In case you needed further proof that this election is as much about celebrity status as it is politics, check out the current issue of OK! magazine.
For the first time, the weekly magazine decided to do a double cover: Barack Obama and family grace the front cover, while Sarah Palin and baby son Trig are on the back.
“Politics and the future of America are certainly on everyone’s minds. So OK! decided to try something different this week, giving readers two covers and two interesting features on candidates from both parties. It’s a special edition, something we’ve never done before, and we hope they enjoy,” says Sarah Ivens, OK!’s editor-in-chief.
Interestingly, OK!'s Obama/Palin content doesn’t have any of the gossip or naughtiness often found in a piece about a Hollywood A-lister. Instead, both pieces are largely biographical, and rely on family friends for sources.
That’s not to say the candidates are immune to the standard celeb treatment. Palin is also on the cover of this week’s Us Weekly magazine. Among the blunt cover lines on Us: “Mom of five: new embarrassing surprises.”
And speaking of Palin and her expectant daughter, a fellow teen mom is reaching out. A source close to Beverly Hills baby store Petit Tresor says that a member of the Spears family sent Bristol Palin a gift from Plainmary.com on behalf of Jamie Lynn. “It was ordered by phone, and they asked what could be done for under $100. They spent $60 on pink burpcloths.”
Daniel Radcliffe's drag-queen dreamThe next “Harry Potter” movie might not be coming out as soon as planned, but star Daniel Radcliffe certainly isn’t hard to track down. He’s on the cover of the October issue of Details magazine.
Among the topics touched upon in the interview: Radcliffe’s dream role. “I think part of me would love to play a drag queen, just because it would be an excuse to wear loads of eye makeup,” the actor tells the magazine.That said, Radcliffe says he isn’t keen on pulling some sort of crazy stunt anytime soon. He tells the mag, “I don’t pretend to do anything particularly wild. People talk about rebellion and they say, ‘Where is the teenage angst?’ But I say I try to do it simply by the choices I make in the work I do. I just like wrong-footing people. I write poetry and I love it. I like being different from most other people in my generation.”
Alec Baldwin: Tired of being somebody else
The days leading up to the season premiere of “30 Rock” feel long. All there is to get us through until the show's Oct. 30 return are the profiles of Alec Baldwin that continue to surface.
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Celebrity Sightings
The latest comes from the New Yorker, and much as he did in the L.A. Times profile, Baldwin hints at leaving acting behind. His new vocation: classical-music DJ.
Baldwin mused to the mag: “To sit there in the studio and just say, ‘And now Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, with Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.’ Click. Hit a button, and then you sit back and listen, and they pay you for that. And I can’t imagine they pay you as much as the movies, but to me it’s getting to that point where there’s just something else I want to do. I don’t know what it is. I’m tired of being somebody else. I spend the waking hours of my life saying things that other people think and say and do. And behaving as someone else. I’m tired of it. I want to be me! I want to be myself!”
Who can turn the RNC on with her smile?
Yes, I’m still here in St. Paul. No, Angelina Jolie hasn’t shown up, just her dad. Seriously, actor Jon Voight has been the celebrity star of the RNC, thanks to his willingness to mingle with fans.
Day two of the convention turned into a travel day for some celebs because of the uncertainty surrounding Hurricane Gustav.
The big buzz, however, is about when Levi Johnston, Bristol Palin's reported baby daddy, is showing up. Overheard in the NBC workspace: “Levi just accepted my friendship on Facebook” (note: the page seems fake, but you get the point).
Stay tuned for something more riveting to report tomorrow. In the meantime, I’m heading out to see the bronze statue of Mary Tyler Moore on Minneapolis' Nicollet Mall. When in Rome…
Courtney Hazlett delivers the Scoop Monday through Friday on msnbc.com.