Los Angeles, August 28. – The party to celebrate Fete Accompli: The Ultimate Guide to Creative Entertaining by PR gurus Elizabeth Harrison and Lara Shriftman, was a Malibu neighborhood get-together. Local Lara Flynn Boyle hosted, and was first to arrive, announced she was starving, bee-lined to the Krispy Kreme booth and downed a doughnut in four bites. Producer Brian Grazer came with his son and dog. Alana Stewart brought her dog, later dashed home for a jacket, and came back. Sara Wynter, Arianna Huffington and her sister, Steven Dorff with his parents and Maeve Quinlan sat on lounge chairs and big white couches sipping Grey Goose cocktails and munching In'n’Out burgers. When she was leaving, Alana Stewart declined to take one of the centerpieces, a vase filled with roses, saying, “F*** it, the water will spill in the car.” Then she added, “We are such whores for free stuff.”

Photos by Jen Lowery

August 21-27 – Sure, late August is just about the year’s nadir in celebrityville. However, we managed to scrape up the few notables who aren’t in St. Tropez, the Hamptons, in rehab or having facelifts. (We’re already worried about next August, however, since we have the upcoming presidential election to thank for this week’s meager dose of fame.)

In New York on Tuesday, MoveOn kicked off ten weeks of activism with a party featuring performances by The Roots, Moby, Perry Farrell and Natalie Merchant. The centerpiece of MoveOn’s new effort is a celebrity-studded slew of TV ads with Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Romjin, Kevin Bacon and directors Rob Reiner and Richard Linklater. Sadly, only Bacon and Linklater showed up at the launch party.

Meanwhile, we found Milla Jovovich and Anjelica Huston at a Santa Monica Kerry/Edwards Victory Fund reception, dining and listening to Tony Bennett croon. John Kerry joked that the evening was his Hollywood interview for The West Wing. Kerry told some heartwarming campaign stories, and organizers said they raised over $3 million, even though they had only eleven days to put the event together.

At New York Police headquarters, Homeland Security honcho Tom Ridge held a press conference where he reassured the public that security measures for the imminent Republican National Convention are adequate. Our east coast team is relieved that Ridge has this Kreskin-like ability to know that all of those cars on city streets are free of suicide-bombers. After Ridge’s term ends, we predict he’ll make a fortune reading palms.

With Jen Lowery in Los Angeles

New York, August 16 –Director Mira Nair was delighted that Reese Witherspoon was pregnant while filming Vanity Fair. “I’m not a fan of the very skinny 'Los Angelena' actress. That’s not my thing at all. I just love the luminosity that comes with pregnancy. I love the fleshiness. I love the sensuality, the womanliness that happens within you. And Reese Witherspoon was, for the first time, a full-blown woman on the screen in Vanity Fair.”

At the New York premiere, the brunette with Ryan Phillippe turned out to be Witherspoon, who went dark to play June Carter Cash in Walk the Line. Does it surprise her to see a brunette when she looks in the mirror? “No, not really, no. At first it did.” Witherspoon hasn’t changed her hair color in ten years, and said she’s a bit worried about what’ll happen to it when she goes back to being blonde. “If it turns green or something, I’ll just go with the green.”

Young British actress Romola Garai was thrilled to work with Reese on VF, since she already looked up to the star. “Election was a film that had a huge impact on me, you know, really changed the way I think about actresses.”

New York, August 16 – As promised at her August 9 press conference (see below), multi-platinum recording artist Lil’ Kim held a multipurpose press conference to: 1) publicly respond for the first time to her pending court case; 2) announce the creation of her charitable organization, Lil’ Kim Cares; and 3) unveil her new watch line.

Our new favorite person is Kim’s lawyer, Mel Sachs - we figure it was due to his expensive presence at the Bryant Park Hotel briefing that Kim was only twenty minutes late. Regarding the court case, the tiny rapper read a prepared statement in which she said, “I am completely innocent of the charges I have been accused of”.

At one point, Kim held up a stack of letters from supportive fans; one postmarked March 10, 2004 was from an inmate at the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility in Jackson, MI. (We blanked out the sender’s name and number in the photo at left.) Another hand-written letter was dated in 2000, prior to the shooting incident for which Kim will be tried.

Kim’s new line of diamond-encrusted watches, called Royalty, will be priced from $1800 to $3500, and will be distributed by Jacob the Jeweler. More information should soon be available at www.royaltybylilkim.com.

