Anyone read these books? Can you give us some idea as to whether or not this movie, which apparently has at least one scene depicting hysterical women fighting over shoes, will be as irritating as we imagine?

Chick flicks are in trouble, according to The New York Times. Recent additions to the "romcom" market — 27 Dresses, The Holiday, PS, I Love You — have proved to be shit compared to the bad bitches of the 90s like Sleepless in Seattle and Notting Hill, so Hollywood's out to save the genre! How? By casting cute women in funny/awkward/romantic situations to which men can also relate.

For instance, the upcoming Isla Fisher vehicle, Confessions of a Shopaholic, sure sounds like a chick flick (that title!), but producer Jerry Bruckheimer swears it's totally not: "We all have spending habits, a lot of us do." Good point: idiotic conspicuous consumption is genderless.

And what about Julie & Julia, the seemingly estrogen-spiked cryfest described thusly: " … a complex exercise … based on both the life of the cooking enthusiast Julia Child and the 2005 book of the same title by Julie Powell, who, stuck in place as an office temp as she approached 30, spent a year whipping up every recipe in Ms. Child’s 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking.'" Strictly for the ladies, right? Wrong! Says one of the film's producers: "We hope this will be a movie for everyone who likes eating." That means the models will absolutely hate it, but they hate everything, so you can't listen to them. Men love to eat, and so do many women. Winner!

Chill, Times, the chick flicks are gonna be fine. Now run along and fill another page with obvious drivel marketed as analysis.

Definitely, Maybe premiered last night in New York. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, arguably one of the most good-looking men on the planet and quite the romantic.

He recently admitted to flying all the way to London to have lunch with a girl he was dating a few years ago: "She lived in the UK and I was in the US obviously. We had just started dating and didn't really get to see as much of each other as we would have liked to because of the distance and work. So I just jumped on a plane to be with her."

Don't start swooning just yet: He said the plane trip was so expensive, he made her pay for lunch.

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• I'm going to wager this woman's not married. [BWE]

• Crimes of fashion. [DListed]

• That one college dropout is now a slightly less powerful dick. [NYT]

• Does this woman have a bikini trench coat? [DS]

• Heather Graham's attractive, but still usually unemployed. [HT]

• Better bra! [CityRag]

• Isla Fisher says her Australian roots make her unworthy. Aboriginals go, "Uhhhhhh…" [ICYDK]

• Trump takes aim… [Yeeeah]

Sorry for all the video today guys, my throat is staging a coup against the rest of my body and I am having to spend much time training my immune system troops for battle. That, and the videos are good. Last night were the 2006 British Comedy Awards in London, featuring a cameo by her Madgesty, Lady Madonna. Ma-don-don was there to present an award to Sasha Baron Cohen for his work on and in Borat. Unfortunately, Madonna's appearance really got off on the wrong foot when the show's host, comedian Jonathan Ross, offended she who has a British accent when talking to Americans and an American accent with talking to the British. The Daily Mail reports:

The television funnyman joked about 47-year-old Madge's recent adoption of a baby from Malawi.

Shortly before she gave the award to Ali G impersonator Cohen, Ross said to her: "Congratulations on your little lovely black baby, David. Are you stopping there, or getting more? When I went to Africa all I got was a wallet."

To which a less-than-amused Madonna replied: "You might go home with a black eye."

The US superstar, who is married to British film director Guy Ritchie, immediately stopped smiling - and walked out before the after-party had even begun.

You can watch the clip above and decide for yourself whether Madonna reacted appropriately. I'm just surprised the dude had the balls to make a comment on the baby adoption heard round the world, especially after the recent reports about the turmoil the attention is causing in her marriage. Considering that, she handled it pretty well. Yikes.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan premiered in Hollywood, bringing out the funnies like Sasha Baron Cohen's girlfriend Isla Fisher who wasn't going to let her boyfriend's silly antics stop her from dressing up all pretty at his movie premiere, Will Ferrell, Rainn Wilson of The Office, Cheryl Hines of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Andy Dick with his trophy son he parades around everywhere these days, and Chris Kattan of Corky Romano (in my heart). Kanye West, whose fiance displayed perhaps the worst use of leggings I've seen since my own huskier late-elementary school days, was also out to catch the comedic shit show.

20th Century Fox, in trying to figure out how many eggs to put in Borat's crazy basket and not sure if the Internet hype will lead to box office gold or Snakes on a Plane, is opening the film on fewer screens than expected. Variety reports:

But Fox maintains standard tracking methodology doesn't apply. "This is a new genre of movie," said Jeffrey Godsick, exec VP of marketing for 20th Century Fox. "The awareness is beginning with a targeted audience. When you are breaking a new kind of genre, not everyone knows what to make of it."

And laffers are the hardest films to handicap through tracking: Hits like "There's Something About Mary" and "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" performed better and longer than tracking numbers indicated they would.

Worried that "Borat" could become a phenomenon, rival distrib execs weren't eager to program against it.

The studio is setting up a slower rollout than originally expected. Pic will bow on around 800 screens — fewer than many expected — Nov. 3, and then broaden to a nationwide release as reviews circulate and awareness builds.

A rival studio distribution exec, who attended a recent "Borat" screening that was part of the buzz-building Los Angeles Blackcarpet screening series organized by MySpace.com, described audience reaction as nothing less than manic. Lines snaked around the block. Kids, dressed in Borat garb, took to a mic positioned in front of the auditorium to do their best impersonations.

Some skeptics pointed to the Internet-hyped "Snakes on a Plane" as a reason for caution, but others noted that while "Snakes" was slammed by critics, "Borat" has received glowing notices so far.

Either way, if you are a teenager, know teenagers, have friends who still act like teenagers, expect to get sick of their mediocre Borat impressions very, very quickly.

[Source]

The Borat Movie trailer. This should probably mean something to you. If it doesn't, how about that this is a trailer for an movie based on the Borat character from Da Ali G Show. If that doesn't mean anything to you, first of all, you should rent the DVD of the show, like, yesterday, and second, the dude Sasha Baron Cohen, is dating (married?) to Isla Fisher from Wedding Crashers. And if that is the only part of this that rings a bell, get yourself some culture, asshole.