• Kate Winslet goes all out glamour at the 50th Annual London Film Festival for her upcoming flick Little Children.
• Lindsay Lohan’s new neighbors at the West Hollywood condo community of Sierra Towers don’t want her… and she hasn’t even moved in yet.
• Does Lost’s Evangeline Lilly have freakishly long arms?
• Here’s one cheap and easy celebrity costume idea: The Celebrity Baby Smuggler. From Angelina to Britney, 2006 has been the year of celebrity baby hiding.
• Anne Hathaway looks replendant in a show-stopping scarlet gown at NYC fashion bash.
• Tara Reid’s Ta-tas Tour
• Elizbaeth Hurley has set her February wedding date to longtime boyfriend Arun Nayar.
• Fabio does a photoshoot with America’s Next Top Sex Kittens
• Jessica Simpson is addicted to dating on the Internets.
• Mel Gibson’s drunken tirade spoofed by Chevy Chase (video)
• You can now watch the season 4 premiere of The O.C. on MySpace! Mac users excluded!

• Ricky Martin defended Madonna’s adoption of a 1-year-old Malawian boy, calling her an “exemplary” mother, and said he, too, would like to adopt. Ricky said: “The love she gives her kids is a dream, and I know that her heart is big enough to adopt not just one child but to adopt 20.”
• Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham called on the Bahamian government Wednesday to investigate whether Anna Nicole Smith has legal residency status in the country and said Anna “is not a fit and proper person to become a permanent resident of the Bahamas.” “Her general character and reputation don’t commend her for such status.” Ingraham added.
• Liev Schreiber is joining the cast of CSI. Beginning in January, the actor will fill in for star William Peterson, who is taking time off to appear in a play.

• AJ - Marc Anthony & Jennifer Lopez (kicked off)
• Amanda - Ashton Kutcher & Demi Moore
• Anchal - Stedman Graham & Oprah Winfrey
• Brooke - Britney Spears & Kevin Federline
• Caridee - Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie
• Eugina - Jay-Z & Beyonce
• Jaeda - Bobby Brown & Whitney Houston
• Melrose - Donald Trump & Melania Knauss
• Michelle - Ellen Degeneres & Portia de Rossi

Check out the celebrity couples photoshoot from last night’s episode of America’s Next Top Model (”The Girl Who Punk’d Ashton”). Each of the contestants had to portray both people in their pre-selected celebrity couple. If you missed the episode, watch it on YouTube: [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5]

And yes, above is supposed to be Brad and Angelina with their three kids, Maddox, Zahara, and baby Shiloh. Inset: Britney & K-Fed. How did this week’s contestants measure up? Think they nailed their celebrity impersonations?

Check out this choice clip from last night’s episode of ANTM. Melrose was the winner of this challenge and she got to interview a couple of celebs on the red carpet including Supernatural’s Jared Padalecki, Veronica Mars‘ Ryan Hansen, and Gilmore Girls‘ Matt Czuchry! Ryan goes buckwild dancing and Jared gives his best male model pout. It’s a great clip!

• Peep Out Jessica Simpson in the Year 2045
• Pick Up Your Free $250 Victoria’s Secret Gift Card
• Donald Trump Fires The Apprentice’s Carolyn Kepcher
• Lindsay Lohan Boyfriend Application
• John Travolta Caught Kissing Another Man
• Scarlett Johansson at Venice Film Festival
• Hilary Duff’s ‘With Love’ Perfume Ad
• Jessica Simpson Admits to Lip Plumping (Restylane)
• Lance Armstrong is Working My Last Nerve
• Christina Milian Going Broke, Selling Clothes on eBay
• Justin Guarini: Top Requested Celebrity on E! Online

• The CW will debut shows commercial-free on MSN, one week before they air on TV including America’s Next Top Model, Veronica Mars, Everybody Hates Chris, Runaway, and Supernatural. They’re even saddling up with MySpace.
• The American Idol tour rakes in $14.6 million, the most successful ever with this past summer’s 60-city tour.
• It’s the Jason Gedrick curse!  Surprise, surprise… NBC cancels Windfall!  I followed the whole season… and for what?  Nothing!

