Spin: Are you sick of cult success?

Rufus Wainwright: I wouldn’t say that I’m sick of it. I go to the opera three times a week, I hang around in my bathrobe reading Susan Sontag, and I get foot massages from my German boyfriend - I’m going to be fine. That being said, I want to be part of culture. I’m scared of what young people are being force-fed. I’m sick of trash culture.

Anything specifically?

I’m really sick of Beyonce. All of her songs are formulaic and produced in a way that’s utterly mesmerizing in the basest way. There’s no enlightenment. Like most mainstream pop these days, it’s more of a scientific experiment than an artistic experience. But hey, it’s your life, you know?

You beat an addiction to crystal meth. What do you think about artists like Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse who seem to turn their substance abuse problems into part of their appeal?

I just can’t fathom that for myself. I was so unhappy and confused and in grave danger, really. It’s very sad. It’s rock ‘n’ roll in a fun way, but it’s also hell.

Do you read PerezHilton.com?

I think Perez actually likes me, which I don’t want to change. So please be kind.

What do you think of him outing closeted celebrities on his website?

Well, it’s important for famous people to be an example for gay teens. But if they stay in the closet, they’re going to make a lot more money. I go to the same gym as Anderson Cooper. When I look at him lifting those five-pound weights [laughs], it makes me think, “He’s just trying to live his life and be all that he can be.” But he still goes to the gayest gym in New York.

[Source]

Ouch! Get ‘em Rufus!

Katharine McPhee, on the heels of releasing her new video for her second single Love Story, has just signed on to play the lead role in an indie film called The Last Caller. She describes it as a “dark romantic comedy”.

Larry King is apparently not happy Anderson Cooper’s getting better treatment at CNN than he is. Here’s a clip taken why the cameras were off where Larry is seen complaining that Anderson’s segment is longer than his. Oops.

As I’m sure you all know by now, Paris Hilton has been ordered to go back to jail. Too bad, so sad. But now reports are coming out that she is not eating or sleeping, and has been provided with psychoactive drugs. Can she just suck it up and do her time? Jesus.

Pro-Golfer Sergio Garcia is putting the gays in a tizzy with his tight pants and bubble butt. I don’t find him that attractive, but I suppose when 70% of golfers look like Bill O’Reilly, you take what you can get.

Jake Gyllenhaal, who is of course rumored to be dating divorcee and newly crowned box office queen Reese Witherspoon was seen departing LAX airport.

Things are looking up for Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight and looking down for Isaiah Washington. Katherine has a hit film at the box office and T.R. just got a big raise. Meanwhile, post-rehab homophobe Isaiah Washington has found out he has been fired from Grey’s Anatomy. Cue the tears.

Jesse Metcalfe was photographed soaking up the Miami sun with a male friend by the pool. Doesn’t do much to dispel those gay rumors he so hated back in the day, but I ain’t complaining.

We’ve all been hearing the rumors forever, but it looks like the Spice Girls finally are reuniting. Geri and Emma have been seen leaving recording studios, and they both are reportedly working on new material for the girls to sing.

After being publicly humiliated after a nasty voice mail he left for his 11 year old daughter was leaked, leaving his agency, CAA, and dragging Kim Basinger back into court, Alec Baldwin is now asking NBC to let him out of his 30 Rock contract early so that he can spend more time with his family. Instead, he needs to just get a really good therapist.

It seems the Golden Globes are no longer afraid of the Desperate Housewives. After shifting their telecast to Monday nights to avoid competition, they are now moving the show back to Sunday nights despite seeing a large ratings increase from 2006 and topping off with 20 million viewers. I think one of Nicollette Sheridan’s tits can take down the Globes all on its own.

Even after all these years Julia Roberts is still one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood, and even while pregnant. Here’s some recent pics of her while exiting her trailer on the set of her new movie with Ryan Reynolds, Fireflies In The Garden. The movie, which comes out in 2008, also stars Hayden Panettiere and Carrie Anne Moss.

