I am in awe at the originality and creativity of Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale’s new tattoos. (I know that tone is sometimes difficult to interpret with text so please read the previous statement—and most of the following statements—with extremely heavy sarcasm and several eye rolls). People.com reports that the former costars of the teeny bopper hit, High School Musical, and apparent BFFs, Hudgens and Tisdale hit up a East Side Ink in New York City last week to be marked for eternity (or until older versions of themselves finally give in and spring for laser removal) with some pretty lame looking ink.

Tisdale, in a moment of mad genius, had the French phrase “jamais seule,” which means “never alone,” branded along her foot. I’m sure you guys are already forming theories about what that’s about. I just hope it’s not some Britney-Spear’s-Piece-of-Me-esque complaint about stardom or whatever. Honestly that would just be embarrassing as Tisdale is not exactly dogged by the media to find out who she’s eye banging at after-after-parties or what type of socks she wears. Show me some BritBrit-shaving-her-head level paparazzi problems and we’ll talk, Tisdale.

As for Hudgens, (who you may no longer care about since she stopped smooching Zac Efron BUT may now care about since she is allegedly smooching Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson) she went for the classic ‘Om’ symbol, which I assume is extremely personal to her. Beyond being pretty weak content-wise, what I really find silly about this choice is the location. Hudgens had the symbol inked in two halves along the edges of her hands. For an actress this is an odd and potentially career affecting choice as it is not quite as easy to conceal as Tisdale’s canny foot-tattoo. I know this is a thing actresses are doing now (see Angelina Jolie and Megan Fox) but I just cannot understand the logic behind it. Part of the job description is to be able to transform yourself into another person. What if someone wanted to offer her the role of a girl who was smart enough not to get an ‘Om’ symbol tattooed on her hands? (Not likely but possible). Then covering the tattoo immediately becomes a factor—dealing with body makeup on her hands or paying for expensive CGI removal or writing in a character quirk where she always wears opera gloves—what a pain. And since she has nothing like the star power of a Jolie or even a Fox, producers might just skip the headache go for one of the other billion non-tattoo-having starlets out there.

The first celeb we saw at Cynthia Rowley’s show Friday night — though by no means the last — was America’s Next Top Model‘s resident dreamboat Nigel Barker, and the gravitational pull of his hotness pulled us down to the front row to ask him about the most important development that’s occurred since we saw him in February: his once-again shaved head. And thank God. Nigel Barker with hair was like Tom Selleck without a mustache. Nigel explained that the shaved head is just cooler for summer, and that he’d only grown out his hair in the first place because he wanted to prove to his little girls that he was capable of growing hair at all. “I was astounded by the press I received,” he said. “Miss J was rather pissed off that I was stealing his moment.” Speaking of Top Model, we also couldn’t resist wondering whether or not Nigel has read Miss Tyra’s forthcoming young-adult magnum opus, Modelland, coming out Tuesday. “I haven’t read the entire thing,” Nigel hedged, “but we’ve been working on it since the last season of Top Model, so I am very familiar with all aspects of it.” We speculated that this meant they were prepping some Modelland-themed shoots for this upcoming All Stars season. Nigel just smiled. “What are my eyes saying?” he asked. “My mouth is saying nothing, and my eyes are saying something else. I’m smizing an answer to you. Read into it.” Trust me, kind sir, we will read the hell out of it. Possibly several times.

Cynthia Rowley - Front Row - Spring 2012 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week

We were still toasting in the glow of Nigel’s hotness when, right before the lights went down, a platinum-and-orange waif in tiny trousers, massive shades, and hypnotically puffy lips burst forth from backstage, hustling to a front-row seat with ruthless efficiency (and several security guards). For one glorious, confusing moment, we — and, we later learned, everyone in the rows around us — thought this walking creamsicle had to be Donatella Versace. Then, the entire room full of journalists sat ramrod straight and let out excited, disbelieving, four-letter expletives as we all realized this was actually Lindsay Freaking Lohan. We then simultaneously commenced trying to figure out if she was wearing pants. (They were shorts. Small ones. Very, very small ones.) The take-home here for Lindsay should be that we all initially mistook her for somebody much crispier who is thirty years her senior, but we suspect instead she will mentally gloss over that part and focus only on how fast the crowd of blasé, already-burned-out fashionistas whipped out their smartphones and overloaded AT&T service. One photographer even went so far as to walk down onto the runway — which we’d been expressly forbidden to do, given that it was mirrored — and get in her face to take a photo, prompting event organizers to confiscate both his camera (which looked more expensive than her extensions) and his credentials, which they ripped from his neck with soap-operatic verve. The room applauded, led by Lindsay herself, as she settled into her seat between a shell-shocked-seeming Leigh Lezark — we feel you, Leigh — and Lindsay’s companion, who is either a Johnny Depp superfan or an actual pirate. Seriously, he had the long hair and the scruff and the vest flapping over a mostly-open shirt… all he was missing was a parrot and an eye-patch, although we’d bet Lindsay has a couple of those floating around her hotel room somewhere.

Sam Stosur told her parents she wasn’t leaving for school until Patrick Rafter won the U.S. Open.

Growing up in Australia, Stosur was glued to the TV when her countryman captured titles in 1997 and ’98. Now she wonders if kids back home will do the same when she plays Serena Williams for the Open championship Sunday.

The 27-year-old Stosur reached her second major final Saturday, her experience showing in a three-set victory over 92nd-ranked Angelique Kerber.

The ninth-seeded Aussie won 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 in a semifinal that would have seemed overshadowed by the Williams-Caroline Wozniacki tilt even if it weren’t relegated to the Grandstand.

The 2010 French Open runner-up, Stosur had two record-setting three-set wins earlier in the tournament, so this 1-hour, 46-minute match seemed like a breeze in comparison. She went up 5-0 in the final set, then was broken when she first tried to serve out the match.

The second time, Stosur had to save four break points before finally clinching victory with an emphatic backhand volley.

Stosur lost a tight 6-4, 7-6 (2) final to Francesca Schiavone at Roland Garros last year, wasting a break point in the second set.

“It had never happened up until that point, so you never know if it is going to happen again,” she said. “Multiple people came up to me and said, ‘You’re gonna get another chance. You can come back and make it again.’ Of course you want to believe that, but until it happens, you never know if that’s the case.”



Kerber had never been past the third round of a Grand Slam before this tournament. The German still hasn’t beaten a top-10 opponent – she hadn’t faced any player ranked better than No. 13 in her run at the Open.

Stosur needed 3 hours, 16 minutes to win in the third round against Nadia Petrova 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 7-5 – the longest women’s match at the Open since the advent of the tiebreaker in 1970. Two days later, Stosur was part of the longest tiebreaker in a women’s Grand Slam, beating Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 6-7 (15), 6-3.

This semifinal wasn’t on the center court of Arthur Ashe Stadium because rain delays meant there were four singles matches Saturday instead of the normal three. It had to be played in Flushing Meadows’ third-largest venue because of water on the court at Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Stosur and Kerber pleaded with tournament officials that their match belonged on Ashe, to no avail.