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I’m no Mr. Blackwell, but I love looking at the celebrity gowns at the Oscars. This year there were some beauts!

I loved Jennifer Aniston’s look, and I will go against the critics to say she looked absolutely beautiful  compared to the gloomy Angelina Jolie. Sorry, but Angie always wears black and I didn’t like her gawdy green jewels either- the earrings looked like they were from the dollar store. Jen wore a silver Valentino gown and I thought she looked stunning.

Another A+ in my book, but not in the critics’, was Alicia Keys. She wore a gorgeous, lilac colored gown that was a breath of fresh air amongst all the black and the neutral dresses. I loved it!

Mickey Rourke looked like a clown, but he would have looked worse stuffed into a regular tuxedo so I’ll let him slide. I was bummed he didn’t win for Best Actor, mostly because it meant I had to sit through one of Sean Penn’s political speeches again.

And finally, Sarah Jessica Parker.  I love her, I think she has eclectic fashion sense, but her gown was too much this time. She looked like Glinda the Good Witch from the Wizard of Oz. And I wish she’d cut that hair.

Photo Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Strange. Even with the pending Izzie “cancer” storyline which began last week, Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes is denouncing claims made by start James Pickens Jr. that co-stars Katherine Heigl andT.R. Knight are both leaving the show. Rhimes, who is notorious for demanding secret-keeping on the set, may be angry that Pickens slipped up at a recent NAACP luncheon, when he blabbed that the two actors are leaving. Rhimes says his comments were taken out of context, but I’m not convinced.

Things have been awry on that show for a long time, and T.R. Knight/George’s storylines have been noticeably non-existent. In fact, I see more air time with some of the nameless interns than I do of George.  So we’ll see, but it wouldn’t surprise me if both Izzie and George are both gone before long.

Nancy Kovack, the stunning actress who guested on almost every popular television show in the 1960’s, seemed to have ended her career abruptly. I knew her best as a recurring character on Bewitched– she appeared in 5 episodes of the series, from 1964-1969, including the pilot episode, playing Darren’s former girlfriend, Sheila.

But Kovack also appeared on popular shows like Star Trek, Mannix, Hawaii Five-O, It takes a Thief and The F.B.I. In fact, throughout the 1960’s, Kovack worked steadily.

In 1969, Kovack married world renowned conductor Zubin Mehta. At that time she pretty much gave up her acting career, although she did a handful of bit parts in the early 1970’s.

Later, Nancy started a luxury real estate business and employed Whitewater felon Susan McDougal as her assistant and bookkeeper (this was before the Whitewater scandal). The Mehta’s filed a lawsuit against McDougal in 1998, for allegedly embezzling $150,000 from them. McDougal was later acquitted of all charges.

The dissention on the set of Grey’s Anatomy never ceases to amaze me. Aren’t these people just grateful to have a job? Now series regulars Katherine Heigl and TR Knight are reportedly being written out of the show—at their own request. Grey’s star James Pickens Jr.(Chief Webber) confirmed the news at an NAACP luncheon. Both stars have been complaining about their Grey’s contracts for a while now, so it’s not a big surprise. But with two popular characters scrubbing out for good, does it spell the near-end for the popular drama?

I hope not.  But I will miss these characters. Just when Justin Chambers’ Dr. Karev finally got the girl (Heigl’s Izzie), she’s bolting. And I’ve loved the character of George (Knight) since the beginning. My only solace is maybe now that Knight is leaving, the producers will consider bringing back the enigmatic Dr. Burke (Isaiah Washington). If you recall, Burke was written out of the show due to an on the set dispute with T.R. Knight. Oh, except star Patrick Dempsey had words with Washington too, so scratch that idea.

Looks like probably they’ll just bring in more off-the-wall characters, like intern Sadie and weirdo Dr. Owen Hunt.

 In any event, with the departure of two key characters, Grey’s just won’t be the same.

Former Bachelorette/Resident Heartbreaker Deanna Pappas apparently has a new love: Real World Paris alum, Ace Amerson.

It’s been 6 years since we were first introduced to Amerson on MTV’s The Real World. At the time he was quite the party animal. These days Amerson is a bar owner. He and Pappas met at one of his bars last November and have been together ever since.

Amerson may have more in common with Pappas than any of her other suitors, especially since he is from Georgia.  Amerson’s hometown status is a big plus for Pappas, who wants a man who will live near her family.

This is a reality romance that we’ll have to keep an eye on. It’s clear from Pappas’ track record that she likes the bad boys!

