The Twitpic option, or even just the simply provision of links, allows the most casual and yet exceedingly personal look into the lives of the people I follow — from their children in stripy stockings to their cats sleeping on car bonnets and the weird looking dude on their morning train to work.

But my favourites are, of course, the famous people. Barack Obama’s media team @ObamaNews regularly Tweet images of the president and his family at official functions, like meeting the Russian first family, and doing regular around the White House stuff, like Michelle Obama gardening. Today’s offering (from Ghana?) was pretty mysterious:

This morning (Australian Eastern Standard time) NASA and many astronauts were Twittering about a rocket launch, including pictures as events unfolded:

My favourite astronaut Twitpic is of the famous Buzz Aldrin arm wrestling Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. His caption read: “I think I would win in arm wrestling b/c his joints don’t work the right way”.

How cool is that? Three cheers for Twitpic!

Boyle too big for boots? Interweb sensation and Britian’s Got Talent contestant Susan Boyle has shocked fans around the world by going “berserk” in the lobby of a North London hotel. Goaded by two strangers, SuBo “was heard to roar: “How f***ing dare you! You can’t f***ing talk to me like that.” SuBo wellwishers worldwide eagerly await the next crack to appear in the Hairy Angel exterior — surely not far away.

Jessica makes the most of her assets. Meanwhile the Fug Girls give Jessica Simpson props for managing to embrace both the tabloid media’s obsession with the starlet’s weight AND her penchant for reality TV into her next career venture. Jessica will be travelling the world examining body-image issues in her new television show — better, the Fug Girls say, than “going on a Lohan-style bender or resorting to a diet of lemon juice and Playboy spreads.”

Time to go Bradless! Jennifer Aniston’s friends have told her to cut Brad Pitt out of her life — and not a moment too soon. Courtney Cox says the text messages have to stop! Eleven children into his new relationship one wonders what exactly he is doing in his ex-wife’s life, but still it remains good advice.

This week’s GOOP takes a sombre turn, and asks:

Have you ever loved somebody who drinks until their usually charming personality is usurped by a monster? Or discovered that someone you adore is throwing up after every meal? Or wondered if you are stuck in a feedback loop of tension and unrest because you need the adrenaline of stress to function? How do we become enslaved by addiction? What is addiction?

Gwynnie’s roster of “sages” she recruits to dole out advice (presumably — I couldn’t bring myself to read it) covers all bases — a Kabbalah devotee, a Zen Master, an Episcopal priest, a psychologist, the Shaikh of the Mevlevi Order (look up Sufism) and Deeprak Chopra — who is President of the Alliance for New Humanity.

Megan Fox: “Superman is kind of a douchebag”. Megan Fox lets it all hang out for Esquire, with a bunch of raunchy undie shots and her exclusive views on superheroes, sex and watching High School Musical stoned.

How Quentin wooed Brad. Brad Pitt reveals how Quentin Tarantino convinced him to star in his latest film,  Inglourious Basterds:

Quentin came to visit some time at the end of the summer, we talked about backstory, we talked about movie–I get up the next morning and see five empty bottles of wine right on the floor, five, and something that resembles a smoking apparatus–I don’t know what that was about – and apparently I had agreed to do this film

Keyboard Cat goes large. We usually consider ourselves above stupid Internet memes, but oh how we’ve fallen for Keyboard Cat. Getting the kind of publicity he (she??!!?) so richly deserves, Keyboard Cat has now made an appearance on The Daily Show:

GOOP watch: Effing food AGAIN? Seriously, GOOP is just turning into “Meet Gwyneth’s celebrity chef friends”. Anyway, some guy called Giancarlo Giametti makes dinner. Actually, and I hate, HATE to admit this — it looks quite good. Someone cook me some Parmesan crisps, please.

Also, apparently Hindu scholars are now having a go at GOOP too. Says Rajan Zed:

“The actress needs to grow-up and stop writing about mundane topics like ‘Boots by Gucci’, ‘Banana Pancakes’, ‘The Hungry Cat’ and ‘Tweezerman’ – in which she talks about taming the unruly eyebrows of men. Instead, she needs to talk about topics like realising self, immortality, deeper reality, eternity, soul, inner realms of the mind and spirit, pure consciousness. That’s if she’s truly serious about inner aspect.”

