Man, we love your tattoos!

Jim Carrey takes a break from comedy (not that he hasn’t done it before!) to star in his latest film, The Number 23, a psychological thriller about an animal control officer (dog catcher actually!) named Walter Sparrow, who suddenly becomes obsessed with numbers when he reads “The Number 23”, a novel gifted by his wife, Agatha (Virginia Madsen). He thinks that the book he can’t put down is about himself as the protagonist, a detective named Fingerling, has many parallels to his own life, with the exception that the protagonist is a murderer and Walter is a dogcatcher! Slowly but surely, Walter is so consumed by his obsession that he is a danger to himself and his wife and son too.

While the storyline is interesting enough, the film fails to leave an impression. The coincidences that tango with the number 23 seem too forced and convenient that even you and I can create things that make up 23. I believe that: you see what you want to see and so, if you look out for it, you will find it. Plus, there are no moments in the film that jump at you or linger in your mind. I must, however, say that the cast did pretty well and the film actually did injustice to their talents. Perhaps this is why there wasn’t much hype prior to the release of this film.

But just for fun, see if you can spot all the numbers that make up 23 in the film, like street numbers, door numbers etc. The Number 23 is playing in cinemas now. 

A beautiful mind, this is not!

 JIM CARREY’s OBSESSION: “The only thing that has ever consumed me is love from time to time; feeling like, ‘What is it? How do I get it?’ All of those things have consumed my mind from time to time. Some people would say I’m obsessed with my spiritual journey but in a really good way. I don’t really have crazy obsessions about things.”

Obsessions Of The Galaxie Team

Punitha Yogaratnam

Obsession: I have to have a clean and organised work area. I can’t stand a messy place -- everything must be in its place or I’d get really bothered by it.

Significance of the number 23: 2 of my 3 dogs are females

Nitha Subramaniam

Obsession: Labels on bottles (toiletries especially), must always face outward (post Julia Roberts’ Sleeping With The Enemy)!

Significance of the number 23: 2+3 = 5, which is the floor I live on; my birthdate and lucky number. Kinda.

Evelyn Teo

Obsession: I like my books to stay brand new as long as possible. If I lend them out, I’d like them to come back free of dog-ears, creases and the like, thank you.

Significance of the number 23:  23rd December is when my family starts putting up our little Christmas tree.

Gordon Kho

Obsession: I am a straight parker. I won’t get out of my car until it is parked straight!

Significance of the number 23: My complete name adds up to 23. Ask me and I’ll tell you what it is.

Edward Gomez

Obsession:  I must always sleep on the right side of the bed accept that now I can’t cos it’s easier for my pregnant wife to sleep on the right.

Significance of the number 23: 23 is Michael Jordan, David Beckham (at Real Madrid) and how old Ryan Giggs was when he won the Man United Player Of The Season award.

Noorsila Abdul Majid aka Shiela

Obsession: Washing hands! Not just before meals or after meals, if I've touched anything I will wash my hands immediately.

Significance of the number 23: The age when I met the guy I almost married while at campus.

Geraldine Jeremiah

Obsession: Straightening picture frames on walls and I must colour-coordinate my underwear with my clothes

Significance of the number 23: The age I was when my dad passed away.

Honey, daddy really knows best.

Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger were a hot couple when they got married in 1993. Well, not in a Brad-Angelina media-hogging way but in a handsome couple sort of way. But a lot has happened since then and the couple split in 2002.

Alec has been in the news lately for the disturbing message he left on his 11-year-old daughter, Ireland Eliesse (aka Addie Baldwin)’s phone. He was cursing and swearing and even threatened his daughter, calling her a “rude, thoughtless little pig”. “You don’t have the brains or the decency as a human being,” he says, apparently upset that she did not answer her phone for a planned call. He further says, “I don’t give a damn that you’re 12 years old, or 11 years old, or that you’re a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the a** who doesn’t care about what you do as far as I’m concerned. You have humiliated me for the last time with this phone.”

30 Rock: Hey, we're in good company.

And what did Kim do? She hired round-the-clock protection to keep her ex-husband from their daughter. Alec has been barred from seeing his daughter till a 4 May court date. Though Alec has since apologised publicly and in private to his daughter, he could not stop the message from being leaked on TV and the Internet.    

Some people (including yours truly) think that Kim is using the father-daughter fiasco to her advantage. A friend of Alec told the New York Post, “This is a desperate plea for sympathy when the only danger to the child is inside her own home. What kind of parent leaks a voicemail that causes her daughter significant embarrassment and unneeded attention?”

We were happy once.

Alec is the most successful of the Baldwin brothers (Stephen, William and Daniel), all of whom are actors. Alec is on TV at the moment, playing a prominent role in 30 Rock, a sitcom that takes you behind-the-scenes of a TV production.   