Okay. I’ve been trying to avoid giving this topic any more press, but it seems that it just won’t go away. Jessica’s Simpson’s body is again splashed across the covers of both People and US magazines this week. In that same “mom Jeans” outfit with the double leopard print belt.

Can we give it a rest yet, people?

And can’t the media come up with another photo?  I mean, obviously the star made a bad wardrobe choice that day. It’s unflattering  for sure.  But do they have any other “evidence” of her fatness? I haven’t seen any other photos that come close to how she looked that day, so can we at least attribute some of it to her outfit choice and move on with our lives?

To say that the 5’6” Simpson is fat is ridiculous. The photos they are comparing her to are from years ago when she was at her all-time skinniest for her role as Daisy Duke. And she starved herself and worked out for 3 hours per day to get her weight down for that role. Other photos show her when she was barely out of her teens—weren’t most of us a little scrawnier in our teens?   And even if she did put on a few pounds over the years, why is that headline news?

US magazine estimates her weight now to be at 135 pounds. 135 pounds? Since when is that heavy?! Only in Hollywood…..

Photo:Splash news

I’ve never particularly been a fan of Britney Spears, but I was intrigued when, after all the trouble the Spears girls have gotten into the past 2 years, their mother, Lynne decided to pen a book. Titled “Through the Storm”, I can sum this book up in a couple of words: snooze fest.

I thought Mrs. Spears’ book would be interesting, but it’s written in a semi-defensive mode, with lame excuses for just about every faux pas the Spears family has made. Some of the choices were just plain stupid: Lynne, allowing her teen daughter to go on the tour without either of her parents (a family friend acted as guardian). Britney’s parents, allowing Rolling Stone to do a photo shoot of a teenage Britney, in her bedroom in a bra and shortie shorts. Then acting shocked when RS puts the shot on their cover (Lynne  thought the family would have a say in which photos were used). The family, standing by dumbly as Britney’s then-companion Sam Lufti allegedly threatened them and drugged their daughter (even more wacky is how Spears met Lufti—he crank called Lynne and she actually met with him!).

The book left me feeling depressed, to be honest. It’s sad that the Spears family didn’t have better guidance, more trustworthy advisers and handlers. And their family definitely suffered because of it.

This book may be interesting to die-hard Britney Spears fans but to me it was just sad.

I’m a fan of Grey’s Anatomy, but I hate the medical scenes. The blood and gore and scary diagnoses get DVR’d and I usually fast forward them. I know, I know, it’s a medical show but I’m over it. I just like to get to the real guts of the show: the love lives of the doctors.Which is why I’m shocked that I’ve been watching the medical scenes in the current 3-part story arc.  

Eric Stoltz (Mask, Chicago Hope) has been guest starring as a serial killer, fresh from death row, with a brain injury. McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) despises the unremorseful creep, who murdered several women. But since he doesn’t want to die on death row, Stoltz’ character offers his liver to a dying child. McDreamy doesn’t want the guy to die in his hospital– he thinks the creep needs to go back to death row.

Stoltz’ acting is flawless. He plays the sinister killer to perfection. He‘s so mesmerizingly evil I can’t even believe it’s Eric Stoltz.

If this story arc doesn’t garner Eric Stoltz an Emmy nod, I don’t know what will.

Lucille Ball was most commonly known as that “wacky redhead”, but she actually had some blonde moments as well.

 Lucille started her career as hat model and later as a glamorous Goldwyn girl and was known for her beautiful hair, often dying her naturally brunette hair to platinum blonde. Her trademark red hair came years later and yes, it was a dye job.

And behind the scenes, Lucille was anything but wacky. She was one of the most powerful women in television and definitely a force to be reckoned with. While she was best known as the accident prone housewife on  the 1950’s sitcom “I Love Lucy”, Ball actually had a long and successful career in the movies  for  2 decades before that, co- starring with actors like Bob Hope and William Holden .

She died in 1989, but make no mistake about it: Lucille Ball was a legend even in her own time. 

He was known as “The Man of 1000 Voices”  and it was true-  prolific voice actor Mel Blanc voiced all of the great ones.

He started his early career in radio and then became a sidekick on The Jack Benny Show. But it was  Blanc’s voice work for  Warner Brothers and then Hanna Barbera Productions that brought him his biggest claim to fame.

Some of Mel Blanc’s most famous voices included the voice of Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny (probably his best known), Tweety Bird, Pepe Le Pew, Foghhorn Leghorn, Elmer Fudd, Speedy Gonzales, Barney Rubble (and Dino!), Wile E. Coyote  and The Tasmanian Devil.

When Mel Blanc died in 1989, the world became a more silent place.