(Pronounced 'hang-oh-ver')

- "The disagreeable physical aftereffects of drunkenness, such as a headache or stomach disorder, usually felt several hours after the cessation of drinking."

The Hangover (film)

- The Todd Phillips-directed movie about a four blokes trying to piece together exactly what happened on an epic scale Las Vegas bachelor party. Filmed in fifteen days, the movie raked in US$45m on its opening weekend. Supposedly one of the funniest films of the year.

Rotten Tomatoes says it "nails just the right tone of raunchy humour," while reviewer Jolene Mendez commented that the film is "pushing the envelope unlike anything the industry has offered us this year."

Check out what's new in cinemas this week.

Bradley Cooper, one of the stars of The Hangover, is one very busy boy in Hollywood these days. Move over, Pitt. There's a new Brad on the block. He's even been linked to the ex-Mrs Pitt, Jennifer Aniston - and like that other Brad, he seems to have a penchant for wearing iffy hats.

I'm sure we can forgive him.

So what is there to know about Hollywood's newest golden boy?

He was briefly married to his own Jennifer - Spin City and Crash actress Jennifer Esposito. The couple got engaged in October ‘06, wed before the end of that year and their union was all over by May '07. Word is the split was mutual, but not harmonious.

His first breakthrough gig was a bit part on a second season episode of Sex and the City. Since then he's shared the big screen with Rachel McAdams in The Wedding Crashers, the Broadway stage with Julia Roberts in Three Days of Rain, and hosted Saturday Night Live.

The 34-year-old Philadelphia native was in He's Just Not That Into You earlier this year, and has three other movies slated to come out before the end of 2009. This week he was named as being in serious talks to take on the role of Lt. Templeton ‘Faceman' Peck in the big screen remake of The A-Team.

Supposedly Liam Neeson is discussing the possibility of playing Hannibal.

Please tell me Mr T will reprise his original role. How could there be another B.A. Baracus?

The movie's already got a release date of June 11, 2010 - exactly a year from today.

Next up for Cooper is comedy All About Steve, described on IMDB thus: "Convinced that a CNN cameraman is her true love, an eccentric crossword puzzler (Sandra Bullock) trails him as he travels all over the country, hoping to convince him that they belong together."

Angie Jolie: Feminist icon?

Angelina Jolie was last week named as Hollywood's most powerful celebrity by Forbes magazine. Not only is she loaded, gorgeous and talented with a harmonious home life, now she's got feminist icons singing her praises.

In the July issue of Harper's Bazaar magazine feminist writer Naomi Wolf pens an article called ‘The Power of Angelina,' in which she fawns over the movie star and explains why she considers her a rare Hollywood icon.

On Angelina's sexuality: "Polls also show that if women - not just lesbian and bisexual women but straight women - had to choose a female lover, they would want to sleep with Angelina Jolie. In other words, women both identify with her and desire her."

On hooking up with Brad: "Jolie's alleged seduction of a married man, Brad Pitt, on the set of Mr and Mrs Smith - it could have been the end of Jolie as a role model. But she managed the almost unheard-of task of turning the home-wrecker label into a wholesome, family-friendly triumph. There was little Maddox, who was growing up and clearly enjoying tossing footballs with his mother's new boyfriend."

On her different kind of celebrity: "Her intense work on behalf of stricken women and children worldwide solidified her status as unconventional role model, and the rapid adoption of additional children turned the Jolie-Pitt story into one of family devotion and global idealism, which certainly stood out in a raft of narratives of stars who simply shop, tan, and go into rehab."

On motherhood, Jolie style: "Flying a private plane is the classic metaphor for choosing your own direction; usually, that is a guy thing to do, yet there was Jolie, with her aviator glasses on, taking flying lessons so she could blow the mind of her four year old son.

"The clearly well thought out multiethnicity of her family is a delicious in-your-face countermove against conventions about who we are to one another and what ‘family' is expected to look like. She seems, without breaking stride, to care for half a football team of children while the rest of us tread water with our own biological offspring."

On living life the Angie way: "The magic of Jolie's self-presentation? She makes the claim, with her life and actions, that, indeed, you can get away with it. All of it. Against every Western convention, she has managed to draw together all of these kinds of female liberation and empowerment. And her gestures determinedly transgress social boundaries - boundaries of convention, race, class and gender - giving many of us a vicarious thrill.

"Finally, she blurs the conventional boundary of what female stars are supposed to do - look pretty, emote, wear designer clothes - by picking up Princess Di's fallen torch and wrapping her elegant bone structure in a shalwar kameez to attend to the suffering of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and putting on jeans to help rebuild the housing of low-income US citizens wiped out by Hurricane Katrina."

I'm with stupid

Is Jessica Alba an idiot? I have suspected as such for a while, but granted, I'm a Judgey Judgerson when it comes to celebs. I did harbour this suspicion even before the squabble she got into with TMZ.com last November when the site mocked her for advising a reporter in the lead up to the American elections to ‘Be neutral...be Sweden about it."

