girls rock !!

There are some of us who much prefer to read what singers and musicians and actresses actually say - rather than the juvenile and copycat garbage of the gutter press and gutter web. So we love Twitter at the moment.

Our love for Miley Cyrus (photo with dad Billy Ray Cyrus) goes back pre-Twitter, however, although we now really enjoy Miley’s tweets. There is a wholesome quality, with strong family values, not to mention an inspiring work ethic. Our guess is dad Billy Ray had a lot to do with that.

If all the pop wannabees were even half as grounded and talented as Miley then the gutter press-n-web would be out of business already.

So we love Miley’s rock-chick passion, her headbanging concerts, and the lean and clean public profile. And it’s also highly visible thanks to Twitter. Go Miley - pure girl power !!

It could be said that Vanity Fair would have a reasonable idea of the World’s Most Beautiful Woman, but even they must have been surprised at the results of their recent online poll. Not just the winning margin, but also the low ranking of stars like Beyonce Knowles and Carla Bruni.

The explanation behind the poll included the thought that modern-day Helens of Troy could start wars - and that is a pretty close description of what we term modern amazons.

So huge respect to Angelina Jolie (photo) for such a tremendous result. Another surprise, and also pleasant, was the comparatively high result for Jennifer Connelly, who we happen to have loved for years - through thick and thin.

• 1) Angelina Jolie 58 per cent
• 2) Gisele Bundchen 9 per cent
• 3) Halle Berry 4 per cent
• 4) Penelope Cruz 3 per cent
• 4) Scarlett Johansson 3 per cent
• 4) Jennifer Connelly 3 per cent

Of course we could be biased, but Angelina and Jennifer are more “complete” women than some of the others, having both acting and personal talents which show strong minds and passionate emotions. A great combination from our perspective.

First, the good news - Allison is safe. Second, the good news - Scott is gone. Third, the good news - Kylie is on American Idol. Okay, not quite on the third.

The group song of the American Idol final 8 was a Kylie song - Can’t Get You Out Of My Head - and it was awful. Much as we love that single, the voices of most Idols this year can’t hold a tune with that delicacy. Only Allison Iraheta (photo 1) and Adam get good marks.

Fourth, the good news - Britney is on the show. Okay, not quite. But the Ford spot with the Idols as magicians and performing to Britney’s Circus was great. Again, Allison and Adam (photo 2) really shone.

Fifth, the good news - our exclusive scorecard was on the money. Just one point separated the bottom few and our lowest ranked contestant went home. With another guy gone, the odds are in better shape for our favourite girl - the wonderful Allison Iraheta - girls rock !!

This is a brief report of the elimination show as Today.com asked us to shorten the posts and reduce the number of photos. For the full report and more photos go to clik4music where you will also see the American Idol scorecard for the episode.

Madonna is well known for re-inventing herself, both in musical style and appearance. Following her creation of a range for Swedish high-street chain H&M  in 2007, the Material Girl is working on different materials, designed for high-end fashion with French fashion designer and entrepreneur Audigier.

The M by Madonna range was a huge hit with H&M shoppers, selling out as soon as it hit shelves, despite some pieces costing over £100 a pop. The new collection for Christian Audigier is thought to include tattoo-inspired T-shirts and diamante-encrusted T-shirts.

As well as Madonna, Audigier includes Michael Jackson and Britney Spears among his close friends, who both attended his extravagant birthday party in 2008.

Music star girls and fashion also go together regularly, especially with so many red carpet events and the need to look as attractive as possible. As you can see from Carrie Underwood (photo, right), high fashion and awards events are frequent bedfellows.

In a remarkably strong result, Leona Lewis topped an online poll of “ultimate natural beauty” according to women, and also came in 6th in the votes by men.

With a 21% result, Leona Lewis (photo 1) was twice as popular as No. 2 place, Alesha Dixon (photo 2) with 11% of the votes. Kelly Brook, who had topped the poll by the men voters, came in a weak third for the women at 9%.

Surprises in the results were the absence of Kate Moss from the men’s results (No. 8 for women) and the absence of Denise Van Outen from the women’s list (No. 4 for the men).

The sponsors of the poll said it was interesting to see how differently men and women perceive natural beauty, and also their findings reveal that being a natural beauty “is about feeling more comfortable and more confident in your skin - and not about cosmetic surgery and artificial beauty.”

In fact, so-called celebrities like Jordan (Katie Price) and Jodie Marsh were top of the Fake list.

A combination of playful and tearful Miley Cyrus had a good night at the Nickelodeon 2009 Kids’ Choice Awards. The playful was with host Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson who appeared in one segment in the same dress as Miley.

