Who's in

Beauty queens take off tiaras for MTV

The eight-part series Pageant Place, which debuts on Wednesday, repackages the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA champions as TV roommates for the kind of behind-the-scenes spectacle that made hits of shows like Big Brother and The Osbournes.

The new series follows Miss Universe Riyo Mori from Japan, Miss USA Rachel Smith of Tennessee and two Miss Teen USA winners - Katie Blair and Hilary Cruz - as they share a high-rise apartment in New York City for one year.

Acting as their minder and "unofficial peer advisor" for the show will be none other than Tara Conner (pictured right), the 2006 Miss USA queen who was almost forced to give up her crown over revelations of her underage drinking.

Real estate mogul Donald Trump, co-owner of the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants, publicly rebuked Conner for her behavior but let her keep her tiara when she agreed in January to enter a rehabilitation program. Conner later admitted to struggling with both alcoholism and cocaine abuse.

Pageant Place press materials say the four beauty queen roommates will "have a now sober Tara to guide them away from the temptations and unrelenting attention that led to her notoriety when she was Miss USA."

And if that's not enough, Trump himself will be "dropping by to check in and make sure they all stay on track," according to the press release from MTV, a unit of Viacom Inc.

Home Alone star cooks every night

Put away your assumptions about Macaulay Culkin. The former child star's girlfriend says he's a homebody. Culkin, star of the 1990 comedy Home Alone, has been dating actress Mila Kunis (pictured) for nearly six years; Kunis, who co-starred on TV's That 70's Show, says they make a low-key couple.

"We enjoy each other's company," the 24-year-old actress says in an interview on Parade.com. "We like to read books or play video games or watch TV or go to the movies. And he's an amazing cook. He makes dinner every night."

Culkin made headlines several years ago when he was arrested in Oklahoma City on misdemeanor charges of possessing medication without a prescription and marijuana. He later pleaded guilty and was given a deferred sentence.

Kunis says Culkin, now 27, is more mature than people might think.

"He's an amazing, simple guy, who is probably the most brilliant person I've ever met," Kunis gushes. "He's so, so smart and so aware and so kind and so sweet. Unfortunately, that's not what people want him to be, so they write stuff."

Sting tops list of worst lyricists

Maybe Sting should start writing more instrumentals.

The school-teacher-turned rock star topped Blender's list of the worst lyricists, thanks to lines that betray "mountainous pomposity (and) cloying spirituality," the music magazine said.

The survey, contained in the November issue that hits newsstands next week, placed Rush drummer Neil Peart at No 2, Creed frontman Scott Stapp at No 3, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher at No 4, and soft-rocker Dan Fogelberg at No 5.

Blender assailed Sting for such alleged sins as name-dropping Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov in the Police tune Don't Stand So Close to Me, quoting a Volvo bumper sticker (If You Love Someone Set Them Free), and co-opting the works of Chaucer, St. Augustine and Shakespeare.

A spokeswoman for the English rocker, who is currently in Belgium on the Police's reunion world tour, did not respond to a request for comment.

Agencies

(China Daily 10/10/2007 page18)