photo shoot in Nashville, 20-year-old Taylor Swift is skipping, jumping, shimmying her shoulders and lip-synching the words to Phoenix’s pop song “1901.” In truth, she’s vamping for the photographer, and what I am seeing before me is a pro, an artist who seems to have matured by leaps and bounds since 15 months ago, when I interviewed her on the set of her Fearless tour in Biloxi, Mississippi. Not that I should be surprised: This has been the Year of Taylor Swift. Apparently, it wasn’t enough to have the top-selling album of 2009, or to become the female artist with the most Top 40 singles this decade (take that, Kanye!). No, this year she topped even herself: She was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, won four Grammys, including Album of the Year, met Bill Clinton and sang onstage with Stevie Nicks.


After Swift finishes the shoot and sits down, she’s out of breath, but for her that’s the new normal. A full four days after moving into her brand-new condo, she’s logged precisely 10 minutes of downtime in her home. Tonight is no exception: She’ll be meeting Paul McCartney, who is playing in Nashville for the very first time. “I can’t wait!” she says. With her new album, Speak Now, about to drop, she opened up to Glamour and filled us in on everything that’s happened—and everything that’s to come.


GLAMOUR: This has been a crazy year for you: Have you had time to appreciate what you’ve achieved, or is it too much to take in?


TAYLOR SWIFT: I’ve gone through a few different phases of gratitude. When it’s happening, you’re all about [what’s next] and trying not to make a misstep. When it came time to lock myself away and make my next album, I had a feeling of, Wow, that really was something, wasn’t it? I drive down the same streets I used to drive years ago, when I was just dreaming about stuff like this. So I feel total happiness and anticipation for the next thing.


GLAMOUR: What is next?


TAYLOR SWIFT: My next album is something I’m really proud of. I can only write about what I’ve been through. And a lot has happened in the past two years.


GLAMOUR: Like that song about Kanye [who famously dissed her at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards]?


TAYLOR SWIFT: [Laughs.] Everything that happens to me gets put into a song. For some reason, I’m really comfortable talking about my personal life in songs. There, I don’t hold back: names, dates, times, expressions on people’s faces, exactly where we were and how it felt, what I wish I would have said to them in the moment. So I’m not only excited about sharing the songs with fans; I’m also pretty interested to hear the response from the guys I’ve written about on this record.

Cue the horror music: Little J is back on Gossip Girl and totally going all Single White Female on Serena!


How else can you explain the photos that were just snapped on set of Taylor Momsen and Blake Lively wearing the exact same ballgown?


Actually, we have the inside scoop from sources. But first a warning: Spoiler Alert!


TWITTER: Follow @KristinDSantos for TV 24/7.


According to my source, Jenny's same-dress (and in one photo, she's wearing a mask!) masquerade is all part of Juliet's (Katie Cassidy) master plan to take down Serena. Yeah, in case you haven't figured it out yet, Juliet is out for some cold hard revenge, and I'm told she'll end up recruiting not-so-little-anymore Jenny Humphrey—and another major character—in her grand scheme.


Any guesses on who that other character is? I'm all ears...


Oh, and one final thought. Remember the last time Jenny wore a mask and people thought she was Serena? The masquerade ball in season one? Nate kissed her. Good times.


The next episode of Gossip Girl airs this Monday on the CW.
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A slimmed down Lea Michele could go from glee club to the Grotto!” claims In Touch.

And what exactly does that mean?


The tab, citing a Michele “friend,” says the “Glee” star has “been offered more than $500,000 to show off her new body in Playboy.”


After all, the mag points out, “Lea has had plenty of experience with nudity: She did a topless scene live for more than a year in Spring Awakening on Broadway.”


Okay, but doing a topless scene in a theatrical show is a lot different than stripping down naked for a ”nudie mag.”


Still, the so-called source alleges, “Lea looks gorgeous, and obviously, Playboy noticed. She loves her new look, and she might do it if she thought it would boost her career.”


Or she might not do it, regardless of her career.


Michele’s rep tells Gossip Cop that “it’s not true at all” that she’s considering a Playboy pictorial.

Gloria Stuart, best known for her role as 100-year-old survivor of the sinking Titanic in the 1997 movie of the same name, passed away September 26th.


The Washington Post reported that Stuart's daughter Sylvia Thompson confirmed that her mother, who had been diagnosed with lung cancer a few years ago, died at her home in West Los Angeles at the age of 100.


The Santa Monica-born actress was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Titanic and was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG).

