Naked Lindsay Lohan poses nude as Marilyn Monroe

Lindsay Lohan is following in the footsteps of the most famous blond bombshell of them all — Marilyn Monroe.

In the issue of New York magazine now on sale, the 21-year-old star of "Mean Girls" and "Freaky Friday" poses nude for photographer Bert Stern in a recreation of one of Monroe's most famous photo shoots, done shortly before she died.

Stern photographed Monroe in 1962 at the Hotel Bel-Air in California, six weeks before she was found dead from an overdose of barbiturates. Those images for Vogue magazine feature Monroe in next to nothing, posing nude with some scarves and jewelry as her accessories and sipping champagne.

Stern recreated those images with Lohan this month, at the same hotel, with Lohan wearing a blond wig and not much else.

In the essay accompanying the photos, Lohan, who admitted to a serious interest in Monroe, said deciding to do the photo shoot was easy.

"I didn't have to put much thought into it. I mean, Bert Stern? Doing a Marilyn shoot? When is that ever going to come up? It's really an honor," she told the magazine.

Lohan described Monroe's suicide as "tragic" and said it, along with the Jan. 22 death of actor Heath Ledger from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs, "are both prime examples of what this industry can do to someone."

The actress, who has been in and out of rehab after two arrests last year on drunken driving and cocaine charges, said she didn't know why the industry wreaked such havoc on some stars, adding, "I sure as hell wouldn't let it happen to me."

Stern told The Associated Press that he found women like Lohan and her tabloid companions Paris Hilton and Britney Spears "interesting."

"They're girls that draw attention to their notoriety and their celebrity through their behavior," he said Monday.

He noted that Monroe and Lohan had similar problems with alcohol but added that — in contrast to the sessions with Monroe — there was no alcohol on the set when he photographed Lohan.

He said he thought the photo shoot would be good for the young actress, giving her the chance to portray herself as a grown-up. He also lauded her for her willingness to do it in the nude.

"I thought she was a natural, not at all squeamish," he said.

Disney composer Alan Menken looks for another win at the Oscar Awards

If it truly is a pleasure just to be nominated for an Oscar, Alan Menken must be Hollywood's happiest man.

The co-composer of songs from Walt Disney's musical hit "Enchanted" has three of the five nominations in the original-song category going into Sunday's Academy Awards.

While that's not a record — three of Henry Krieger's songs from "Dreamgirls" were nominated just last year — news of the triple play still took Menken by surprise.

"My publicist, Ray Costa, called me and said, 'Alan, you're nominated for "Happy Working Song" ... and "So Close" ... and "That's How You Know," Menken recalled for AP Television at the Oscar nominees luncheon in early February. "I was really blind-sided, completely blind-sided. Three nominations. I said, 'Now we're gonna lose."

Menken, 58, said he expects that the three "Enchanted" entries, co-written with Stephen Schwartz, may split the vote, improving odds for the other song contenders at the ceremony: "Falling Slowly" from "Once" and "Raise It Up" from "August Rush."

Last year, the three "Dreamgirls" songs lost out to Melissa Etheridge's "I Need to Wake Up" from "An Inconvenient Truth."

Then again, Menken and his late co-writer Howard Ashman got three 1991 nods for "Beauty and the Beast" and won for the title tune.

Other Oscars Menken has won include those for co-writing "Under the Sea" from "The Little Mermaid," "A Whole New World" from "Aladdin" and "Colors of the Wind" from "Pocahontas."

Those Oscars "live in my studio, and they're all in a cabinet," Menken said. "And I occasionally let them out and let people hold them."

Menken said he points out the statues when he has a studio disagreement with a collaborator.

"I say, 'Turn around and look over there," he noted with a laugh. "It's obnoxious, but sometimes effective."

Mormon Church President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away at the age of 97

A sad tragedy to the passing of Mormon Church President Gordon B. Hinckley.

A few hundred people waited in freezing temperatures Thursday to view the body of Gordon B. Hinckley as the Mormon Church began three days of public mourning for its president.

Joined by two friends, Michelle McAllister got up at 4 a.m. and skipped classes at Weber State University to be first in line at the conference center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"We wanted to have this experience. He's been my prophet," said McAllister, 21, who was a child when Hinckley became head of the church in 1995. Hinckley was the oldest president of the 13 million member church when he died Sunday at age 97.

His body was dressed in a white suit in an open casket in the church conference center's Hall of Prophets, where bronze busts of each church president line the walls.

From the elderly to mothers with children in their arms, mourners moved silently past both sides of the dark wood casket, which was surrounded by flowers. Some were stone-faced while others dabbed at tears.

Lisa Brown, 25, whispered to her 2-year-old daughter, Vanessa, as they passed by.

"She recognizes him as the prophet," said Brown, her eyes red from crying. "It's kind of a bittersweet day. Sweet for him, but sad for us."

Hinckley is the 15th president of the Church and the longest-serving Mormon Church President who presided over one of the greatest periods of expansion in its history.

Hinckley's eldest son, Richard, who runs the church missionary department, greeted people outside the hall, shaking hands and expressing gratitude for their prayers and condolences.

The Mormon Church scheduled 20 hours of public viewing Thursday and Friday before a funeral Saturday. Officials were expecting tens of thousands of people over three days at the church's downtown world headquarters to see the body of President Gordon B. Hinckley.

The funeral will be held in the church's 21,000-seat conference center, which was built during Hinckley's presidency to accommodate the growing church.

Burial will follow in a Salt Lake City cemetery, where Hinckley's wife, Marjorie Pay Hinckley, is buried. She died in 2004.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/