I have grown from the status of hating HGTV and everything it stood for, to loving it within a matter of months - months that it took me to finally purchase my first house that is.  Now you’d think I’m a friggin Martha Stewart wannabe.   Every time I get the chance, when I’m working out in the basement, my channel surfing invariably lands on some new do it yourself or home decorating show, whether it be on the king of home making, HGTV, or one of it’s spin offs like Discovery Home. 

I’ve found myself on the girlie do it yourself show “ToolBelt Diva” where a woman who knows how to do just about anything and everything shows you how to hang chandeliers, do decks, and stairwells, all while still maintaining perfectly manicured hands which I find absolutely amazing.

In all seriousness though, I’ve gotten some great decorating ideas and the confidence to try do it myself projects just from watching these shows that I once thought were a silly waste of time.  There are the flipping shows also which I find interesting, where people go out and buy a fixer upper and turn it into an overnight sale sensation making minor and major cosmetic improvements, then there are gardening shows that show you how to manicure the perfect garden as well as landscaping and outdoor project shows that seem to go over just about everything - sometimes I’m surprised they don’t run out of subject matter!

Anyways, HGTV has really become huge, with their dream home giveaway and I believe also now their own spinoff magazine.  It seems everyone nowadays is very much into fixing up their homes, and doing a lot of it themselves, for as cheap as they can, and watching these shows, while sometimes they are not realistic, can definitely give you some great ideas on decor and how to do it for less than hiring an interior decorator, but all the while coming out with great results.  I love it, I’m addicted.  I never thought I’d say that before the age of fifty, but here I am! 

If I were Britney Spears, I too would be FED UP with all the paparazzi trailing me nonstop, everyone waiting for me to make the next screw up and scrutinizing my every move.  People need to lay off the Britster and let her live her life, however dysfunctional we all think it may be.  You see, the problem is, when you are as famous as she is, this type of constant hounding can make you go even crazier.

So, I think the public should rebel and stop eating up the dirt served on the former pop princess.  Her life really isn’t that exciting.  Let’s focus on other things and let Britney run her life the way she wants to! 

Ok, I’m done venting, I’m just really tired of seeing shots of her allover the news, never looking like she wants her pic taken…..

Happy new year to all you Flickwiki readers!  Here’s to a great, prosperous year for everyone.  Hopefully this year will bring you many blessings and is filled with good movies and entertainment!

If you haven’t heard yet, Lindsay Lohan seems to be a tad off her rocker again, as she has sent yet another strange email to all of her friends and several lawyers, which somehow leaked out to the press. 

She sent an email, with several typos and even bad grammar, which attacked those who make up lies about her and don’t leave her life alone to be lived. 

She says they can’t get away with lying, yet never really pinpoints who the heck she is talking about.  Also, Lindsay claims that she talked to Al Gore (his reps say they talked briefly at a function where there were hundreds of other people), and he would “help her”.  Help her do what?  

The email is very, very strange.  If you wanna check out the email in it’s entirety, check out my favorite celeb blog PerezHilton.com

Madonna’s recent nine day excursion to the poor and torn country of Malawi was rumored to be an adoption trip, but this rumor was quickly shot down by Madonna’s publicist. 

Well, apparently Madonna was in the process of adopting a one year old Malawian boy from a father whose wife had died and two other sons had died of Malaria.  He did not want the boy to suffer the same consequences as the rest of his family, and sent the boy to an orphanage. 

Well, apparently now the father had second thoughts, and a watchdog group for adopted children has stepped in basically saying Madonna should not get special treatment and there should be no “accelerated” adoption process, to protect the children. 

I’m not quite sure I understand.  They are preventing a child who otherwise will live his life in an orphanage, from being in a priveleged lifestyle, able to afford schooling, nutrition and everything else that kids should be able to enjoy, and the government is stepping in to prevent this “travesty”?  This is backwards….totally.  This is exactly what is wrong with society. 

In the new age of celebrity obsession, it seems pregnancy is now the latest “must have” accessory for many Hollywood stars with and without little ones already at home.

Pregnancy and children used to be considered career suicide in Hollywood.  But now we have the pop culture coined “baby bump”, “bump watch”, and other cutesy-trendy phrases to describe the public’s obsession with who’s pregnant, who’s planning on getting pregnant, and who looks suspiciously pregnant in the world of celebrity gossip.

One would almost be able to say that celebrity pregnancy watches have surpassed divorce and breakup watches - almost, but not quite.  The world loves other people’s “dirty laundry”, and a baby is still considered a generally happy occasion for anyone, so I suppose this new obsession is better than the lust for bad news about stars and their fortunes, right?

A growing trend right now is also single motherhood, and the declaration of independence many young actresses, such as Halle Berry and Penelope Cruz, have recently made about the virtues of single motherhood.

More and more actresses are saying no to marriage, and yes to motherhood, which is probably a sign of a growing sense of feminism and independence in Hollywood, and around the world.

Now that women are in the working force, and many times more than capable of financially supporting themselves and a child, single motherhood has become more acceptable.  In Hollywood, single motherhood has become somewhat of a status symbol. Take Angelina Jolie for example.

When before do you remember a single mother being looked upon with respect and envy?  Angelina and other high fashion, beautiful, big name actresses who’ve said no to relationships and yes to mommyhood only increase the public’s hunger for more “celebrity baby news”.

She and other sexy moms like Diane Lane, Shania Twain and other svelte celebs who’ve given birth have also given new meaning to the term “hot mama”.

