Molly Sims and Ginnifer Goodwin at a Nordstrom's grand opening. (photo: Chris Weeks/WireImage.com)

Mr. & Mrs. Clean

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick have been deemed the best at keeping it clean — their home that is. Beating out other celebrity twosomes including runners-up Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise (8.8 percent) and Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore (7.5 percent), Parker and Broderick swept up with 69 percent of votes in a national survey commissioned by — surprise, surprise — Cascade 2in1 ActionPacs. And yet, when asked which couple respondents would most trust to make their homes spotless, it was Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe who won this dubious honor with 52 percent of the vote. What gives? Must be the semantics of "maintaining" a clean home, vs. the old DIY elbow-grease method. We bet they'd all prefer to devote their energies to cleaning up at the Oscars®. (photo: Stephen Lovekin/WireImage.com)

[Yahoo Finance]

Pod-edy

'Curb' Star Shoots the Breeze with Guster

In the first episode of a five-part podcast, comic Jeff Garlin says the connection between himself and his pals from Guster is "Ben Vereen." Which is both random and not true, but the 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' star tells band mates Brian Rosenworcel and Ryan Miller (right) that he just likes to throw the Broadway legend's name into conversations whenever he can. In the same episode, the three amigos look back at 'My Rifle, My Pony, and Me' and hit comedies for which the sands of time have not been kind. The down-loadable series is free from iTunes with a new episode released each Monday in October. (photo: Jemal Countess/WireImage.com)

[Blogcritics.org]

Carrie Bradshaw: Ugly Betty's Muse?

'Sex and the City' costumer dresses down America Ferrera

She spent five years dressing up the fabulous four of 'Sex and the City,' so it was a little challenging for costume designer Patricia Field (pictured here) to take on her new assignment: uglying up actress America Ferrera for the new sitcom, 'Ugly Betty.' Field had to walk the line of making Betty "stand out without turning her into a cartoon character," ET Online explains.

"Dressing somebody ugly is not easy," says Ferrera. "For a designer it goes against instinct." But Field has succeeded in draping America's Betty Suarez in a motley grab bag of tricks: large bows at the necks, vests, red glasses, prints with plaids, braces, bushy brows...and even some designer duds. "Individually, everything doesn't look so bad," says Ferrara. "It is when you put it all together; she is this explosion of crazy ideas." (photo: Jemal Countess/WireImage.com)

[ET Online]

Patricia Arquette, Valeria Golino, Anjelica Huston and Debi Mazar at the Opening Gala of 'Cinema Italian Style: New Films from Italy' in Los Angeles. (photo: John Sciulli/WireImage.com)

Extra Extra

Read all about Winslet on Gervais

Kate Winslet may have been nominated for an Oscar® four times before the age of 30, but she still claims that playing the Gervais-ed version of herself on 'Extras' last season was one of the best experiences she's had. Still, there were some challenges to working with the show's star. "Ricky Gervais is dreadful because he tries to f**k you up. He'll fart in the middle of a scene and won't crack a smile," said Winslet. His behavior led to some bathroom-related issues for the A-list actress, as well: "It was just so hilarious. Absolutely eye-watering hysterical. I don't think I ever got through a take without peeing myself laughing." (photo: Jemal Countess/WireImage.com)

[Fametastic]

[IMDb.com]

Oh, Yes! Let's Do Lunch

'Sopranos' stars Bracco and Sigler make an offer

Have a $10,000 lunch with Lorraine Bracco and Jamie-Lynn Sigler at the trendy Manhattan eatery Cipriani's and help find a cure for AML Leukemia. The Disco and Diamonds Online Auction, launched by Denise Rich and The G&P Foundation for Cancer Research, is aimed at those who are doing well (as in "let's fly to Paris for a midnight snack" well) and want to live large for a good cause.

