I grew up on a steady diet of rock and roll, and since my iPod currently has Michael Franti, Queens of the Stone Age and the Ramones on high rotation, listening to Mariah Carey is sheer torture. If you ever captured me in a spy type situation (unlikely, but go with me here) you could play me a Mariah album a couple of times over and I'd spill all the state secrets you needed to know.

It's like when you eat too much sugar and you imagine you feel your teeth rotting. Mariah's music is like candy that rots my ears. But not nice candy, like peanut butter cups or chewy chewy toffee. Horrid candy, like licorice and stuff that's that awful artificial cherry flavour.

But as a celeb, I have quite a fondness for Mariah. She's kooky. She's demanding. She celebrates the trappings of her quite obvious wealth, but also does a lot for charity. She loves it when the paps take her picture. She calls her fans her ‘lambs.' She's not adverse to wearing clothes more suited to a 12-year-old. And she seems to live in a magical land surrounded by Hello Kitty accessories, puppies and butterflies.

She's a wee bit crazy, but I like it!

Our Mariah doesn't do things by halves, which is why you can imagine my delight when I came across a recent interview in Redbook where Mimi spills the details about her Christmas plans.

Mariah and family spend every festive season at her house in Aspen, the wealthy Colorado ski town, and retreat into a fantasy world which involves a room fitted out like the North Pole, Christmas carols playing at every waking moment, and horse-drawn sleigh rides.

Mariah loves the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas CD. Noooooooo!

Their hostess spends her time drinking cocoa with butterscotch schnapps (yum!), shopping up a storm for Christmas pressies and extending her collection of Santa bikinis. You read right, Christmas bikinis! They're donned for sessions in the hot tub with breaks to roll in fresh snow.

Despite spending the festive season in the mountains, you won't find Mariah indulging in any outdoor activity.

"Usually, a couple of days before, while everyone else is skiing, I just sit around playing dress-up," she tells the mag.

"I don't know what that's about - I mean, who does that?

"But skiing means being cold and getting up really early - two things I'm not very good at."

You've got to love this woman.

And in other interesting Mimi news, could the diva herself have a baby on the way? Mariah's always been quite strongly against having kids of her own. But all that's changed since she married Nick Cannon seven months ago after a whirlwind romance. Now, she's says, she's found the right person to become a parent with. Today perezhilton.com (www.perezhilton.com) ran pictures of Mariah and Nick on a beachside holiday. Mariah was fully clothed, and not in a skimpy bikini (gasp!) She was also snapped holding her belly (double gasp!) Could the Carey-Cannons have some very special news this Christmas?

I'll try and keep you posted.

Case of the missing bellybutton

It's reassuring to know that no matter how amazing they may look, even supermodels have their physical quirks like the rest of us. Granted, they may be thinner, better looking, richer and lead a glamorous jet-set lifestyle, but they're not perfect.

Case in point - Czech supermodel Karolina Kurkova. The 24-year-old has been a long-time Victoria's Secret model and donned couture brands like YSL, Chanel, Oscar de la Renta and Valentino on the catwalks of Europe and the US.

She's beautiful and her body is jaw-droppingly awesome - but as pics snapped at a Victoria's Secret publicity event in Miami show, Karolina has one thing lacking. A bellybutton.

I know everyone's bellybutton is different, and beautiful in its own way, so don't send me hate mail. Actually scrub that, they're not all beautiful, some are minging. Karolina has neither an innie nor an outtie, instead, she has what looks like a little dent in the bellybutton region. Neither a hole nor a plug. A pot hole on the highway of her abdominals.

Never noticed this before? That's because various bellybuttons are Photoshopped in to Karolina's shoots for editorial work where her midriff is exposed.

Mind you, with a body that banging, what's a lack of bellybutton between friends? Maybe it could be her trademark, like Cindy Crawford's mole. Or maybe it's proof that supermodels aren't really of this earth after all, and come from a genetically blessed alien race.

Anyway, it definitely didn't seem to bother the Czech stunner, posing with fellow models Miranda Kerr, Alessandra Ambrosio and Doetzen Kroes on Miami Beach - and if she's happy that's all that matters, right? We're judging her silently anyway. She'll never know.

It'll be all white on the night

Celebrity DJ and Lindsay Lohan's other half, Samantha Ronson, has angrily taken to her MySpace blog to give her thoughts on the events of a few days ago, when her fur-sporting lover was flour-bombed by PETA at a do in Paris.

Hahaha! If only I could have been there! I would have died a happy death.

Word is the club promoter had to rush Lindsay in a side entrance and vacuum her off so the actress could then make her contracted walk down the red carpet.

"There is a fine line that distinguishes the difference between exercising our freedom of expression and offending others," writes Sam-Ro. "It's a pity that some groups feel the need to assault people as opposed to fighting with words."

She continues, "I don't wear fur, but I don't think I have the right to ATTACK (her caps!) those who do."

Bizarrely, she goes on to claim that the animal rights group ‘needs' fur-wearing celebs like Lohan, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen and Anna Wintour. Celebrities aren't the problem, she says.

"I'm pretty sure they're not the only ones wearing fur, in fact, they should be appreciated by PETA for giving them a target. If it weren't for them, who would get them press????"

Yeah Sam, they're regular heroes for swanning round wearing the skin of dead animals. You want us to give them medals or something? Celebs who wear fur - like celebs who do drugs, drink drive, or smoke - give a high-profile, public face of acceptability to this disgusting practice.

Watch Justin work it

Here's a link to the great Saturday Night Live performance featuring Justin Timberlake as an off-the-wall backup dancer shaking his ass in the video for Beyonce's new song ‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)'. He's pretty funny, and has great legs for a leotard!

Click here to watch, and apologies if the clip's been pulled. Seems the US TV network who owns the rights is clamping down on YouTube-ers.

And if you can't get enough of Beyonce's new tune, watch this mashed-up clip of B's new video spliced with the beat-by-beat moves also broken down by YouTube's Single Man. Click here to watch!

Spotted

Paris Hilton and ex Stavros Niarchos getting cosy at a bash in Miami, with no Benji Madden in sight...Nicole Richie and Joel Madden out and about in West Hollywood without baby Harlow...George Clooney filming his new movie Men Who Stare At Goats in New Mexico...Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie leaving a screening of her movie Changeling in London...Taylor Swift, Kid Rock and Justin Timberlake amongst the celebs saying farewell to MTV's TRL show in New York City...Ben Stiller and Chris Rock promoting Madagascar 2 in Sydney...Kylie Minogue shopping for antiques in the San Telmo district of Buenos Aires, Argentina...