When The WB and UPN join forces this coming fall (September 18th to be exact) to form The CW Television Network, its first scheduled programming will be America’s Next Top Model Cycle 7 (premiering on The CW on Wednesday, September 20 @ 8PM EST).

The show will be just like its other 6 cycle/season predecessors but of course with an all-new cast of 13 models who want to make it big. Cycle 7 will provide plenty of new surprises such as the show’s first set of twins, Amanda and Michelle.

Tyra Banks comes back again to host and judge.

The competition gets fierce and feisty for the seventh cycle of the hit dramality "America’s Next Top Model," now on The CW, as the 13 finalists fight to make their dreams of becoming a top model a reality. This season, an incredible transformation takes place as the finalists face tougher challenges and live the high life participating in glamorous photo shoots all while living under one roof in a posh Los Angeles mansion.

During this cycle, the 13 participants live together and ferociously vie for the grand prize, competing in a highly accelerated modeling boot camp.  The participants abilities are tested each week as they strive to master the runway, fashion photo shoots, perfect publicity skills and learn the business aspects of becoming a supermodel, all under 24-hour-a-day surveillance of the "America’s Next Top Model" cameras. Throughout the series, supermodel Tyra Banks, art director of photo shoots Jay Manuel, and runway guru J. Alexander mentor the participants. The new grand prize package for "America’s Next Top Model" will be announced at a later date.

Banks leads the panel of "America’s Next Top Model" judges, comprised of leading fashion industry experts, including supermodel Twiggy, photographer Nigel Barker and runway expert J. Alexander, who closely evaluate the progress of the models to narrow the field each week.  In addition, special guest judges appear to critique within his or her area of expertise.

America’s Next Top Model Cycle 7 should be as exciting and entertaining as all of the rest. Be sure to tune in! The complete list of the 13 new contestants after they jump!

 - Doobybrain

Name: A.J.
Occupation: Student
Age: 20
Hometown: Sacramento, Calif.

Name: Amanda
Occupation: Bookstore Sales Associate
Age: 18
Hometown: Anaheim, Calif.

Name: Anchal
Occupation: Sales Clerk
Age: 19
Hometown: Homestead, Fla.

Name: Brooke
Occupation: Student
Age: 18
Hometown: Keller, Texas

Name: CariDee
Occupation: Photographer
Age: 21
Hometown: Fargo, N.D.

Name: Christian
Occupation: Bank Teller
Age: 19
Hometown: Columbia, S.C.

Name: Eugena
Occupation: Customer Service Representative
Age: 21
Hometown: Palmdale, Calif.

Name: Jaeda
Occupation: Student
Age: 18
Hometown: Parkersburg, Iowa

Name: Megg
Occupation: Retail Clerk
Age: 18
Hometown: Los Angeles

Name: Megan
Occupation: Bartender
Age: 23
Hometown: San Francisco

Name: Melrose
Occupation: Fashion Designer
Age: 23
Hometown: San Francisco

Name: Michelle
Occupation: Student
Age: 18
Hometown: Anaheim, Calif.

Name: Monique
Occupation: Marketing Representative
Age: 19
Hometown: Chicago

America’s sexiest reality TV judge Nigel Barker from America’s Next Top Model was spotted in New York City over the July 4th weekend. "Noted fashion photographer"  Nigel was with his wife Cristen Chin and son, Jack Barker (according to IMDB).  Nigel and Cristen, both formerly of Q Model Management, have been married for five years. More pictures of Nigel, wife Cristen, and son Jack after in the gallery!

UPDATE :: Q Model Management dropped a line saying that Cristen Chin is still very much a model with them!