 Julia Roberts said Monday she is uncomfortable with the praise heaped on her trademark wide smile as she presented her latest film "Eat Pray Love" at the San Sebastian film festival.


"Its strange being appreciated for something that is not a skill, that is something that I don't have any control over," the Oscar-winning US actress told a news conference.


"People say: 'where did it come from?'. And I say, well my parents!'," she added. "Its always a funny little thing to talk about, my smile, because it's just part of me like my ears or my toes or anything".


Roberts, a married mother of three, attended the news conference alongside her Spanish co-star Javier Bardem, who plays her doting love interest in the movie.


"It is in every contract that I have that in films men must satellite and follow me, worship me in an every imaginable, conceivable way," she joked.


"Eat Pray Love," based on Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling memoir of a globe-trotting quest for meaning after divorce, follows Roberts' character Liz to Italy, India and Indonesia as she searches for life's lessons.


Roberts, 42, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2001 for her role as a single-mom-turned-legal-crusader in "Erin Brockovich", was to collect the San Sebastian festival's honorary Donostia Award later Monday.


"Eat Pray Love" is being screened out of competition at the festival, the oldest and most prestigious event of its kind in the Spanish-speaking world.

Madonna walks the pink carpet with daughter Lourdes Leon at the collection launch of their new fashion line, Material Girl, at Macy’s Herald Square on Wednesday (September 22) in New York City.



The mother-daughter duo was accompanied by the face of the line, Gossip Girl’s Taylor Momsen.

Material Girl was designed by Madonna and Lola along with Iconix Brand Group’s in-house fashion department. The collection includes apparel, footwear and accessories including handbags and jewelry!

Madonna is well known for her pursuit of eternal youth, but one of her tricks for staying youthful is well within the ordinary mortal's grasp.

The 52-year-old giggled much like her teenage daughter Lourdes Leon Ciccone as she admitted to borrowing clothes from the 13-year-old's wardrobe.

The mother and daughter designers teamed up in New York to launch their Material Girl clothing line.

In a rare joint interview on the pink carpet - not Lourdes favourite colour she admitted - the pair opened up about their differing taste, and stealing from each other's no doubt enviable wardrobes.

Lourdes, 13 and Madonna, 52, spoke at an event at New York store Macy's promoting their co-designed Material Girl clothing line.

And it's clear that the daughter of the pop icon is vying to win style plaudits of her own.

Megan Fox attends the exclusive after party for "Passion Play" hosted by BlackBerry held at Buca Restaurant during the 35th Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2010 in Toronto, Canada.

Lady Gaga, Eminem, Justin Bieber, and Thirty Seconds To Mars were the among the winners at the MTV Video Music Awards, but did the Kanye West-Taylor Swift moment part 2 live up to the hype? Lady Gaga also promised to release the name of her new album 





 

If you thought Taylor Swift's performance at last night's MTV Video Music Awards—in which she replayed Kanye West stage-jacking from last year then crooned about how he's still growing but remains innocent…uh, we think—was a tad uncomfy, you're not the only one.


Certain MTV execs were not pleased with Ms. Swift's performance—or lack-there-of, as it might be. Not only did her appearance leave some viewers scratching their heads, but Tay also shied away from a proposed duet between the two superstars—according to impeccable MTV sources. Keep in mind this was never an official duet planned by the hip network, but, merely one several key MTV players were very much pushing for.


For the record, MTV was gaga on everything Taylor. Certainly its president, Van Toffler, who said, "There was never a plan for Taylor Swift and Kayne to perform together and we were absolutely thrilled with her performance."


Also, Swift's reps claim likewise—that there was never any kind of a request or a push for such a joint performance. Which is unlike what other uber-inside MTV sources are telling us. But, alas, that's what a goss column's for, right?


Before we get to rest of the good dirt, trust us, folks in the Nokia Theatre, where the VMAs were held, were just as confused listening to T.Swift—wandering around her bizarre broken down home set sans shoes and singing a little ditty that everyone knew was addressed to the Kanye—as we're sure you viewers at home were.


"The house is dead! The house is dead!" An überpowerful source that helped plan the night cried as Tay slowly walked back across stage after her performance to silence from the stunned crowd.


And not stunned in a good way, that's for sure.


The whole performance was over-the-top melodramic—Taylor's signature style, natch—for an incident that, in retrospect, really wasn't a big deal. And from a gal who is supposedly totally over the whole ordeal, no less. Guess not, huh, Taylor?


'Cause if Tay put the incident in her past, then she'd be up to show there are no hard feelings by taking the stage with Mr. West himself, which everyone at MTV and Team Kanye thought would happen. 





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