You can bid on luxury items such as a Loree Rodkin necklace and a Raymond Weil watch, or a chance to rub elbows with the famous. In addition to lunch with Bracco and Sigler, you could choose a serenade from Natalie Cole or a picnic hosted by Bette Midler. If jet setting is more your speed, there's a cruise through Greece on a private yacht or you can lay your money down for your own table at Rao's.

Bidding for the lunch date with Sigler and Bracco is open through October 13. (photo: Johnny Nunez/WireImage.com)

[PRNewswire]

[Charity Buzz]

James Gandolfini and Mr. T at the NY Jets vs. Indianapolis Colts game. (photo: Ralph Waclawicz/WireImage.com)

No Child Left Behind

How Proposition Joe brought 22 students to 'The Wire'

He may play a calculating kingpin, but Proposition Joe's Robert F. Chew is a real-life 'Prez' for the young actors on 'The Wire.' Despite breaking into TV in 1997's 'Homicide: Life on the Streets' (also written by David Simon), the actor stayed involved with his local theater troupe, Baltimore's Arena Players, and started teaching in the Youth Theater Program. After helping 22 of his students land parts on 'The Wire' this year, Chew was hired by David Simon as the acting coach. "As every script was published, Robert would work with the young actors and hone the key scenes before filming," Simon tells the Baltimore Sun. "He was a major influence on this year's production." And not just as an instructor. "He's an incredible actor," adds Simon, "first-rate range, always in the pocket emotionally on every line. He's an absolute pleasure to write for...If he went to New York or Los Angeles, there would be a lot more work. Thank God for us, he's in Baltimore."

As for how he juggled coaching while playing a key role on the show? "Those young actors were so professional and had such energy," says Chew. "...It was a pleasure."

[Baltimore Sun]

The Pursuit of Truth

CNN's Amanpour narrates Daniel Pearl doc

"It wasn't just the killing of a journalist, but of an idea. And that idea is the pursuit of truth," stated Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international correspondent. The acclaimed journalist narrates Ahmed Jamal's documentary 'The Journalist & the Jihadi: The Murder of Daniel Pearl.' Speaking at a screening at Harvard's John F. Kennedy Forum, she said: "Truth now comes at a physical and intellectual cost....It is now difficult to pursue rigorous reporting."

The debut of the HBO Documentary Film on Tuesday, October 10 — on what would have been Pearl's 43rd birthday — coincides with events taking place around the globe between Oct. 6 and 15, and organized by the Daniel Pearl Foundation, which battles cultural and religious intolerance through journalism, music and dialogue. (photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com)

[The Harvard Crimson]

[The Boston Globe]

[HBO Documentary Films]

Knit Wit

Tracey Ullman has a new yarn

The Emmy®-award winning comedienne Tracy Ullman has a new passion: knitting. The British impressionist who first learned the ABCs of stitching from her mum is now passing on her knitting knowledge to her own daughter. And she's out looking for converts. This past weekend, she was in Canada promoting her new book 'Knit 2 Together' co-written with Los Angeles yarn-store owner Mel Clark (pictured here with Ullman). Recently on National Public Radio she proclaimed: "It's like a woman's birthright to knit. It's primal. It's timeless. You don't need electricity to knit. You can do it with a candle, girls!" (photo: Duffy-Marie Arnoult/WireImage.com)

[National Post]

[NPR]

Adrien Grenier in Miami Beach. (photo: Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com)

Wanna Buy A Duck?

Cheryl Hines is just one of the celebrities taking part in the "Don't Duck a Breast Exam" campaign during October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month). The children's product maker Munchkin created a pink rubber duckie and asked celebrities to decorate them for a special online sale to benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The Project Pink celebrity-decorated ducks (as well as unadorned originals) will be on sale now through October 30th on e-bay. Check out how Hines' décor compares to that of Allison Janney, William Shatner, and Reese Witherspoon, among others. (photo: Mark Sullivan/WireImage.com)

[Access Hollywood]

[E-bay]