Two Models Marry in Style

Fashion Wire Daily NY - March 9, 2001 - Model couple Cristen Chin, 26, and Nigel Barker, 28, - both with Q Model Management - met six and a half years ago through Barker’s friend and agent in Milan. And while his paramour was only a teenager, Barker knew immediately he had met the woman of his life. But it took him two months to convince Chin that he "was worthy" before she agreed to become his girlfriend. To prove just how serious he was, Barker moved from his native England to Paris, where Chin was living, and when she decided to move to New York, he followed her again. After three years as an item, Chin — who has recently been seen in Glamour, Cosmopolitan and French Vogue — finally started to think about marriage.

"It took me a bit longer than him before I knew that I’d marry him, but I figured he followed me enough around the world," Chin says, laughing.

When the wedding date (October 16th) and place had finally been set, the couple had to deal with the reality of organizing a destination wedding.

"All her life she wanted to marry in Fairhope, in Alabama where she’s from, and we had 90 people flying in from all over the world. 70 of them stayed with us a whole week," says Barker. "45 friends and family members of mine came from England, altogether we had 190 guests, so it was a fairly big wedding.

" Instead of booking hotel rooms for their guests, Chin and Barker rented two houses with 16 rooms each, and each guest chipped in for the houses. But the wedding being more than a one-day affair, entertaining those who had made the effort to come was another matter. Making use of Fairhope’s location, which is right by the Gulf of Mexico, boat trips on Chin’s father’s boat were planned every day, golf tournaments were held and the bride and groom put guides of the city’s best restaurants in every guest’s room. All the worry and preparation was worth it, says Chin.

"To think all of these people are here, just for us, it was the most overwhelming feeling," says Chin. "You just feel so loved and to get all the support - it’s such a happy occasion, especially when you’re the bride."

Apart from juggling their guests’ schedules and room and board, the two, like any other couple, had to go through all the other preparations involved in a wedding. At that occasion, it was Chin who showed her skills for organization.

"The best thing to do is to have a filing system for everything," Chin advises. "In hindsight, I would have hired [a wedding planner] but I didn’t think of it then. I’d rip out pictures I liked, looked for new ideas and also talking people who had gone through it before was really helpful."

To make things easier for their friends scattered around the globe, the couple registered in London and New York. "That was fun," Chin remembers. "Here, we registered with Bloomingdale’s — after looking at different places, it was the easiest and had the most variety."

The one thing that put Chin at an advantage was her job. "I’d done bridal shoots before, so I knew exactly the dress I wanted," she says about her silk taffeta strapless gown with a "puffy skirt" from Po Couture. And a friend from London who is also a make-up artist did the bride’s and bridesmaids’ makeup. "The hairdresser was from town, and because it was Alabama it wasn’t expensive," Chin explains. "But it was nice for all the girls to get the hair and makeup done."

When it comes to photographers, Chin advises hanging out with the snapper before the wedding. "Even if it’s just meeting for a drink — it’s better than to meet them on the big day for the first time, when everything is crazy."

Looking back at the wedding held at outside the southern style, brick and wood Grand Hotel, at sunset overlooking the water, Chin and Barker both agree they wouldn’t have done anything differently.

"It was certainly the best day of my life," says Barker. But proving just how much effort a wedding takes, Chin admits she still has dreams about it. Laughingly she says: "It feels like a loss because you put so much planning into it — I sometimes dream it hasn’t happened yet."

It’s been a long and often bumpy ride to the top for ANTM finalists Jade, Joanie, and Danielle.  There have been tears, catfights, painful dental procedures, hospitalization, copycats, delusions of grandeur, and the “axcent” to deal with.  And on last night’s Cycle 6 season finale, the long-awaited event finally happened – Jade was sent home packing.  Oh, and also Danielle wins. 

