Those Rihanna and Leonardo DiCaprio hookup rumours have been happening for weeks now, ever since New Year’s. And on Valentine’s Day they were at the same club together in New York. Supposedly some people say they were getting close inside. Then they left at around 4:30am separately bu…      

Those Rihanna and Leonardo DiCaprio hookup rumours have been happening for weeks now, ever since New Year’s. And on Valentine’s Day they were at the same club together in New York. Supposedly some people say they were getting close inside. Then they left at around 4:30am separately bu…      

Here are some photos of Taylor Swift, out and about in NYC yesterday. This happens to often – Taylor tries to do “prim and proper” styling and she ends looking like a grandmother. My first thought was that she was trying to channel Helen Mirren’s subway glamour. Mirren did it better!

So, what’s going on with Swifty these days? She’s preparing for her worldwide tour, but she’s still making some major public appearances. On Sunday, she went to the Saturday Night Live 40th anniversary event, where she was seated next to Sarah Palin, of all people. There was a photo making the rounds where it looked like Swifty was rolling her eyes at Palin, except not really. Even if you crop everything else out of the photo, it’s still pretty clear that Swifty was just looking up at the TV monitor, NOT rolling her eyes – go here to see.

Meanwhile, people are still trying to make Swifty and Hozier happen. I’ll admit it, I’m one of those people. I think Swifty and Hozier would be a magnificent mess together . When Hozier was in Vancouver this week, a fan asked him if he was dating Swifty and he said: “I wish I could say yes, my dear, but we are only good friends.” This corresponds with what a source told Us Weekly last week as well, that Swifty and Hozier’s relationship is “not romantic. She’s just a huge fan! They’ve been friends at least six or seven months. They will always be only friends.” Swifty is still playing the “happily single” card. Which is fine, but what in the world is her next album going to be about?

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

All of the Oscar votes have been cast. The voting season is over. And aren’t you glad that there was a last-minute rush by Eddie Redmayne? I think that was such a smart decision by Eddie: don’t go the Benedict Cumberbatch route and make a huge push at the eleventh hour. Eddie is walking into the Oscars on Sunday in a position of such strength. We can’t call him an underdog because he’s already won a Golden Globe, SAG Award and BAFTA for The Theory of Everything. But we can’t call him a sure thing either. He still might lose to Michael Keaton. Which means that Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor are the three categories where anything could happen.

A lot of sites are running their Oscar predictions for Sunday and inevitably, I end up reading them. One of my favorites yesterday was this piece on Vanity Fair, and the discussion of Eddie’s chances between film critics/analysts Katey Rich, Richard Lawson and Mike Hogan. Here’s the part about Eddie-versus-Keaton.

Richard Lawson: Who do you guys think has the edge in the still up-for-grabs best actor race? It’s down to Eddie Redmayne and Michael Keaton, obviously, and Redmayne has had a good run at the lead-up awards shows, but I’m still thinking that the Academy might just be too fond of Keaton’s comeback narrative not to vote for him. I’ve heard whispers about how he’s not the most beloved guy in the industry, let’s say, but maybe that doesn’t matter when the story of his win would be so good?

Mike Hogan: Richard, you’re right to identify the race between Keaton and Redmayne as the only acting one with any mystery left in it at all. I hear Keaton has been working from the Bruce Dern playbook, retail-politicking with the older men who make up the bulk of the Academy’s membership. That, combined with Keaton’s “age advantage” over Redmayne, could help him over the finish line. Keaton is 63, Redmayne is 33, and best actor—unlike best actress—tends to go to seasoned veterans.

Then again, the average age of the last 10 best-actor winners is actually only 44—and Redmayne is half the distance from that mark than Keaton is. Moreover, a rule of thumb for Oscar handicappers is that the Academy rewards actors who transform themselves, and Redmayne certainly does that. Keaton, meanwhile, is playing a version of himself in Birdman—and a somewhat unlikeable version at that. It helps that Redmayne is a master schmoozer, and that Stephen Hawking has embraced The Theory of Everything, showing up at the BAFTA’s for a photo op with his young leading man. With all that in mind, I wouldn’t be shocked if Keaton won, but I would be a tad surprised.

[From Vanity Fair]

I think this is a good summary for why it seems like Eddie and Michael are in a dead heat. A few months ago, I would have said that Michael Keaton was going to walk away with everything, but Eddie’s posh politeness has really rocked Keaton’s campaign. It also makes sense that Keaton is not the most beloved figure in Hollywood – that works a long way towards explaining how Redmayne got a foothold in the first place. Think of it this way – Eddie could be this year’s Jennifer Lawrence. The younger, charming ingénue just grateful to be invited.

It also helps that Eddie quietly married his girlfriend of several years and she’s a non-famewhore who didn’t get knocked up at the drop of a hat. And their wedding didn’t seem like an Oscar stunt (coughyouknowwhoImtalkingaboutcough). One thing is for sure: the one with the fake baby, Cletus accent and beige booty shorts won’t win. RIGHT?!

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Obviously I was a huge Breaking Bad fan, and as much as it stressed me out, I miss writing the recaps as it made my love for, and understanding of, the show that much deeper.

But I wasn’t super excited about Better Call Saul; a prequel spin-off seems like it was just a disaster waiting …      

Obviously I was a huge Breaking Bad fan, and as much as it stressed me out, I miss writing the recaps as it made my love for, and understanding of, the show that much deeper.

