What the kids are up to ...

Since when did photographs of Lindsay Lohan and Brett Ratner leaving The Dime together constitute them being a couple? I must've missed something while I was gone, because that's what I've been hearing. Or, more correctly, that he's been cheating on her and that things have gone awry before they really ever went anywhere. Say what?

In promoting Laguna Beach in Canada recently, Stephen Colletti made some somewhat insightful comments about his experience with the show. "Having to deal with constant reminders of stuff that happened in high school, it's like, I've learned to deal with it really easily and so I think that's helped me grow up ... I think it's helped me to learn to be a lot more mature and ... be more smart about my actions." His advice for the Season Three cast is "Just don't try and be anybody you aren't ... I think the kids that you see in the show that come off looking bad or that just kind of are awkward to watch, you can tell when someone's not really being themself and it's like they're trying to act when they're not actors." He's currently with teen actress Hayden Panettiere -- when asked whether he was dating her, he smiled and said "My dating life is OK, I'll just say that." And on a potential romantic reunion with Kristin Cavallari, he said, "The answer is no ... It's funny because people are always asking about that. It's hard. It's overwhelming how much that question comes up." Gee, that kind of makes me sad.

Very dated photos, but I thought I'd put them out there for anyone who missed them: evidence Kristin and Nick Lachey were, at the very least, hanging out:

[Photo courtesy of The Laguna Beach Hook Up]

... and a few recent photos of Alex Murrel and Alex Hooser hanging out with the Carter twins (Aaron and Angel, Nick's younger siblings), courtesy of The Real O.C. boards:


... and an oldish but cute story: Mandy Moore was sort of horrified when she saw the headlines next to her face on the cover of this month's issue of Cosmopolitan magazine: "I'm very flattered to be on a magazine cover, but the horrifying part is my parent's have framed every magazine that I've ever been on from the beginning ... So there's a whole wall dedicated to that and it starts off with me at 14 and 'Mandy's favourite colour is pink!' and now Cosmo and my face and 'orgasms unlimited.' And my dad has to take it to the framer's to get it framed. It has nothing to do with me -- it's just an article [that appears in the magazine]!"