taking in the trash

The free weekend magazines that come with the quality broadsheets are giving New Idea some stiff competition lately. In the latest Good Weekend, there’s a story on how Shane Warne has bedded up to a thousand women. In the Australian magazine, a friend of Paris Hilton endorses her vapid claim that she’s an icon. In the Good Weekend, a ‘pal’ of Anna Wintour protests Wintour's not the Prada-attired devil satirised in a new film. Though she sure does sound like a creepy friend, doesn't she?

"Anna happens to be a friend of mine, a fact which is of absolutely no help in coping with the cold panic that grips me whenever we meet...make[s] one feel inadequate...one gets into a cold sweat—-and I am not alone in this reaction among her friends and acquaintances."

Sheesh, with friends like that...Oh, I know Wintour can hardly be lumped in the category of 'trash', being editor of American Vogue, and that fashion is about big biz and money, and that Wintour has the whole aphrodisiac of power thing going, etcetera. But these people come across as so awfully shallow.
Who to believe on Paris Hilton, though? The Murdoch story states that "Hilton did, however, sue Salomon successfully for $535,000 and to this day receives a percentage of the [sex] tape’s profits." This entirely contradicts a quote from Hilton in a recent Herald story (via the spin starts here):

"According to media reports, Hilton took control of the situation and exploited it as a money-making venture. Rather than suing Salomon, it was suggested that she had done a deal to take a 50 per cent cut of the profits. Hilton says this is untrue. ‘I didn't receive one dollar. I've never received any money from it, ever. I was going to sue, but that meant I'd be in court for a whole year, spending millions of dollars. So I said, 'I've just got to take this as a lesson in life. Don't ever trust anyone again like that, move on and just forget about it.’"

Finally, the Warne story. It’s an extract from a new unauthorised bio by journalist Paul Barry. I dunno, but maybe when you have to rely on New Idea as a primary source, you can’t help ending up sounding a lot like a New Idea story. Barry ponders possible causes for Warne’s infidelity, referring to an expert view that men like him (Warne) "have sex with women to get respect from their mates, who are far more important to them than any girl could ever be." Barry adds, "If this is what motivates Warne...there would be no point at all in keeping his affairs private. They would need to be advertised, so his mates could be impressed, which at some level they undoubtedly are." If that's the case, then Barry advertising Warne’s score like this is doing Warne's ego a big favor.