She recently reported that  David Paterson had made up his mind to choose Caroline Kennedy for Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat, but within hours of Clinton’s confirmation as Secretary of State, Kennedy has withdrawn her name from consideration.

Kennedy was a weak candidate from the start, and both New York and the Democrats stood to lose a lot of she choked in the Senate.  Teddy’s health crisis yesterday offers her a graceful way to exit the stage. If she truly does feel called to public service in politics, now is her chance to prove that she’s got what it takes by running for office.

David Paterson handled the whole situation quite artfully, and in the end did the right thing.  Color me impressed.

Meryl, Again

Perennial nominee Meryl Streep, a two-time Oscar winner who already holds the record for most nominations of any actor or actress – this is her 15th time up at bat – was nominated as Best Actress in Doubt.

Her sister contenders are Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married; Angelina Jolie in Changeling; Melissa Leo in Frozen River; and Golden Globe double winner Kate Winslet in The Reader.

She was also great in Mama Mia! too:) I loveeeeed it.

From PerezHilton.com

We feel like we’ve been talking about this for a million years already!

According to newreports, though, the Sex and the City stars are all on board for a sequel.

Although all the contracts have yet to be signed, it is rumored that SATC’s leading ladies - Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis - will be receiving some pretty fat paychecks.

Lost’s season premier was lower than expected, not even a little bit- It was a whooping 25%! I’ve seen the show sometimes and I found that if I missed a couple of episodes, I’d get toally LOST!! It was way too complicated for me.

Maybe Sayid and Jack have lost their “edge”?

Get rescued already!

Angeline and Brad better make some room to put the matching trophies somewhere in their gigantic mansion!

The Academy Awards nominees have been announced and Pitt, whose film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button collected 13 Oscar nods, including Best Picture, called the nominations “a great honor for the movie”.

On Jolie’s nomination, the Changeling star also had words of gratitude for her director: Working with Clint Eastwood “was a reward in itself that will last me a lifetime,” she said.

Also nominated for Best Actress are: Meryl Streep in Doubt; Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married; Melissa Leo in Frozen River; and Kate Winslet in The Reader.

Hollywood’s biggest battle will pit a time-challenged hero, a political war of wits, a gay activist icon, a woman with a Nazi past and a rags-to-riches survivor.

With The Curious Case of Benjamin Button vying for Best Picture along with Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire, the 81st annual Academy Award nominations were announced Thursday morning – two days later than usual, on account of a little historical pageant that occurred in Washington, D.C., Tuesday.

Benjamin Button led the field, with a total of 13 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Supporting Actress, Director and Screenplay.

It was followed by Slumdog Millionaire, with 10.

Brad Pitt received his second-ever nomination, Best Actor for Benjamin Button. He was previously cited for his supporting role in 1995’s Twelve Monkeys, but the Oscar went to Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects.

The other leading men singled out this year were previous Oscar winner Sean Penn for Milk, and Golden Globe winner Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler). The Visitor’s Richard Jenkins and Frost/Nixon’s Frank Langella round out the list.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20254164,00.html

Maybe I need more of a life, but I actually start to feel a little sad every year when the American Idol season draws to a close. It’s like a good book that you never want to end, and on the last page, no matter what, you’re always a little disappointed.

It’s sort of like watching the Red Sox or the New England Patriots–after awhile you almost feel like you know the major players and are part of their lives somehow because you’re sharing and witnessing what they’re going through.

I actually got teary-eyed last week when they voted off Brooke. She wasn’t the best singer or the most talented, but she seems like such a good, nice person! And now there are just three singers left and a loooong stretch until the new season starts.

Okay, I really need a hobby or at least a few more friends.

Family Guy has to be one of the funniest, wittiest shows on TV.  I’d never really watched a full episode until recently, and now I’m hooked.

You have to pay close attention, though, or you’ll miss half the humor–there are so many little things thrown in that are pretty clever.

Check it out if you’re looking for a laugh, even if it is at the expense of Rhode Islanders!

I’ve had more brushes with fame during my summer jobs on Nantucket than anywhere else.

In the summer of, oh, it must have been 1985, a friend and I were working in a gift shop close to Main Street when Billy Joel walked by with his then wife, Christie Brinkley. Of course, we had already gotten word they were coming down the street from friends who worked at other shops and gave us advance notice. We were just waiting for them to make their appearance.

They didn’t walk in the store, but the doorway was open, and when Billy and Christie walked by, my friend yelled to them, “Hey look everybody, it’s Paul Anka and Brooke Shields!”

They turned around and laughed.

Okay, David Cook has a great voice, but I noticed the judges didn’t realize last week that his performance was a cover of a cover (Chris Cornell’s version of Michael Jackson’s version of Billy Jean). They called it brilliant or something like that.

It completely slipped by them that it wasn’t his own (even though Ryan Seacrest introduced his performance by saying it was a Chris Cornell cover).

I’m glad the cat’s out of the bag, especially with articles like this giving Chris Cornell the credit he’s due. But without reading these articles, most of America will probably continue to think it’s Cook’s genius, and I hope he doesn’t win based on that.

Anyway, I’m rooting for David Archuleta!

Nantucket, circa 1984, I was working in a small gift shop where customers could choose from an array of brass, ivory and scrimshaw belt buckles, which we’d place on handmade belts that we measured and cut to size for each person.

In walked Mr. Rogers (who had a house on the island for a long time), and he was exactly like the personality on TV: curious about everything, softspoken, friendly and gentle.

And the funniest thing was, after I finished making his belt for him, he said, “Isn’t that special!” And he was completely serious.