We’re all for having a go at the Gwynsect, but err, I don’t think anyone wants to read her musings on deeper reality or the inner realms of the mind, thanks very much.

Least surprising breakup ever: The biggest trash story of the week is undoubtedly the devastating news of Jordan and Peter Andre’s break up. We NEVER saw this coming. News just keeps flying in about these two: Jordan has dumped her management team, it’s all just a publicity stunt and they are already in talks with OK magazine for an exclusive. Both have fled overseas, Jordan to the Maldives – creepily in the same hotel they spent their honeymoon – and Peter Andre is hanging out with his brother in Cypress.

Jordan sure is a mysterious girl. Apparently she hadn’t put out in a few months and is a crazy bitch when drunk. She has though, been sending Pete texts “promising to be a ‘wild animal’ in the bedroom again”. So far, no replies.

And now, a brief historical look at their beautiful relationship:

DJ Gwyneth: GOOP again provides us with some glorious fodder for the trash wrap, as this time Gwyneth collects a bunch of her super cool DJ friends for some groovy tunes for us to get down and boogie. Or as Gwyneth says: “Get your mother lovin’ dance shoes on…”

All the music picks are as bland as her old macrobiotic diet, since the songs picked will be familiar to any person who has ever attended a party, ever. Tick to Gwyneth for throwing in a Coldplay song to keep the home front happy. The idea of Gwyneth dancing in a leotard and telling Chris Martin to ‘put a ring on it’ is pretty awesome too..

Mad’s getting hitched. Madonna is to ‘wed’ her Brazilian toy boy babe Jesus Luz in a Kabbalah commitment ceremony, according to the Daily Mirror. Her daughter Lourdes – not the Malawi orphan, they won’t let her have that one yet – apparently calls Jesus ‘the Babysitter’, since he is just a few years older than her. Lourdes is a brave lass, not many people would insult a woman with guns like Mads.

What is it with Russian model types and old wrinkly celebs? First Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood and the Russian teenager, then Mel Gibson follows with his multitude of Oksanas and now Micky Rourke has been pashing on with a Russian Victoria’s Secret model. Rourke’s latest lucky makeout is more than thirty years younger than him. And there are pictures. Ewww.

Remember Glitter? Actress isn’t exactly what springs to mind when someone says Mariah Carey. But, the trailer for a new film Precious starring Mariah has been released and amazingly it doesn’t look totally shit house. This is probably because Mariah is clearly only in a supporting role, isn’t wearing obvious mini skirts and doesn’t seem to sing.

I found them at AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com, thanks to my friend Mollie who likes to deliver all the best kinds of awful blogs, via Twitter, which is my main source of awful blogs. Awkward family has some really awesome shots of the coolest people to ever be related.

Here is another awful picture. I can’t remember where I got it from, but it is my favourite:

I don’t know why this funny man is dressed like this, who he is or what on earth possessed him to sell those concrete “turdles” but I love him. He is rad in his Nike shorts. I want to be just like him. I can only dream of one day having such an awful picture of me pasted on someone’s blog.

Priest beached by topless scandal. A Miami TV Reverend, Alberto Cutié (pronounced Koo-tee-ay), is involved in a sexy scandal. Reports place him topless on a beach with an attractive woman. The controversy is reopening the debate over celibacy in the priesthood. The 40-year old Cutié has apologised to his followers saying he’s taking time for “personal reflection.”

Oh Mel, surely not! Meanwhile, another story about a devout celeb being, perhaps, less than devout. This one is from the grassy knoll, or in magazine-speak, it’s being reported by The National Enquirer. Mel Gibson’s Russian girlfriend may be pregnant. His wife Robyn filed divorce papers on April 13.

Why Taylor digs Thirteen. In harder news, singer Taylor Swift tells MTV news why 13 is her lucky number. How’s this for spooky… One of her songs has a 13 second intro, she always sits in the 13th row at award shows AND she was born on the 13th, the list goes on. She paints 13 on her hand every day so nobody forgets (including her?)

Paris Hilton never fails to disappoint. This time, the media tart is making sure she gets headlines with comments about why she’s immune from Swine Flu (she doesn’t eat pork) and what she’d do if she were president (go to war torn countries and throw a party).

In this week’s GOOP. Makeup! Gwyneth gets some world class hair and make-up artists “to give us all (men and women alike) a few pointers for ways we can tighten up our programs.”  Ah, program, is that robot Gwyneth speak for appearance?

