Well, Madonna is probably a person that actually needs a bodyguard.

That is her trainer next to her. The most sought-after trainer in the universe! All I know is that trainer never uses heavy weights and she likes to walk and dance on the treadmill backwards. To "switch things up". ::mental note::

I think I'm one of the few people that like Madonna. I don't like her fake British accent, but I like her music and there's something about her (drive, ambition, business-smarts) that is very admirable.

I admire Madonna too. She's a year older than me, and I think she looks amazing. I love her ability to reinvent herself and never become boring.

For someone who has a really very poor voice (it's very nasal and whiny) she's managed to stretch her talent a long, long way and some of her dance music is excellent. I saw her interviewed on the Jonathan Ross show a couple of years ago, and was surprise at how gentle she seemed. But I had to switch over when she sang live because, without all the hoop-la of her live shows (dancers, etc) it was painful to listen to.

There's a really good interview with her in this month's issue of Elle, which I read at the hairdressers yesterday. Here's a snippet.

Yeah, I know it's long been out-of-fashion to like Madonna but you can't deny her uncanny ability to stay relevant, however shiftily she has to exploit pop culture to do so.

Jezebel is a fantastic site! Thank you Firas for introducing it to me. I just watched the Letterman interview with Paris Hilton and have a couple of observations about PH.

1. She is sooo thin (but with fake boobs). Her arms are like sticks.

2. She has absolutely no idea that Letterman is ripping the piss out of her at every opportunity. Irony bypass.

Letterman is one of my secret crushes. I've always liked that sexy overbite.

I admire her, at least in terms of her public life (I don't really know anything about her private life). She's hung in over the long haul, pretty much met the challenge of trying to stay current and relevant in an incredibly fast-moving and fickle industry, takes charge of her business, has never been self-destructive or embarrassing... She does what she wants, gets what she wants, and doesn't (as far as I know) seem to harm anyone in the process or make a joke of herself.

I'm not mad about her music, and wouldn't want to work for her (I bet she's tough), but I definitely have to respect her. I don't even mind the accent. At first I rolled my eyes, but when you live somewhere you pick it up - some people more than others - and that's actually a talent, completely naturally, and it becomes more effort to fight it than not. (I've noticed a lot of Americans/Brits in Greece, for example, sometimes lapsing into a Greek accented English to some degree, or for some English words/phrases, etc. I shook my head at myself in surprise this morning when my husband left the house, and I told him "baii-baii" - "bye-bye" but with Greek accent, which doesn't clip the vowels. This was way weird for me to use with him, though I often do it with other Greek people. So, that stuff happens, for sure. Not necessarily an affectation.)

Also, The Bodyguard! This guy really does evoke the movie character, doesn't he?

der, that was definitely about Madonna, and not the Paris Hilton. o_0

Jan! One of our best friends has always had a smoldering crush on D. Letterman... and Danny Kaye. Do you also have a necrophiliac crush on Danny Kaye?

No, Danny Kaye never did it for me.

But I do have a huge crush on Adrian Chiles. Who? He's a TV journalist who presents a football show, a news/magazine show and the companion show to The Apprentice called "You're Fired" where he interviews the losing candidate. He's succeeded in TV journalism with the perceived handicap of a Brummie (Birmingham) accent. No, not Birmingham, AL, but Britain's Second City.

I think he's lovely, a very engaging personality.

Incidentally, the losing candidate he's interviewing in the YT clip, Simon, has a classic Essex accent.

I love Craig Ferguson. Huge crush.

Jan, watching that now. He's adorable, and the interviewee is totally adorable (and I love both their accents - but that's an American for you)... but what does he say right around 3:57? I can't make it out. It's a scene from the actual show, and he apparently says something wrong, and then says "beg your pardon" and puts his hand over his mouth... but I don't get it! What does he say?

"he" says something wrong = interviewee

He calls Sir Alan Sugar (who takes the Donald Trump role in the UK version of The Apprentice) 'Alan' and leaves off the 'Sir'.

Ah! No wonder I couldn't figure that out. Wasn't familiar with Sir Alan Sugar.

Also, do tell me the accents of the three guys on Top Gear, if you would. I'm curious, and we love those guys.

I just watched it again. He says "Alan ... Sir Alan, beg your pardon"

I never watch Top Gear because I loathe and detest Jeremy Clarkson (who has a typical middle-class accent). He's a complete twunt in my opinion.

At first I thought he was... actually, I still think he is - but I ended up pretty much liking him nevertheless. Or even, perhaps, I like him because of that ogreish patina. He's sort of Simon Cowl-ish that way. (But with both, I have the possibly misguided impression that it's mostly an act... or, that the underlying structure doesn't really totally suck, at any rate.)

The other two: the long-haired guy is just a sweetheart, I think - supersmart and wicked funny but so (seemingly) quiet and self-effacing compared to the other two. And the other small guy is kind of sparkly and fun and little-boy mischievous-goofy.

Now that I think about it, between the three of them, I guess they typify certain very prominent male archetypes. Maybe this is why they get so much attention and fandom. I'm less interested in any one of them alone than I am in the three together, and how they play off their different personalities.

Just adding some gay manlove for Madonna. She's a tremendous entertainer and never fails to put on not just a concert but a SHOW.

Actually what I like about Madonna is that--when asked--she says Yeh, I look good and you know why? I spend all damn day every fucking day working out, and paying someone to control what I put in my mouth. You can't possibly look like me because you have to go to work all day or watch your kids all day or just take care of stuff I haven't dealt with since 1984. So, no, you can't do, sorry.

Wolfdaddy, that's what I hate about most artists lately, I don't want to see a SHOW, I want to see (and hear) a concert. You shouldn't have to dress up your music with costumes and sets and dancing.

...most artists lately, I agree. Madonna's been making a spectacle of herself for 25 years, however, and if you go back and look at her concert performances and music videos, it's actually quite interesting. To me, at least. :-)