These women have helped us “regular” women realize that we don’t all have to stop having fun, looking sexy, and dressing young once we’ve had children.  They’ve made motherhood seem sexy, almost like a new beginning or rejuvenation of the spirit and outlook on life.

Some may argue that celebrity mom glorification makes real life mom’s feel inferior and paints an unrealistic picture of ease and happiness in motherhood, what with all the extra help celebs can afford to hire.

I disagree.  I think it’s taught women that we can pursue a career, and have a family.  We can have it all, we just have to work for it.  And who is going to disagree with that?

Copyright 2006 Danna Schneider

If you haven’t heard or uttered the words “Paris Hilton”, you just might be living under a rock. Or just lucky enough to live far enough away from a culture that is obsessed with guilty pleasures, like Paris Hilton gossip and reality TV.

She’s the partying heiress of the affluent and filthy rich Hilton family, the daughter of Rick and Kathy Hilton who will one day leave her and her other siblings millions of dollars from the family business, the Hilton hotel chain. Have you been to one? They’re pretty nice…

Am I saying that I’m immune to the Paris fever? Well, let’s just say I’ve seen more than a few episodes of “The Simple Life” in which she stars with her best friend Nicole Richie. Oh wait, that’s right, they’re not best friends any more.

How could I forget, with the news of the “breakup” smattered throughout the tabloids every week for two months? Yes, I admit, I did watch the first season of the show, when it wasn’t a shameless bunch of scripted situations that this clueless twosome got themselves into.

From the famous Paris Hilton and Rick Solomon sex tape, to the name of her dog, Tinkerbell, and her endless string of boy toys, it seems that the public knows way too much about Paris and can’t seem to get enough of her and her exploits. At first I thought this was her two minutes of fame. It turns out it’s been more than two years, and the press is still at it, and Paris is just eating it up.

Does she ever tire of the endless stream of hounding paparazzi? I don’t think so. I actually think Paris quite likes it, and fashioned her life in such a way that it has turned out exactly the way she planned. Paris is a money making machine, as well as a publicity machine. She’s a self made socialite.

Oh and then there’s actress, singer, reality TV show star, homemade video star, product endorser. The list goes on and on. Is there a method to the Paris Hilton madness? Or is it just marketing genius from someone behind the scenes? I guess we’ll never know. Just like we’ll never stop hearing about the heiress, I have a hunch.

Angelina Jolie.  The mere mention of her name makes most people think of a few words : beautiful, worldly, and above all admired.  Yes, admired.  Angelina seems to have completely reversed her reputation as a sultry goth chick with a penchant for knives, self inflicted pain, bisexuality and a questionable sex life, vials of blood and a preoccupation with thoughts of death.  Now, Angelina is adored by millions, perhaps regarded with some skepticism and scrutiny by others, and by and large VERY followed. 

This is the life of Angelina Jolie.  It doesn’t make sense to some of us, and yet we just can’t seem to get enough media coverage on this mysterious and yet completely open book of a human being.  Is it her uncanny and ethereal beauty that we all can’t get enough of, or her insistence on surprising us all with how she expresses herself, and the extent to which she lives her life, and I mean, really “lives” life. 

True, some women may think of Angelina as a husband snatcher when she and Brad Pitt hooked up after months of denial and statements to the effect that they were “just friends’ with a deep admiration for eachother.  Still other people may question her sudden turn to a cleaner, more settled life of children (Maddox, Zahara and Shiloh to be exact) and charity.  But can’t these people accept that even the wildest and most rebellious of individuals find peace and finally settle on what their true calling in life is.  Or do they have a good point?

I may be one of those conflicted people actually.  On one hand, I see the Angelina who is undeniably beautiful and fascinating, whom I can’t help but gaze in awe at when I see her face plastered on the gossip mags in line at the grocery store.  On the other hand, I do have to question the fact that she seems to have no “girlfriends”, and that she always seems to be reeling the men in one by one, perhaps not by any true fault of her own but alternatively because “men just can’t help themselves”. 

I mean, will every woman who’s husband or significant other appears in a film with Angelina have to worry about their other half helplessly being drawn into Angelina’s man trap?  That part of me as a woman regards her with great reluctance and suspicion, but yet I still can possibly find a way to rationalize this.  All is fair in love and war.  Right?….right?

And then I wonder, why am I concerning myself so much with this person that I don’t even know?  Has celebrity obsession become this overwhelming that we are all drawn into the irrestistable tracter beam that is celebrity overkill?  Why are we all worried about what Angelina, or Paris, or Jennifer or Vince are doing with their lives? 

Are we all victims of a greater conspiracy to sell junky tabloids and TV specials, or is this just another form of extreme escapism in the greatest of American traditions (I say this with great sarcasm and dismay mind you).  Either way, I’m still on the fence about Angelina.  Saint or backstabber?  I don’t know, can you decide for me?

Aren’t Hollywood celebs supposed to be trendsetters, NOT followers? Think about it, you’ve got the Nicole Richie larger than life sunglasses phenomena going on right now - who’d have thought Paris’ sidekick could actually start a trend? Dozens os starlets and actresses followed suit, including Jessica Simpson, who seems to prefer sunglasses that take up the majority of her face. Overkill, anyone?

A couple of girls have asked me, through my other website, CosmeticsGalore.com Beauty Stuff, whether Jennifer Aniston does indeed use a Sedu flat iron to get her signature straight locks, and word is, it’s true.  Word is, she also either gets Japanese straightening or some other sort of straightening/relaxing treatment done, but I’ve noticed her hair has gotten quite wavy lately, which makes me think she’s probably had cold smoothing done instead, a hair process that relaxes curl and frizz but keeps the wave in your hair.