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Kelly Clarkson slams weight critics

(People.com) -- Over the past few months, Kelly Clarkson's weight has been a hot topic for critical bloggers. But the outspoken singer -- who has said "Of course celebrities have cellulite!" -- doesn't let the body bullies get her down.

"When people talk about my weight, I'm like, 'You seem to have a problem with it; I don't. I'm fine!'," Clarkson, 27, told the September issue of Self.

She also noted, "My happy weight changes. Sometimes I eat more; sometimes I play more."

These days, the play part means golf ("I love it!") as well as Crossfit workouts. "It's like bootcamp!" she said of the regimen that includes sit-ups, squats and running. "You never work out more than 35 minutes, but it's so intense ... It makes me feel like G.I. Jane. It's very empowering. I feel like I can whup ass!"

Indeed, Clarkson's motivation for exercising isn't to lose weight.

"I do it totally for my psyche," she explained. "I'm much better when those endorphins are going. It's a release. And I also love food, so there's a payoff!"

The Texas native admitted she still eats chicken-fried steak, but also has days when she prefers salads.

"I love healthy stuff and junk an equal amount," she told the magazine. "Whatever I'm craving, I go for it."

Her secret to losing weight, in fact, is to not go on a diet: "For me, it's the times when I'm not paying attention that I end up losing weight. But I'm never trying to lose weight -- or gain it. I'm just being!"

'Basterds' pro-Nazi short made by a Jewish director

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Quentin Tarantino's new movie "Inglourious Basterds" comes with a film inside the film, a Nazi propaganda movie promoting the glory of Germany's Third Reich.

Tarantino said he's not worried people might be offended by the short film, which is being promoted by a trailer that is now a viral video on the Internet.

"You would have to have absolutely, positively no sense of humor at all not to get it," Tarantino said.

"Stolz der Nation" -- which translates into English as "Nation's Pride" -- was produced true to the style of Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler's propaganda minister, but by Eli Roth, the director-actor who also plays one of Tarantino's "Basterds" known as the "Bear Jew."

"There was something that we enjoyed immensely about the idea of a Jew making a Nazi propaganda movie," Tarantino said.

Roth, well known for his R-rated horror flicks such as "Hostel," said while growing up as a Jewish boy in Boston, Massachusetts, he never dreamed he would make a Nazi propaganda film.

"After 'Hostel 2,' I thought 'God, what can I make that's more offensive and upsetting than this film,' but somehow I did it with 'Nation's Pride,'" Roth said.

Roth viewed the black-and-white film as a character in "Inglourious Basterds," a World War II fairy tale about a squad of Jewish-American soldiers who infiltrate behind enemy lines to terrorize the German army.

Their plot to assassinate Hitler focuses on a small Paris, France, theater where Germany's leadership is gathered for the premiere of Goebbels' movie. The black-and-white film glorifies a fictional war hero played by Daniel Bruhl "and the glory of the swastika and the power of Germany," Roth said.

"His courage was bound by duty. His legend was baptized in blood. His name will be crowned in glory," the trailer's narrator says as Pvt. Fredrick Zoller picks off dozens of American soldiers from a sniper's nest.

"Being Jewish, I wanted to make it a real propaganda film," Roth said. "I was, like, I want to show what these movies are like. I don't want to do a sanitized version."

Using just 20 extras and five stuntmen, Roth shot the five-and-a-half-minute film in three days in Gorlitz, Germany, the same town where "The Reader" was filmed a year earlier, he said.

"The whole time we were shooting, we were, like, not only does this have to impress Quentin, this has got to impress the Fuhrer," he said. "Hitler has to see this and go 'This is your finest work.'"

"The German crew were going 'God, normally, we can't do this. This is so illegal.' And I was, like, 'this is what they did,'" he said. "This is what Joseph Goebbels would have done, and this has got to be honest and accurate."

While only parts of "Nation's Pride" are seen in "Inglourious Basterds," Roth said Tarantino will likely include the complete film as a bonus on the DVD.

"Inglourious Basterds," starring Brad Pitt, opens across the United States on August 21

Mel Gibson's girlfriend talks love, luck

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- In her first television interview since Mel Gibson went public with their relationship in April, his girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, made it clear to CNN: "I'd like to be known for my music."
Still, the 39-year-old singer was willing to talk about her beau and her pregnancy, as well as her new album, "Beautiful Heartache."

"Beautiful Heartache" was released to iTunes on July 23 by Icon Distribution, Gibson's company, which up until now has handled only soundtracks for his movies.

"He's an incredible artist," Grigorieva said. "A visionary. He enabled me to produce this album, for my music to live."

The Oscar-winning ("Braveheart") filmmaker also directed four music videos for Grigorieva during a whirlwind week in Mexico.
"They're like dramatic miniature films -- a whirlpool of different, exciting, bright images. That's quite rare," she said.

The music videos and music are available on her Web site, www.oksana.fm.

Grigorieva has a background in music. She said she was classically trained as a pianist in her native Russia, and both her parents are musicians. In 2006, a song she penned called "Un Dia Llegara" was recorded by Josh Groban for his album "Awake."