Bueller? Bueller? MetaFilter are compiling a list of crimes comitted by Ferris Bueller in cult film classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Who knows why, but it’s a fun read, and naturally, things are getting pretty technical:

Breach of contract could work, but Cameron has a good looking cause of action for conversion against the garage. This can vary between states, but the kids’ leaving the car with the garage very likely creates a bailment relationship.* In such a relationship, the bailee may only perform the duties the bailor has assigned to it. Bailees who go beyond these duties are strictly liable for conversion**. An enclosed garage with security personnel was held to have a bailment relationship with a customer who parked his car there in Allen v. Hyatt-Regency Hotel. The court here will have to determine (1) if there was a bailment and (2) if the attendants are liable for conversion. Allen was a Tennessee case, but IL courts are likely to see it that way, especially since our case looks even more bailment-like than Allen: Ferris had to hand the keys to the attendant, who was supposed to take it to a parking spot Ferris & co. wouldn’t be able to see, when the garage in Allen was the kind where you park it yourself and take a ticket. The garage is only allowed to park the car under the relationship. When the attendants took a joyride, they went beyond their duties and took it for their personal use, which brings up a claim for conversion in Cameron.

Stacking it. Sugar Stacks shows items of food with the amount of sugar in them displayed in sugar cubes. A great, simple way of visualising things.

Bling alert. The Most Expensive Journal tracks stupidly expensive products that make us a little nauseous, but we can’t look away from things like the most expensive suit in the world or a US$143,020 bottle of whisky.

Two awesome tumble blogs:

1. Look at this fucking hipster collects photos of stupid hispters looking stupid in their stupid high-wasted jeans and fluro hoodies.

2. On Hospital Food, people share photos of their hospital meals and where they had them. Mental note: do not get sick in Poland.

How many starving African kids could celebrity engagement rings feed? A question I’m sure we’ve all pondered at some point – Cat Walk Cat Fight has a visual guide, and it’s both wonderful and depressing. Nicole Richie’s is quite modest, expensive enough for only 200 kids, while Beyonce could feed 100,000.

Couple have sex on Windsor Castle lawn. Ah, the British: a randy couple were caught making the beast with two backs on Liz’s lawn, in front of quite an audience, no less. Charming.

Mr T does jury duty. Mr T took time out of his busy schedule promoting Snickers and the FlavorWave (if you haven’t seen this full infomercial, I implore you to stay up into the wee hours one night and watch it on Channel Ten. You won’t regret it!*) to do his civic duty, reporting for jury duty.

“If you’re innocent, I’m your best man,” he said. “But if you’re guilty, I pity that fool.”

Paris Hilton on swine flu:

Click here to view the embedded video.

GOOP-watch: Food (and kids) again. Gwyneth shares her favourite “kid-friendly” restaurants — ones that are “good for them and delish for us”. Gag. I wonder how “friendly” the other customers feel when she brings her spawn into adult restaurants?

Hard to pick just one highlight, but try this on for size:

My kids were in heaven with the menu (tater tots, pancakes, the biggest ice cream sundae on the planet) and so was I (chopped salad, gravlax, beet risotto)

CHOPPED SALAD?!?! MMMM, dreamy.

* You may, in fact, regret it

What guys can learn from Matthew McConaughey in rom-coms. A lot apparently. Like “Don’t be afraid to leave your wife for the hired help” and “Date high school girls”. The Independent’s Tim Walker watches the movies — and draws pithy love advice — so we don’t have to.

6 Famous Characters You Didn’t Know Were Shameless Rip Offs. There’s nothing new under the sun. Cracked reveals: “It’s hard not to feel betrayed when you find out that some of the stories around which your entire childhood revolved were, for the most part, copied and pasted in with a cavalier attitude of, ‘the little bastards will never know the difference!’” We’re looking at you X-Men. And more.

Architecture on film. Flavorwire wraps the 8 best films for building design, starting with the classic “architecture in the movies” movie: Blade Runner.

The best trailers. Maybe it’s all the talk of Swine Flu flooding the airwaves that has me in a pandemic frame of mind, writes Jessica Barnes on Cinematical, “but when Erik asked us to think about some of our favorite summer movie trailers, my mind wandered from the obvious blockbusters and instead, I came up with Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later.”

Watch here:

Click here to view the embedded video.