As we’ve come to expect on ANTM, season finale consisted of the Cover Girl commercial and photo shoot elimination challenge, and the final runway walk-off between two lucky (and fierce) finalists.  For their Cover Girl commercials, the girls were each asked to memorize a different set of lines promoting Cover Girl Lash Exact Mascara.  Danielle struggled with the commercial, trying to remember the lines and simultaneously deliver them without her southern accent showing through.  Joanie, meanwhile, breezed through and made it all look beautiful and effortless.  Jade, who was looking for the chance to redeem herself after her last disastrous CG commercial, assumed that she would be able to “improvise” as she did last time.  Though advised by shoot director Jay Manuel to learn the lines word for word, Jade still ends up with interesting lines and even more interesting ways to put the 3 little words “lash exact mascara” together.  Finally, in desperation, Jay has cue cards held up for Jade, who still wasn’t able to deliver the lines, even with the words right in front of her nose.  Eventually, after many, many tries, Jade gets through those lines, and the blood vessel in my forehead finally bursts.

(Continued after the jump)

At judging, though all the photos from the CG photo shoot turn out well – Danielle and Joanie’s are particularly gorgeous - none of the three commercials are without weaknesses.  Jade tries to defend her commercial by saying that it’s her first (uh, no, it’s not – we still remember the last drag-queen-at-a-party commercial she did) and she hasn’t had the benefit of professional help by an acting coach.  The judges finally lose patience with Jade’s never-ending blame game, and send her home. 

In the final runway walk-off between Danielle and Joanie, the two must traverse a long, long walkway that is essentially a series of bridges linked by different temples, all in the middle of a lake.  In addition, the runway is scattered with flower petals, making it incredibly slippery, particularly in 4-inch model heels.  Each girl takes two passes down the runway.  Joanie, in her first pass, looks a little like she’s walking in the mall (Tyra’s words, though that’s exactly what I thought when I was watching too), but on her second pass brings out all the fierceness and attitude the judges could want.  Danielle, on both her passes, is elegant and very strong.  In final deliberation, the judges declare that this is the hardest decision that has ever faced the panel, and that the finalists’ portfolios of pictures have never been this good before.  Joanie is strong because she is a chameleon, always bringing variety to her photo shoots and in her poses, but the judges still feel that she lacks presence in person.  Danielle had the stronger runway performance and always takes great photos, but often gives the same pose, and is further burdened by an “axcent”.  In the end, Danielle takes the crown, and Joanie graciously concedes “the best girl has won”.

(America’s Next Top Model episode "The Girl Who Walked Through The Ancient City" recap written by Shihrah: Princess of Powertubing.)

YOUR TURN :: If you have any questions to ask Jade or Joanie, please leave a comment below.  We’ll try to have them answered for you at tonight’s press conference.

Shihrah: Princess of Powertubing chimes in with a recap on last night’s episode of America’s Next Top Model ("The Girls Go To Phuket") — For those of us who have been waiting around hopefully since day one to see the departure of The-Undiscovered-Supermodel-cum-Inventor-of-Strange-English-Words (hello … analystical?) Jade, this week’s elimination leads, once again, to bitter disappointment.  Admittedly, there were a few times when we came pretty close to sending her packing – the second week, when she took the not-up-to-par magazine cover shot in profile and ended up in bottom two with Wendy; the fifth week, when her twirling drag queen Cover Girl commercial performance landed her in bottom two with Mollie Sue; the seventh week, when her fake tearing up at judging landed her in bottom two with Brooke; and then last week, when her constant I-know-better-than-you-Tyra/Nigel/Miss J/Twiggy attitude led to a spot in bottom two with Furonda.  But what can we say?  Despite the arrogance and the making up words and the bullying insecure Asian girls and the looking like a drag queen and all the rest, apparently THE GIRL CAN MODEL (Nigel’s words, not mine), and the Queen of Bottom Two is now in Final Three. (continued after the jump)

(continued before the jump) This week is go-see week, and our intrepid Top-Models-to-be are sent on a merry-go-round of go-sees with five of Thailand’s top designers.  But before they can take off on their tuk tuks, they must first meet with Thai designer Pichita Racksajit to learn that “Thailand is a land of smiles.  If you smile on your go-sees today then everybody will like you”.  The girls are also told that they will be judged on 4 criteria during their go-sees: observance of Thai social customs (the aforementioned smiling, and taking off your shoes when entering someone’s home), general appearance, runway walk, and model portfolio.  With strict instructions to return at 4:30 pm, the girls are sent out into the wilds of the go-see jungle.  Of course, the second that Pichita warns the girls not to be late, we who know the formula of ANTM so well can guess that there will be time-management troubles coming up ahead.