There’s a current debate over whether CNN hottie Anderson Cooper showers at the gym in the nude, or with underwear on. Page Six claims that in the new age of the camera phone, you can never be too careful, so Anderson refuses to shower in the buff–given the attention he gets from both sexes. Whether he’s in underwear or naked, the point is–Anderson Cooper…wet. Pictures, please.

Four of the Spice Girls, Sporty, Baby, Ginger, and Posh, reunited for the christening of Geri Halliwell’s baby Bluebell this past weekend. Unfortunately, Scary–Mel B, could not attend–as she had just recently given birth to a newborn baby of her own. Baby looks pretty bad, though she is four months pregnant. I really wish they would do a reunion tour. I’d totally do drag.

Grey’s Anatomy beauty Katherine Heigl has signed on to play the lead role in the romantic comedy 27 Dresses. Written by the screenwriter of The Devil Wears Prada, it’s a film about a woman who has been a bridesmaid 27 times, and once again she is enlisted to play the role, but this time it’s her sister’s wedding, and her sister is marrying the man she’s in love with.

Dryden Mitchell, the lead singer of rock band Alien Ant Farm (you might remember them for that cover they did of Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal so many years ago), has bared it all for a new tour DVD the band has released called Busted. You’ll either find it really hot, really hilarious, really disturbing, or all three. Straight men are puzzling creatures.

Disney recently announced that production has finally started on the third installment of the Toy Story franchise. The film will come out in 2010, and both Tom Hanks and Tim Allen have signed back on to voice Woody and Buzz Lightyear. Hopefully it’ll be just as good as the first two movies, and not just some lame attempt to cash in on nostalgia. Bitches.

Looks like it’s gonna be battle of the egos–Madonna and Justin Timberlake are teaming up to work on Madonna’s upcoming hip-hop inspired album. When will this woman stop trying to cling to anything young and popular?

Anderson Cooper, whom Out magazine just featured on their recent controversial magazine cover, just signed a $50 million dollar deal with CNN. Wonder if there’s a gay clause anywhere in there.

People are ready to brand Heroes‘ Hayden Panetierre another Lindsay Lohan due to a compromising picture involving her and a friend’s boob. I say what the hell–it looks like a harmless goofy joke. Get over it.

Larry Birkhead is indeed the father of Anna Nicole Smith’s baby. There. Now can Anna, Howard, the baby, her mother and the 1439147 possible fathers finally get out of my life? Thanks.

Are Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling getting married? A source close to Rachel says they are planning on getting married later this year. Can I be the beef patty in between the two buns a flower girl?

Oscar winners Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker are teaming up in a new film called The Great Debaters, which Denzel will also direct, and is being produced by Oprah Winfrey’s company Harpo Films. Can’t wait to see it!

You can read a snippet of the interview featured in this month’s Vanity Fair magazine here.

Here’s an exceprt:

“For so long I tried to separate myself from my past. I tried to move on, forget what I’d lost, but the truth is, none of it’s ever gone away,” writes CNN correspondent Anderson Cooper in an exclusive excerpt for Vanity Fair from his new memoir, Dispatches from the Edge (HarperCollins).
The horror of Katrina forced Cooper to confront his painful past, including the death of his father when he was 10 and his brother Carter’s suicide in 1988. “The past is all around, and in New Orleans I can’t pretend it’s not.”

He has to be the hottest reporter ever.

Is Anderson Cooper gay? The Village Voice’s Michael Musto seems to think so–along with a lot of other people in the gay community.

Here’s an excerpt from an article about him in Out magazine:

Sexuality-wise, he’s performed a delicate high-wire dance that most of the media have helped provide the silent accompaniment for (though the same scribes are not so timid about reporting on Christiane Amanpour’s marriage or Soledad O’Brien’s twins).

Lengthy profiles have been written about Anderson that take pains to not mention anything romantic—but this ultrapolite routine makes the loosey-goosier press so antsy that in ’03, Metrosource magazine jumped the gun and called Anderson “openly gay.” (“He is? I guess now he is!” I responded at the time in my Village Voice column.)

And last year, when a CNN.com transcript said he’d referred on the air to gays as “we,” it prompted a blogging fury of sheer glee, until the transcript was dutifully corrected to “they” and the world saddened.

You can read the full article here.