Los Angeles, August 4 –Paris Hilton must have a good makeup artist, because she was noticeably bruise-free at Wednesday’s T Mobile Sidekick 2 launch party. Young Hollywood packed rhe party at the Grove – Kirsten Dunst solo, Ali Landry, Adam Brody, Adrien Grenier of the new HBO series Entourage, Jessica Alba, etc. The evening may have marked Britney Spears’ first babysitting gig, since Shar Jackson showed up, her first outing since having Kevin Federline’s baby only a few weeks ago.

Lindsay Lohan and Wilmer Valderrama held hands as they approached the party, but split apart when photogs swarmed. Someone even asked Valderrama why he won’t be photographed together with Lohan, as a couple. “Nobody wants that photo”, was his reply. We’re wondering if Wilmer doesn’t want to be outed as hetero, since someone reminded us that he never liked being photographed with his ex, Mandy Moore, either.

The Black Eyed Peas performed on the rooftop while the Action sports team rode bikes on a gated ramp.

Photos by Jen Lowery

August 2-4 – The latest summer blockbuster, Collateral, rolled out red carpets on both coasts this week. Tom Cruise really could use a date - at the L.A. premiere on Monday, he told a photographer “Nice tattoo”. The inking was below her waist. (Look at the lens Tom, the lens.) More skin was on display when Diana Ross’ boob popped out of her shirt while she was being interviewed, but no FCC problems since this was taped. Jada Pinkett Smith came with her mother and brother in L.A., and solo in New York; hubby Will Smith was in Berlin promoting I Robot.

Collateral opened the Urban World Film Festival in New York, and Tom Cruise delayed trying to get Mission Impossible 3 off the ground to be there. Jamie Foxx on Tom Cruise’s style: “Tom Cruise can wear anything… you can put him in a body bag and he’ll still be Tom Cruise." So is Foxx starting to feel like a sex symbol now? “Hell no. I was always sexy.” Cruise said director Michael Mann’s description of his character in the film is true-to-life. “I’m rough trade in a good suit, period.” A lot of Collateral was shot at night, and Cruise said the schedule didn’t affect him. “I have a weird schedule. I sleep when I get tired, and I don’t sleep really that much.” Cruise's recently-fired ex-publicist Pat Kingsley was at both premieres, since she reps director Mann.

With Jen Lowery in Los Angeles

New York, August 2 - To celebrate the 42nd Jamaican Independence Day, New York’s City Council called together recipients of some of that Caribbean island's best genes. Models Naomi Campbell and Tyson Beckford and actor Delroy Lindo, all of Jamaican ancestry, were honored at a little ceremony in City Hall. Campbell was over an hour late, but made a short speech once she finally arrived. After the proceedings as we left the building, we convinced the notoriously moody Naomi to pose with the proclamation she’d received by telling her she looked fabulous in her white dress. City Hall’s front steps have never looked better.

Ben Affleck gazes at Vanessa Kerry, in Harrisburg, PA

Pennsylvania, July 30-31 – Exhilarated by the celeb-fest that was the DNC, we decided to join the Kerry/Edwards campaign bus as it left Boston for Pennsylvania. (OK, we followed the bus. They wouldn’t actually allow us onto the bus, and stalking is such an ugly word.) Anyway, we figured at the very least there’d be some naked hot tub action, since they described Pennsylvania as a “swinging” state.

In Harrisburg, PA Governor Ed Rendell introduced Ben Affleck, who then introduced the candidates in this way: “I’d like to introduce John Kennedy and John Edwards. Oh, I meant John Kerry.” The next day in Greensburg, PA, Affleck tried to ignore the heavy rain, eschewing an umbrella and drenching his t-shirt and jeans.

Sadly, except for Ben, all the other celebs seem to have gotten their fill of the campaign trail in Boston and gone home.

New York, July 29 – The Grizzly Adams-looking dude who rode into Battery Park on a motorbike turned out to be actor Ewan McGregor. He and buddy Charley Boorman rode 20,000 miles around the world, starting from London in April and ending in NYC. In between, they roared through Central Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia, Alaska and Canada. Their journey was filmed for a TV show called Long Way Round, to be broadcast in the UK and the USA, on October 20, and 28th, respectively.