On their go-sees, all the girls seem to be doing about equally well/poorly.  Each has her own troubles.  Sara is still walking and posing stiffly, Jade is her usual non-smiling intimidating self, and Danielle struggles with frizzy hair in humid Thai weather.  My favorite go-see belongs to Joanie though.  When she shows up at lingerie brand Boudoir, she is told that the designer is looking to do an Alice in Wonderland-themed show, replete with giant plastic animal heads that the models must wear over their heads, with coordinating lingerie.  Joanie gamely steps to it, and ends up with a two-foot wide cartoon head over her face, which actually goes perfectly with the hideously ridiculous/ ridiculously hideous purple and yellow ruffled bustier and panties that she is given to wear.  Just when you think that things can’t get too much worse for Joanie, Jade shows up to witness the humiliation.  Which leads to another opportunity for insulting the competition and flattering herself, when Jade tells us, “I don’t think Joanie has a lingerie body at all … I DO.”

On their way back to meet their 4:30 deadline, all four girls run into trouble with traffic.  Bet you at that point they were wishing that instead of the Thailand-is-a-land-of-smiles speech, they had gotten the Bangkok-is-the-land-of-traffic-jams speech instead.  Everybody ends up being late to the meeting, but none more so that Jade, who turns up an hour and ten minutes late, with nary an apology to be heard.  As punishment, Pichita decides that none of the girls can win the challenge (we are told that Danielle would have won) and returns all twelve racks of designer clothes that would have gone to the challenge winner.  Hey, if those racks were filled with the likes of the purple and yellow ruffled combo that Joanie was wearing earlier, than that’s really no loss to Danielle, I say.  Anyway, apparently, in spite of the 4 stated go-see criteria stated earlier, it was really only the unstated criteria of punctuality that was counting.

The girls brush off their disappointment and head to the island paradise/tsunami devastation area of Phuket for this week’s photo shoot - which ends up being for a real client, producing a real ad that will run in Elle Girl.  The girls model Op swimwear on the beach, with “noted fashion photographer, Nigel Barker” doing what he does best.  I must say, it was nice to see a bit more of Nigel for a change.  Too bad the photo shoot ends up being pretty much a typical scantily-clad girls at the beach sort of deal – which is nice, but a bit of a letdown after we’ve become so used to the usual dangling girls upside down with rotting fish and fishnets ANTM hijincks.

At judging, Tyra welcomes the girls, saying, “You’ve been all over this country haven’t you – Bangkok,  Phuket … and now Bangkok again.”  Uh, I’m hardly a geography expert, but I think that you need to go to more that just two places to consider yourself as having been all over the country.  All of the girls end up having good pictures, though Danielle is criticized by the judges for having a too-sexy men’s magazine pose not quite suited to Elle Girl.  Sara’s picture definitely showed a huge improvement over her previous work.  Joanie’s picture is so good that even Miss J exclaims he absolutely loves it.  Jade, though – gotta hand it to her – ends up taking the strongest picture, and gets props from photog Nigel.  Sara and Danielle end up in bottom two, and Sara is sent home.

Up next: SEASON FINALE

Copyright On Posing

Shihrah: Princess of Powertubing checks in with a recap on last night’s episode of America’s Next Top Model ("The Girl Who Is Rushed To The Emergency Room") — Clearly, with the departure of Nnenna last week and the sudden illness of a certain other strong competitor at this crucial point in the game, this week was Joanie’s week to shine on ANTM – and boy, did she ever. The golden girl just couldn’t seem to do anything wrong – and there’s nothing like one girl doing well in a competition to bring out the insecurities and cat’s claws in another girl. And of course, we can always count on our beloved ANTM producers to capitalize on any tensions in the house and magnify them to greatest advantage. Feud of the week belongs to Joanie and Jade, who trade barbed comments and witty putdowns in person and over the best-loved forum of the confessional (aka talking s*** behind each other’s backs). Best digs actually come within the first five minutes of the show opening, where Jade calls Joanie two-faced and speculates that if she were to go on model castings in New York, people would just laugh at her. We can only assume that Jade is talking from personal experience here. Joanie fires back, saying that “when I’m sitting next to [Jade] all I smell is b****.” Oh, how we love Joanie and that sparkling wit.