Kim’s new charity, “Lil’ Kim Cares”, will benefit battered women, homeless causes and runaway kids. She encouraged fans to write with requests and charities they’d like Kim to get involved with, and promised to answer every e-mail, no matter how long it takes, so hit her up at www.lilkimcares.org.

Kim mentioned how she’d just received the Key to the City from Miami, where they love her, and where she’d just been recording, and where she will be again late this month for the MTV Video Music Awards.

Plans for the jewelry line include earrings, rings and belly chains. We’ll keep you updated - publicists promised press conferences as pieces are added.

Los Angeles, August 8 – Young Hollywood came out in droves again on Sunday for the Teen Choice Awards, and some - Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Usher, Ashlee Simpson - were winners. However, the teens also voted for some (relatively) old fogies including Halle Berry and Adam Sandler, both 38, Jennifer Garner, 32, and Mike Myers, ancient at 41.

40-year-old rocker Lenny Kravitz entertained along with youngish musical guests Ashlee Simpson, JoJo and Blink-182. Blink members kept joking around with Jennifer Garner backstage, and the group’s heavily tattooed drummer, Travis Barker, was shirtless and sported a cast on his right foot. Britney Spears was supposed to present an award, but never showed up, while oldster Janet Jackson made an unannounced appearance.

Reality show stars Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie hosted the show, to be broadcast on Fox on Wednesday, Aug. 11. Paris drove a Simple Life truck and trailer onto the red carpet to open the show. Producers wanted to tape the segment again, and asked if she wanted to back up the rig herself, but she refused. When the take was finally done to everyone’s satisfaction, Hilton got her dress stuck in the truck while getting out of it.

Photos by Jen Lowery

Los Angeles, August 7 – It’s good to see so many fortunate young stars maintain a strong work ethic, as Hollywood’s younger set has been convening regularly this summer rather than vacationing. (But please e-mail us if you can explain why OC actress Mischa Barton and her billionaire boyfriend Brandon Davis aren’t on a yacht cruising the Riviera.)

The couple were at Teen People’s “Young Hollywood” party, along with other overpaid pretty things Lindsay Lohan, Jack and Kelly Osbourne, Nicole Richie, Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, Alexa Vega and OC costars Adam Brody and Rachel Bilson.

Photos by Jen Lowery

August 1-7 – First-time author Pamela Anderson unveiled her brainy side with the release of her novel, Star, and Open All Night bounced around with Pam on her promotional tour. In Midtown Manhattan, Wall Street, Ridgewood, N.J., and then in Hollywood, it was heartwarming to see balding, middle-aged guys get so excited about reading! We expect that Pam’s next book will be a hard-hitting expose of corruption in the oyster-fishing industry, because on Saturday at the Hollywood Virgin MegaStore, it was obvious she was immersed in research, wearing a t-shirt with the slogan “Shuck me. Suck me. Eat me raw.”

Another new author, General Tommy Franks, let his liberal side peek out of the closet while signing copies of his new book, American Soldier, at a Manhattan bookstore. When organizers wanted to move an untended purse, they asked Franks if it was his. “No”, he replied. “Well, wait, maybe it is. Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

We doubt it has anything to do with Gen. Franks, but we joined Nicolas Cage, Ethan Hawke and Jared Leto in Brooklyn on the set of a movie called Lord of War. Hawke was about to head back to the set after posing for pictures with star-struck fans when someone pointed out a woman who’d been waiting patiently, and asked, “What about her?” Hawke agreed to greet the woman, saying, “I’m an honorable man.” That’s what Uma thought.

One functional showbiz family – Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown and their daughter Bobbi – joined Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews at the premiere of The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, in Anaheim.

With Jen Lowery in Los Angeles

New York, August 9 – Lil’ Kim isn’t wasting time while awaiting trial for her involvement in a 2001 shooting incident. The rapper was presented with the key to the city of Miami, because “They love me down there”, she said at a press conference to which she arrived more that two hours late. (Stuck in traffic coming from Alpine, NJ was the official word at the Monday briefing, oddly held in New York.)

Kim’s gold-toned alligator-motif strappy sandals are from a line she’s launching with West 8th Street cobbler Petit Peton. She also showed off a watch of her own design, from her forthcoming jewelry collection. Kim was off to catch a flight to Miami, but not before she showed us her new Bentley, which, she told us, she loves. (So far, Kim has not announced plans for an eponymous line of autos, but we’re hoping.) She promised a near-future press conference about her upcoming court case.