The bikers marked the end of their adventure on a hot July day where boats sail into New York harbor for the Statue of Liberty. They slowly rode their BMW choppers up the promenade, shook enormous bottles of Mumm’s champagne before uncorking them and spraying each other and everything else nearby, including us.

Dan Herrick contributed to this article

Boston, MA, July 24-29 – Open All Night paid attention during the Democratic National Convention, and we’re up to date on all the issues. Ben Affleck was everywhere - at the convention, at the parties, making speeches - but never saying what we really wanted to know: What the heck was he doing there, and what does he have to do with the presidential campaign? Sean "P. Diddy" Combs started a voter drive called Citizen Change, and the tag line is “Vote or die”. Is that, like, a threat?

Other folks who can afford expensive beach houses but were inexplicably at Boston’s democratic tea party: Jerry Springer, Jerry Stiller, Glenn Close, Michael Moore, Bono (he can’t even vote, right?), Sarah Jessica Parker, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, John Cusack, photographer Richard Avedon.

There was entertainment to suit every taste, but heavy on the boomer generation with Patti LaBelle, Willie Nelson, Carole King, John Cougar Mellencamp and Peter, Paul and Mary. Fergie from Black Eyed Peas is pretty sexy in person.

The Kerry daughters, Vanessa and Alexandra, are definitely hot and there’s something very attractive about Kerry’s stepson Chris Heinz, probably his $500 million dollar fortune. The week saw lots of parties – in restaurants, retail stores, on boats, at hotels and bars – hosted by media outlets, like MTV and GQ magazine, that will no doubt be doing 24/7 campaign coverage.

San Diego, CA, July 22-25 – The geeks win. The pocket-protector set gathered in sleepy San Diego for Comic-Con International, a comic book convention. And who do we find mucking around among the Trekkies? Keanu Reeves, Jude Law, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Rosario Dawson, Jessica Biel, Ryan Reynolds, LOTR's Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan, and newly minted stars John Cho and Kal Penn of Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. We’d suggest that in future the Comic-Con organizers add classes for publicists on on how to attract major talent. But it seems it’s more than just good connections drawing big names down to Southern California. Everyone’s realized there are big bucks to be made in comic-based movies like Matrix and Blade. And then there’s Catwoman.

Photos by Jen Lowery

July 18-24 – The Broadway hit musical Hairspray opened in Los Angeles starring Marissa Jaret Winokur, who originated the role of Tracy on Broadway. Ricki Lake, Tracy in the 1988 movie version, turned out for the opening night, along with David Hyde Pierce, John Stamos, Lisa Loeb, Jennifer Tilly, and Everybody Loves Raymond’s Doris Roberts. Entertaining as Hairspray is, the most wonderfully John Waters-esque thing about the L.A. opening was the string of whatever-happened-to guests – Jason Alexander, Jo Anne Worley(!), Donna Mills, Cloris Leachman and, best of all, Pia Zadora(!!!).

In New York, on the same night as the premiere of super-bomb Catwoman, Brittany Murphy, Holly Hunter, Ron Livingston and Kathy Bates trundled along a red carpet for their romantic comedy Little Black Book. Tim Robbins, Laura Harring, David Blaine, Barbara Walters, and Carson Kressley all peeked inside that black book. One guest who would’ve fit right into the Hairspray crowd was Peggy Lipton, of the late ‘60s TV series Mod Squad.

Jessica Siimpson’s younger sister Ashlee released a CD titled Autobiography, and made sure we all heard about it with a publicity blitzkrieg across America. Ashlee started in New York, appearing on Letterman and MTV’s Total Request Live, signed copies at Virgin MegaStore and tossed a party at PM in the Meatpacking District. Then she swept L.A. with in-store appearances at Tower Records and Virgin, and a visit with Ryan Seacrest. We’re sure we missed some stops on Ashlee’s promotional tour, but, you know, we’re trying not to stalk.

With Jen Lowery in Los Angeles