TMZ called that Switzerland was actually the neutral nation Alba meant. She countered by saying Sweden was neutral in World War II, and that "It's so sad to me that you think the only neutral country during WWII was Switzerland." TMZ replied again, pointing out that while Switzerland remains neutral to this day, Sweden - with troops in Iraq - is not.

Snort.

This week 28-year-old Alba found herself in the middle of a situation worth of more than a few eye-rolls when, for unknown reasons, the actress found herself taking part in the defacing of public property in Oklahoma City.

Alba, in town to film her new movie The Killer Inside Me with Kate Hudson, Simon Baker and Casey Affleck - decided it a fine idea to become involved with a campaign trying to increase local awareness for the conservation of great white sharks. In Oklahoma City - pretty much smack bang in the middle of the USA with nary a hint of coastline within thousands of miles.

The posters Alba and co. were snapped plastering all over town boasted no text or images relating to conservation. They were big pictures of sharks - that's it. Would you twig that a big shark poster was a campaign for the preservation of the species?

The actress has found herself in a spot of hot water after it emerged that one of the billboards the organization covered with shark shots was an advertisement for non-profit organisation United Way, which is active in the US enlisting ‘volunteers to help out children from low-income families."

Oklahoma City police haven't filed any charges. Yet.

United Way would have been forced to pay to replace the billboard until, fearing a stink, Alba's publicist said the actress would take care of it.

Additionally, she offered the following statement to appease the press.

"I got involved in something I should have had no part of. I realize that I should have used better judgment and I regret not thinking things through before I made a spontaneous and ill-advised decision to let myself get involved with the people behind this campaign. I sincerely apologise to the citizens of Oklahoma City and to the United Way for my involvement in this incident."

Sorry she did it, or sorry she got bad publicity? You decide.

Liam Gallagher branches out

Late last week Oasis front man and notoriously gobby rock and roller Liam Gallagher launched a clothing line.

Yes, that Liam Gallagher. Yes, I've seen how he dresses too.

Tom Ford, he's not.

Famous for wearing a green anorak and grubby bucket hat for most of the past 15 years, the singer decided it was time that the world shared his ‘passion' for fashion. I can understand Justin Timberlake's clothing line, he dresses sharp, even though I think he's a bit of a douche. Or maybe Usher. Or Kanye West. Or Brad Pitt. Or David Beckham. But Liam Gallagher?

More Manchester market stall holder than fashion plate, Gallagher's range Pretty Green (described as ‘an up-front, straight talking, classic clothing range') is made up of logo branded t-shirts (a mere 40 quid), canvas cricket hats (35 quid), and zip up sportswear-style jackets, very similar to the famous Adidas ones, for 125 pounds.

And fret not, the Gallagher anorak/parka does make an appearance. For 245 quid (!!!) the brand's site tells us you too can ‘capture Liam's classic mod style.' Additionally, it apparently ‘looks good on men or women.' I don't know about you, but that drawstring bottom just doesn't scream out ‘buy me' to my credit card. Or my fashion sense.

Ewwwww.

The 36-year-old singer took up the design challenge after ‘becoming bored of the clothes men's shops stock.'

The singer told GQ: "My role is, ‘Right, let's do a jacket or coat like this,' and Nick (tailor Nick Holland) goes away with my ideas and brings them to life. It's a long-term project. People might laugh at it and it might not work out, that's why I am going oto be doing clothes that I like rather than making them for someone else. At the very least I will get a wardrobe out of it."

Right, because zip-up jackets, sweaters and t-shirts are so out there.

But there were people keen to take Gallagher up on his clothing line. Apparently the Pretty Green website crashed on June 5 after launching due to high user traffic.

How could you in good conscience buy anything appearance related from a man who still sports those sideburns? Seriously.

See the site here http://new.prettygreen.com/

See Liam Gallagher on YouTube talking about the line.

Spotted

The Black Eyed Peas arriving for an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman...Kate Hudson and Ryder Robinson leaving their Manhattan apartment building...Calista Flockhart and a shirtless Harrison Ford strolling the beach on a Caribbean getaway...Jessica Simpson signing autographs on the way to New York's JFK airport...Kim Kardashian and mum Kris Jenner stopping for ice cream on the streets of Monaco...Liv Tyler leaving her Los Angeles gym after a morning workout...Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning at a casting call for their new Runaways biopic...Heather Graham on her way to the Dublin premiere of The Hangover in a very short, very tight cut-out black dress...No Doubt's Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal and Tom Dumont hanging out with Goofy at Disney World in Florida...Peter Andre moving in to his newly purchased home in Brighton...

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Hey all y'all, I am out of the office for two weeks to celebrate turning dirty old 30. In my absence, the gossip void will be filled by my wonderfully sharp-tongued colleague Amy Williams. She is a cancer and has a complete unbridled love for Rob Pattinson. I'm sure she'll keep you entertained!

I'm back in the office June 29. x