But I wasn’t super excited about Better Call Saul; a prequel spin-off seems like it was just a disaster waiting …      

Candice Swanepoel covers the March issue of Self magazine. She’s not very exciting, gosspwise, but this is a very cool cover feature. No controversy or anything, but I always get excited when models take an athletic stance (like Gisele Bundchen’s Underarmour commercial). Candice looks so strong on this cover. She does talk about how her early career was met with criticism because she weighed too much. That’s the case for so many models, but I think she’s referring to muscle bulk. Here are some excerpts:

On being told to lose weight for her career: “I was so used to people criticizing me for being too thin that it was shocking to me.”

Her big break: “My agent said: ‘They want to see you. If you get the show, will you move to New York?’ I said: ‘If I got Victoria’s Secret, I’d do anything.’”

She’s an athlete: “I’m an athlete. I use every single muscle, especially my core and arms, when I pose. It’s so important for me to feel strong. When I have a show or a specific shoot coming up, I train for it full on, like an athlete would train for a game.”

Modelling is different now: “It used to be that if you had a swim shoot, you’d go away for two weeks and spend the first four days getting a suntan,’ she said. ‘Now we work 12 hours a day, every day, and I can be on a plane every two days. It’s almost like a chess game, where we’re the pieces.”

Her work ethic started early: “Africa is not for wussies. It’s in our culture to be hard workers.”

[From Self]

The modelling industry really is different now, especially for VS models. They’re a lot less curvy than they used to be, and there’s been plenty of criticism for that change. These girls also do a lot more events than back in the old days. It used to be a gig that mostly involved catalogue shoots, but now VS girls do more apperances and runway show blowouts for television. Candice is a good role example of a model who can be sexy and very atletic too.

Here’s Candice modelling the upcoming Apple watch. She’s the first woman to wear one on a magazine cover. Self made a big deal out of that fact.

Photos courtesy of Sebastian Kim/Self & WENN

Here are some photos of LeAnn Rimes taken off her Instagram. She celebrated Valentine’s Day in a bikini with her husband, per usual. I’m actually surprised she didn’t show off some “gifts” given to her by Eddie Cibrian. But no matter. LeAnn is going to perform in Las Vegas this weekend and she ended up doing a phone interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal. The whole thing was about her body, obviously. Some highlights:

How she stays in shape: “I work out a lot, because I like to eat. And I love wine. I have to figure out a way to enjoy that somehow” without gaining a ton of weight. Rimes boxes, jumps rope and does Pilates. She works out an hour to an hour and a half every day, five or six days a week. “I guess I do train pretty hard,” she said.

Whether she would like to box anyone in particular: “Haha. Um. I don’t think so. I like my face too much. And I like my brain. I can only imagine how I’d get rocked if I got hit too much. I love to box. I have to say, I’m actually pretty good at it.”

Her V-Day: Rimes and her husband, Eddie Cibrian, just spent a romantic Valentine’s weekend in an RV at the beach without the kids. “I thoroughly get into every holiday,” because the godparents who helped raise her “celebrated everything…I turn into Cupid on Valentine’s. I turn into the Easter bunny on Easter. Cupcakes and valentine’s everywhere!”

She’s working on another Christmas album: “It’s kind of odd talking about Christmas songs in February. But it’s all very odd. It’s 80 degrees outside, and we’re talking about Christmas!”

[From The Las Vegas Review Journal]

Well, I’ll give LeAnn this: this is the best she’s looked in years. She’s finally found a balance and her body is back to looking healthy.

But of course, not everything is healthy. Because LeAnn has to perform this weekend, she’s been bitching on her Twitter about how sick she is. Because that never gets old! She always gets a cold, flu or (this time) “bronchitis” whenever she needs Eddie to pay attention to her.

Photos courtesy of LeAnn’s Instagram.

Last night in New York. At The Spotted Pig. Taylor Swift and Kanye West were both there, papped leaving within minutes of each other after meeting for dinner supposedly to discuss their upcoming collaboration. This shouldn’t be a surprise as he told Ryan Seacrest last week:

“Yeah,…      

View image | gettyimages.com

The latest Joe Biden catastrophe started when Biden was swearing in our new Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter. The new secretary had invited his wife Stephanie and their kids to the swearing in, and Stephanie was standing beside the podium with Biden. Biden couldn’t help himself. He put his hands on Stephanie’s shoulders and I think I detect some rubbing happening. Then he leaned in really close and whispered something to her while her husband was speaking. The whole video should be watched as an example of Workplace Sexual Harrassment (and I’m saying that as someone who ordinarily likes Uncle Joe).

Biden has apparently known Ashton Carter and his wife for years. That’s not an excuse, but it’s possible he’s simply friendly with Carters and the whole thing has been misinterpreted. And while Stephanie Carter hasn’t said anything about this and perhaps she wasn’t even that uncomfortable with it, it does seem like yet another example of the Veep getting too friendly/handsy/inappropriate with the ladies. The only thing I’ll say in Biden’s defense is that he’s always a pretty handsy guy and he seems to enjoy the baby-kissing and voter-hugging part of political life, and he is legitimately that way with men, women and children equally. But yeah, he needs to stop.

View image | gettyimages.com

Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.