On America’s Next Top Model, (currently showing on Channel [V] every Monday), Melrose gets a lot of flack for being nasty and is portrayed as a right b***h on the show. But how much of it is true and how much of it is fancy editing? I’m sure you’d like to know.

Is Melrose a two-faced witch or is she an innocent victim of reality TV editing?

Last week Melrose was invited to join challenge winner Michelle, and CariDee, on an  “opportunity for a $10,000 shopping spree.” But it turned out the ‘prize’ was also a competition. The girls were given 30 seconds to grab what they could from the Billion Dollar Babes sample sale and return to the finish line or be disqualified. The catch was, the girl with the most items wins everybody else’s things. Well, Melrose bagged that challenge. To her credit though she was the only one who actually understood what was going on but that didn’t help appease the rest of the girls who resentfully handed over their stash to a gleeful Melrose.

Challenge winner Michelle looked especially displeased, muttering to the camera, “I didn’t know there was a challenge within my challenge prize, so I get nothing unless Melrose gives me something, so that kind of sucks.”

If you caught that episode, like I did, you’d have thought, if Melrose was really nice she’d just give back the other girls stuff. But she just stands there gloating as the pile of clothes in her arms get larger saying, “It feels really good to get the clothes but I feel like every girl is wanting to kill me right now.”  What nerve!

Melrose is good to go

But it turns out Melrose did do the right thing in the end. “I kind of wish they would have focused more on the good things that I did. I did share the clothes and I did have people in the house that I got along with and laughed with.”

Cash prizes, freebies and goodie bags. What other reasons do you need to come see us?

If you’re a fan of Pirates Of The Caribbean and The Amazing Race, you’ve got to check out Galaxie’s Hunt For The Bounty. A Tropical Carnival. There will be a movie redemption exercise for the latest Pirates movie, Pirates Of The Caribbean 3: At World’s End.

All you have to do to get a pair of free tickets is to bring a recent copy of the magazine (16 April or 1 May issue) to the redemption counter. Subscribe on the spot for a year and you’ll get four tickets.

Galaxie is also organizing a treasure hunt called Hunt For The Bounty. The first team to check in at the pit stop takes home a handsome cash prize plus other goodies! Each team must consist of four people. All you have to do to register is pay RM20 per team. Those interested must be aged between 15 and 21 years old. There’s also a mini carnival with loads of freebies and fun activities.

For more information on the event and the free movie tickets, grab a copy of Galaxie now.

I'm a really versatile actor, I can play the living and the dead!

Remember my previous posting about Lindsay Lohan wanting to play Princess Diana? Well, now I’ve read that she wants to play Stevie Nicks! When Stevie apparently heard about it, she said “Lindsay thinks she’s going to play me?! What hell movie does she think she’s talking about? There is no book, there is no movie … nobody has a clue to what my life is really like. So good luck, Lindsay.”

What do you do when you’re bored, bald and rich? If you’re Britney Spears, you go on a US$60,000 shopping spree. In Touch Weekly reports that the Pop princess blew her cash on wigs, vintage hats, clothes, lingerie, perfume, jewelry and make-up. I guess she thought shopping was better than therapy.

Well, at least I'm not getting into trouble

It was bound to happen, Katie Holmes has apparently seen the light and is reconnecting with her family and friends and even talking to Catholic priests, a big no-no in Scientology hubby Tom Cruise’s book.

I’m not paranoid! I did see Tom and he’s looking for me! Get away! GET AWAY!

Life & Style magazine quotes friends of Katie’s saying that the actresses took the first step because “she wanted to talk to someone not in Camp Cruise. She can’t believe she abandoned her old life”.

Katie, who is in Louisiana shooting Mad Money has apparently turned to a Catholic priest for advice for, among other things, enrolling Suri in kiddie Catholicism classes. “She plans to visit her hometown soon and she’s invited her parents to the movie set. She’s just trying to make amends with her family,” a family friend said in the interview.

Will Tom loosen his grip on Katie? I think not because I just read that Tom has apparently packed his bag and is taking Suri to go visit mummy in Louisiana.

I am mightier than thou!

Actor John Travolta recently told the Irish Independent, “I have fame on the level of a Marilyn Monroe or an Elvis.” The only reason he didn’t suffer the same fate as the legends was because of his values and religion, he said.

Ah, hello?! John, you’re good but lets not get too thick headed, shall we.

Wherever you go, I'll follow

It looks like Brad Pitt and George Clooney are inseparable! It’s not enough that the two of them were working together on Ocean’s Thirteen, now word is that they will be pairing up once more for the Coen brother’s Burn After Reading, a comedy centering around a CIA agent who loses the disc of the book he’s writing.

I suppose someone has to put food on the Jolie-Pitt table now that Ange has said that she’s planning on being a stay-home mum. Apart from Babel and Ocean’s Thirteen, Brad has The Assassination Of Jesse James and Benjamin Button opening in the US this year.