Extraordinary Okonedo

Sophie Okonedo talked to Women's Health Magazine on a break from shooting the HBO miniseries 'Tsunami, The Aftermath' about what draws her to the roles she takes. "I gravitate toward roles about ordinary people who end up in extraordinary situations at extraordinary times in their lives. But my main draw is a good story, whatever it is," the actress says. Asked about her strengths and weaknesses, she sites her ability to "see the truth" (pro) and her "outrage" (con). Adding, "But I'll tell you what I'm really bad at. I don't concentrate on what I'm doing, so I constantly lose things. I put my purse in the fridge — I'm one of those people." (photo: Tim Whitby/WireImage.com)

[Women's Health]

The Mommy Diaries

A new "momoir" breaks taboos

A mom's night out with an eightball of coke? It didn't happen, but it was planned in one of the tales in a taboo-breaking new memoir about modern motherhood by author/actress Brett Paesel, 'Mommies Who Drink.' Recently optioned for an HBO series, the book has received high praise from critics and fellow writers. "She thinks like no other, and writes like someone we've all been waiting for," raves Jill Soloway, a writer and co-executive producer of 'Six Feet Under.' Former 'Sex and the City' writer/EP Cindy Chupack lauds Paesel for understanding "every new mother's need to be validated, liberated and occasionally inebriated." And Publisher's Weekly calls it "Seinfeld but raunchy and L.A., with a full cast of potty-mouthed moms."

[MySpace]

[Amazon.com]

Mena Suvari and Gwen Stefani at fashion week in NYC. (photo: Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic.com)

Mr. Borat Goes to Washington

Borat Sagdiyev, the fictional TV reporter from Kazakhstan (aka British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, aka Ali G, aka Bruno), was in the nation's capitol to personally invite "Premier George Walter Bush" and the visiting Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev to a screening of his upcoming movie 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.' But after a vigorous campaign by the Kazakh government denouncing the boorish, anti-semitic faux-journalist, perhaps it's not surprising that both the White House's Secret Service and the Kazakh embassy staff refused entry to the 35 year-old Jewish comedian.

Cohen, as Borat, blamed the frosty reception on Uzbekistan and warned: "If there is one more item of Uzbek propaganda claiming that we do not drink fermented horse urine, give death penalty for baking bagels, or export over 300 tonnes of human pubis per year, then we will be left with no alternative but to commence bombardment of their cities with our catapults."

According to Reuters, O.J. Simpson, "Mel Gibsons" and "other American dignitaries," were also invited to the screening. (photo: Jeff Snyder/FilmMagic.com)

[Reuters via Yahoo! News]

[METRO.co.uk]

[Borat Homepage]

Co-stars of the Month

Dane Gives Jessica 'Two Lips Up'

Dane Cook, who recently attended the premiere of his upcoming movie, 'Employee of the Month,' with longtime girlfriend Rachel Houghton, says he laughs about rumors of an off-screen romance with co-star Jessica Simpson, though he rated her onscreen kisses "two lips up," according to the Boston Herald. For her part, Simpson says she was just grateful to have Dane and co-star Dax Shepard on set to keep her laughing. "I was going through a pretty rough time while making 'Employee of the Month,' so all these guys just really lightened my day," she said. "They made it bright." To repay them, she baked cupcakes and brought them to the set. After the premiere, Simpson told reporters she was so nervous about the audience's reaction to the film, "I thought I was going to throw up or pee in my pants. I didn't know which one I was going to do." (photo: Michael Caulfield/WireImage.com )

[Boston Herald]

Ambrose's Newest Project

Lauren Ambrose is expecting her first child with husband Sam Handel, a photographer. The 28-year-old actress (and classically trained opera singer) is six months pregnant, and the baby is expected before the end of 06. The couple lives in New York City at the moment, where Ambrose recently completed a critically-acclaimed Broadway run of 'Awake and Sing' opposite Mark Ruffalo. She will be seen next on the big screen in 'Tonight at Noon' with Ethan Hawke and 'A Dog Year' opposite Jeff Bridges. (photo: Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage.com)

[Zap2it.com]

[IMDb.com]