For the girls’ challenge this week, they are taught the art of traditional Thai dance, and judged how well they can perform their newly acquired skills in a showcase before a live audience. Instructor Patravadi Mejudhon tells the models that in Thai dance, a woman’s gesturing hands will rise no higher than her eyes, and a man’s no higher than the eyebrows, since anything higher denotes arrogance. Jade, via confessional, thanks the instructor for this little bit of advice, saying, “thank you for letting me know because I don’t have an ounce of arrogance in my body.” Forget traditional dance, the girl’s already got the art of irony down to a T. (continued after the jump)

(continued before the jump) In the dance performances, Joanie really shines, bringing poise and elegance, as well as real Thai dance moves, to the stage. She ends up the winner of the challenge. Jade, who looks more like a drag queen than ever in heavy (and unevenly applied) blue eye makeup and her gold Thai costume, unfortunately increases the whole drag queen effect with her mannered and stiff contortions onstage. Sara, as usual, is doubly plagued by her height and lack of confidence and turns in a fairly lackluster performance. Furonda, however, is the highlight of the evening – instead of Thai dance, which she admits to not remembering much of from the lesson beforehand, Furonda showcases an interesting combination of “hoola, club, and everything else,” as described by Joanie. She’s not very good, but she certainly is funny and gets lots of laughter, as well as the loudest applause, from the audience.

Danielle, unfortunately, is absent through this whole challenge, because she had to be hospitalized for what turns out to be a case of dehydration and food poisoning. ANTM certainly pulled out all the editing stops with shots of her having to be carried out of the house in a state of intense pain, emitting pitiful moans, all underscored by dramatic and tense music. It’s great how the show’s producers never try to manipulate us, or anything. Danielle is a fighter though, and leaves the hospital against medical advice so that she can compete in the photo shoot. Hey, the girl said goodbye to The Gap – no way she’s going to let a little thing like illness send her home at this stage.

This week’s photo shoot, which is for the Venus Vibrance Razor, takes place in the jungle, atop elephants. Jay tells the girls that he wants to see the contrast of smooth legs against rough elephant skin and promptly sends the models off to shave. Danielle goes first and does very well, though having to contend with dizziness, nausea, and a nervous elephant. Jade brings the stiffness that she displayed onstage during the Thai dancing to her posing atop the elephant. It’s a shame her shoot doesn’t go well, because Jade actually really likes elephants – they remind her of dinosaurs, “because they are in the dinosaur family.” I think that ANTM really does a lot to dispel the stereotype that models are dumb – and here is Jade undoing all that good work. Furonda ends up being a bit awkward on the elephant, coming up with a variety of odd poses. Joanie is awesome and really serves it, with creative and beautiful poses – which Sara then promptly copies, as she goes immediately after Joanie. Unfortunately for her, she looks nowhere near as good as Joanie with her purloined poses and the copycat behavior really comes back to bite her during judging, when the judges find out and give her a strict talking-to.

At judging, the unthinkable happens – EVERYBODY ends up with a good photograph. Despite my love for Joanie, I personally think that Danielle had the best pic. Joanie gets props for her strong overall performance this week, Danielle gets props for fighting against the pain during the entire shoot, and Sara is allowed to stay despite her copycat behavior. Furonda and Jade end up in bottom two, for all the usual reasons that the two have been in bottom two before. But just when we thought that maybe this was finally the farewell we’d all been waiting for, Furonda gets sent home. Hmm. Who’s thinking that Jade may actually end up making final 3 at this point?

Coming up next week: FINAL THREE