Hot gossip

Not-so-young guns

Famous for playing gun-toting violent mafia types, actors Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel are licensed to carry a gun according to New York police records. Radio host Howard Stern is also allowed to pack a pistol although action movie star Steven Seagal's application was rejected. Seagal, who has been filming Belly of the Beast in Thailand, has alleged mafia connections. It has even been suggested on the Internet that the famously bad actor may be an undercover hitman.

Like father like son?

He smokes! He drinks! He speaks with an Irish accent! Professional hell-raiser Colin Farrell is expecting a baby boy in September, although it's not clear whether fatherhood will see the end of Farrell's legendary partying. "Yeah, I got a boy on the way. Yeah, yeah, it's a boy, man." The star of Phone Booth also raved about his wife, model Kim Bordenave. "She's an amazing woman. I'm just really excited about it."

Moore fool her

Mandy Moore may look like the girl next door, but she wants everybody to know that she has a wild side. The star of the upcoming movie How to Deal loves to skydive with her professional tennis player boyfriend Andy Roddick, 20. "He'd done it before and so had my parents. I was so scared. I thought: 'I'll get up there and the pilot will have to take me down.' But Andy jumped, and I followed him." Not content with jumping out of a plane, Moore says she also wants to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, take a rocket into space, and ride an elephant.

Robbie fans driven to distraction

Reformed alcoholic and drug addict Robbie Williams played three sold-out shows at Knebworth Park in the UK on the weekend of August 1-3, although visiting fans might have wished they had stayed at home. Traffic problems meant many fans missed the Friday performance and were left stranded on local roads. Others were reported to have driven through fences and through woodland to get a glimpse of the star.

Vocabulary

tote (v): carrying the thing mentioned
reject (v):  refuse to accept or consider something
rave (v): talk or write about something in a very enthusiastic way
reformed (adj): in this usage, somebody who has improved their behaviour
sold-out (adj): all the tickets for an event have been sold
stranded (v):  leave somebody in a place from which they have no way of leaving
glimpse (n):  look at somebody/something for a very short time, when you do not see the person or thing completely

Idioms/expressions

hell-raiser (idiom): a person whose reputation is of someone who likes to party a lot

girl next door (expression): usually used to show that a celebrity is normal like you and me (also "boy next door")