However, while accepting the trademark orange blimp of the Award for Favorite Female Singer, her voice wavered when she had a moment of self-doubt: “I really thought I was gonna lose, so thank you, guys.”

Miley won two awards last year, for Favorite Female Singer and Favorite TV Actress, so we think she is really great and can rest easy that she is doing a terrific job.

Also of note was American Idol winning an award for Favourite TV Show.

With over 90 million viewer votes being cast at Nick’s web site, the popularity of the winners can hardly be disputed.

If your “pals” include Carrie Underwood, Eva Longoria, Brooke Shields, Lauren Hutton and Anjelica Huston, chances are you’ve been on the celebrity scene for a while. But when you can also boast exclusive photographs for your 20th anniversary by ace photographer Annie Leibovitz, you are pretty near the top of the field.

Which was the case when Annie posed fashion designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka alongside the music and film stars in celebration of the pair’s Badgley Mischka fashion line.

The 20th anniversary campaign will appear in April issues of magazines, including Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar and InStyle. Badgley Mischka is available at Bloomingdales, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman, plus boutiques in West Hollywood and Boston.

There is some fantastic talent hovering around the development and production of the second album for Leona Lewis. The combination of singers, songwriters and producers could create a real classic, and might expand Leona’s popularity into new musical styles.

As well as working on her own album, Leona may also contribute to other people’s. A collaboration has been discussed with Jordin Sparks, so could that be an X Factor winner Vs American Idol winner mash-up of two great voices? And which album might it appear on? You can also hear Jordin singing a brief acoustic version of Bleeding Love in a medley with Tattoo in a  radio station studio here.

Back in the studio, Leona has been working with, or has received demos from, an impressive list of talent:

• Ryan Tedder, who wrote Bleeding Love, and Leona have completed “two and a half songs”
• Josh Kelly (and hubby of Katherine Heigl) has been writing a song for Leona
• Justin Timberlake has been in the studio with Leona, “which has been great”

One potential track is called Don’t Let Me Down with Justin producing and James Fauntleroy writing - the song has already been described as “a surefire smash hit!”

Photo shows Justin Timberlake, James Fauntleroy and Leona Lewis

50 Cent, Akon, Ne-Yo, Snoop Dogg, Kanye West and Timbaland are rumoured to be involved in Lindsay Lohan’s new album, Spirit in the Dark. Plus, news just in, Lindsay wants to record a Britney Spears song, and the first single could be Playground, which included work by Pharrell Williams.

Such a star-studded cast of potential musicians, songwriters and producers could suggest the album will be fantastic. Lohan has also been close to DJ Samantha Ronson (photo 1 shows Lindsay Lohan with Samantha), the sister of super-producer Mark Ronson, so there is plenty of music royalty in her life. One sign that 22-year-old does have a musical future comes with the track Bossy, a dance-heavy riff from Ne-Yo with Lindsay’s surprisingly good vocals in fine tone.

Ne-Yo says the song concerns strength. “It’s basically about a woman being strong enough to get what she wants when she wants it.” He added that, “when Lindsay’s on her game, you can see these traits in her. When she’s focused, she exudes the aura of a boss with ease,”

As to the Britney connection, Lindsay became friends shortly after Britney (photo 2 shows Britney in Circus costume) filed for divorce, and they were often seen with Paris Hilton, frequently partying in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. If Britney’s rapid rise back to the top is anything to go by, Lindsay’s experiences and friendships could help too.

Katharine Isabelle is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Ginger in Ginger Snaps (2001). In recent years Katharine has appeared in many movies and TV episodes and looks set for new popularity.

The Canadian’s career began in 1988, in the movie Cousins (1989), starring Ted Danson and Isabella Rossellini. 2004 was another big year with Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed and Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning and the Ginger trilogy have become very popular cult classics.

Katherine Isobel Murray has used other stage names besides Katharine Isabelle (photo, not naked), such as Katie Murray, Kate Murray and Katherine Isobel. She is also not extremely impressed with acting, despite considerable talent: “You do these Canadian independent movies, you build up a name, and then you’ve gotta do TV episodes just to pay your bills.”

TV Movies have also been on the agenda, including supporting roles in the remake of Carrie as Tina Blake and a minor role in Insomnia. In 2004 Katharine secured a supporting role in The Life and a lead role in The Last Casino. 2006 included Eight Days To Live and Engaged To Kill.

Horror movies are a common theme, so 2009’s Rampage, directed by Uwe Boll, a prolific producer of horror movies, is perhaps no surprise. It’s not all great, though: “Everyone wants you naked. I think I’ve done one or two movies in the past six years where they haven’t tried something slimy to get me naked.”