Though she describes her album as being about "different facets of love," she cautions that listeners shouldn't overthink the lyrics. "This album is not autobiographical -- maybe only partially so. It's not a diary."

Gibson, 53, and his wife of nearly 30 years, Robyn, filed for divorce in April. The two have seven children.

Grigorieva and Gibson were first photographed together on the set of his movie "Edge of Darkness," according to People magazine. Grigorieva is pregnant with Gibson's child and is to give birth this year.

She said the couple has opted not to learn the sex of the child. It will be her second child, after Alexander, her 12-year-old son with actor Timothy Dalton.

"I'm already buying things in gender-neutral colors. It's very cute," she chuckled. Alexander, she added, is excited about having a sibling. "He's like a little man, protecting me. He's looking forward to it very much."

Grigorieva says she and Gibson have no immediate plans for marriage. "We don't know yet. We haven't really talked about it," she admitted.

She acknowledged that her relationship with Gibson has given her a unique opportunity to present her skills.

"If you think about it, every talent needs a serious push and help from somebody who is stronger, because it's pretty much impossible for anybody to succeed in this industry. So I've become very lucky, and I'm very grateful," she said. "You don't control the situations or the people you meet. I did not plan this. I'm just doing what I've always been doing. It's not like I've changed my goals at all."

In the meantime, Grigorieva is adapting to life in the public eye.

"It hasn't been too bad, actually. There was a period of time where it was a little bit difficult, but now it's much better," she said.

Before embarking on limited press for the new album, Gibson did offer a few words of advice, she added: "Just be myself and speak the truth. What I most like to talk about is my music and 'Beautiful Heartache.' And that's pretty much it."

Spread:Synopsis

Spread:Synopsis
R,1hr 31min
Genre:Comedy
Releases: August 14, 2009
Director:David Mackenzie
Distributor:Anchor BayStarring:Ashton Kutcher, Anne Heche

Synopsis
A modern tale of morality, director David Mackenzie's stylish sex comedy centers on the exploits of a Los Angeles gigolo working his way to infamy one mattress at a time. Nicki (Ashton Kutcher) is the epitome of big-city sexuality. Terminally hip and always fashionable, he's a sexual grifter who operates by his own set of rules. But in Nicki's world of money, power, and fame, true stardom is fleeting. As Nicki climbs the ladder of conquest and begins focusing his attentions on an older, well-to-do client (Anne Heche), a strange thing happens -- he begins developing actual feelings for a pretty young waitress. Little does Nicki realize that he's about to fall victim to his own seductive game. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

District 9:Synopsis

District 9:Synopsis
Genre:Sci-Fi
Releases: August 14, 2009
Director:Neill Blomkamp
Distributor:Sony Pictures/Screen Gems
Synopsis
Director Neill Blomkamp teams with producer Peter Jackson for this tale of extraterrestrial refugees stuck in contemporary South Africa. It's been 30 years since the aliens made first contact, but there was never any attack from the skies, nor any profound technological revelation capable of advancing our society. Instead, the aliens were treated as refugees. They were the last of their kind, and in order to accommodate them, the government of South Africa set up a makeshift home in District 9 as politicians and world leaders debated how to handle the situation. As the humans begin to grow wary of the unwelcome intruders, a private company called Multi-National United (MNU) is assigned the task of controlling the aliens. But MNU is less interested in the aliens' welfare than attempting to understand how their weaponry works. Should they manage to make that breakthrough, they will receive tremendous profits to fund their research. Unfortunately, the highly advanced weaponry requires alien DNA in order to be activated. When MNU field operative Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) contracts an unusual virus that causes his DNA to mutate, the tensions between the aliens and the humans intensifies. Wikus is the key to unlocking the alien's technology, and he quickly becomes the most wanted man on the planet. Ostracized and isolated, Wikus retreats to District 9 in a desperate bid to shake his dogged pursuers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Autopsy: Cocaine a factor in Billy Mays' death

(CNN) -- An autopsy report issued Friday by Hillsborough County, Florida, cites cocaine as a contributing factor in the death of TV pitchman Billy Mays, who died in June at age 50.

"Mays died from a lethal arrhythmia of the heart caused by hypertensive and arteriosclerotic heart disease," the county said in a statement attributed to Dr. Leszek Chrostowski, the associate medical examiner who conducted the autopsy.

"He further concluded that cocaine use caused or contributed to the development of his heart disease, and therefore contributed to his death," it added.

The fact that toxicology tests detected only breakdown products of cocaine, not the drug itself, led Chrostowski to conclude that Mays had used cocaine "in the few days prior to death but not immediately prior to death."

Cocaine is a stimulant that can raise blood pressure and thicken the wall of the left ventricle of the heart, one of the organ's four main pumping chambers.

The autopsy also found low concentrations of ethyl alcohol "consistent with social consumption of a few beverages" as well as the narcotic drugs hydrocodone, oxycodone and tramadol. Mays had prescriptions for the drugs -- which were found in therapeutic or subtherapeutic concentrations -- to ease hip pain.

In addition, the tests found evidence of two tranquilizers -- alprazolam (Xanax) and diazepam (Valium) -- which are commonly prescribed for a variety of ailments, including anxiety and insomnia. Both drugs were determined to be in therapeutic or subtherapeutic concentrations.