New & Noteworthy: Macca nails it

The former Beatle, who will always be known as “The Cute One,” has discovered the joys of special manicures. But before anyone starts humming “Get Back,” (as in, “JoJo was a man who thought he was a woman . . . “) know this: Macca’s just trying to keep his fingers in shape.
McCartney told The Sun newspaper that 40-plus years of plucking guitar strings had played havoc with his digits.
“The way I flick the strings with my fingers wears my nail down,” he said.
The missus, former fashion model Heather Mills, came up with a brilliant solution: acrylic nails. But Macca was a bit squeamish about sporting fakes tips — until he saw how well they worked.
“I did do it on the last tour,” he admitted happily. “And it works like a dream.”

Minnie Driver’s circle of friends gets wider as time goes by. This week, the actress, soon to be seen in the film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera,” has revealed that there’s a new man in her life.
In a scene that could have come from any number of chick flicks, the pair “met cute” at an airport, when their flight was delayed. Minnie, whose past romances include ill-fated liaisons with Matt Damon and Josh Brolin, is understandably reluctant about spilling too many details about her flyboy.
“I’m going out with an Australian,” she told Digitalspy.com. “He’s an academic and I’m not telling you anything more.”

It’s a safe bet that British heartthrob Robbie Williams won’t be asked to make any PSAs (public service advertisements) about preventing drug abuse anytime soon. The bad boy singer says that he’d still be enjoying better living through chemistry — if only the drugs hadn’t left him fat and stupid.
Robbie, a veteran of Britain’s finer rehabilitation programs, told the Evening Standard that he’s nostalgic for his days of wine and roses — and ecstasy, and cocaine.
“Some of the best times of my life happened under he influence,” he insisted. “I’d still be doing it if I didn’t blow up to the size of an aircraft hangar . . . if I could still make good judgment calls.”
In more Robbie news, the singer says that he’s sad and lonely because there’s no special woman in his life at the moment. So he’s prepared to find a honey the old-fashioned way: through advertising.
“I want to find a princess,” he told The Mirror. “My Christmas day is going to be just me by myself.”
His solution?
“I should do a government advertising campaign with me sitting here sadly on my own,” he said. (The line forms to the left, ladies.)

“Two and a Half Men” star Charlie Sheen and his wife, the actress Denise Richards,” are looking forward to the patter of little feet again. The couple are expecting a baby, due next summer. Richards, 33, recently posed in the altogether for Playboy magazine, which she said motivated her to get in shape after giving birth to her first child, 10-month-old daughter Sam.

If there’s one role that “Tomb Raider” star Angelina Jolie takes very seriously, it’s that of mother.
The sexy actress, who (inexplicably) played Colin Farrell’s mom in “Alexander,” told a German magazine that she’d knock the stuffin’ out of anyone who threatened the safety of her 3-year-old son, Maddox.
“Yes, I would kill to protect my son,” she said.
“It would be nice to believe that we all come from a place where love and peace reign,” she added. “But that isn’t the world in which we live.”

The video for U2’s new single, “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own,” was filmed at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre, as a tribute to Bono’s late father, Bob Hewson.
The elder Hewson, who died of cancer in 2001, was an amateur opera singer who once performed at the Gaiety with the Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society.
IrelandOnline’s entertainment Web site reports that Bono recalled his father as a “great singer. “
“He was a . . . a tenor, a working-class Dublin guy who listened to the opera and conducted the stereo with my mother’s knitting needles,” Bono said. “He just loved opera, so in the song I hit one of those big tenor notes that he would have loved so much.”

If you want to impress Hollywood star Christian Slater the next time the two of you run elbows at a swanky soiree, try calling him a cheeky [rhymes with rollicks] or a bloody [rhymes with banker]. Apparently, the actor finds that kid of talk absolutely charming.
Christian, who’s been living in London for the last few months while starring in a West End production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” says that he loves listening to British cabbies shout at one another. “I thought [it] was great — classic,” he said of a recent, obscenity-filled exchange.

Forget pinching J-Lo’s bum or squeezing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s muscles. The most-requested interaction with a waxwork at Madame Tussauds museum in London is sharing a romantic interlude with “Ocean’s Twelve” star George Clooney.
A spokesperson for the wax emporium told the BBC that Clooney is the most-requested celebrity who has yet to be honored with a waxy twin. So even as I type this, designers are busy melting down buckets of crayons — color of choice: “Gorgeous” — to create a life-sized version of “Swooney” Clooney. And, to play up the actor’s famously single status, the designers will place in him a tableaux that features a candlelight dinner and a possible marrage proposal.
“We thought, George is . . . famous for not being married,” said the spokesperson. “So let’s have a dinner date and give guests a chance to chat him up.”

Bill Murray may have starred in “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” but according to co-star Owen Wilson, the veteran funnyman is “not exactly an old salt.”
Wilson, the blonder half of the Wilson Bros. acting consortium (the other half is “legally Blonde” star Luke), might be joking about Murray’s malady. Or then again, he might not. You know those droll comedians.
“Poor Bill was either sobbing or throwing up,” Owen gleefully told reporters. “He got sick a lot. He’s got a very delicate constitution.”
Owen couldn’t resist rubbing even more salt (water) into the wound. “[It’s] actually pretty surprising because I think he’s from Chicago,” he said of Murray. “And you associate that he’s a tough guy.”

Will somebody please send Lindsay Lohan to her room until she’s old enough to be let out on her own?
It’s bad enough that the 18-year-old starlet, who went from ingenue to sex kitten practically overnight, has been running around with various body parts exposed to the elements. And (reportedly) snogging the exceedingly, er, popular ladies’ man Colin Farrell. And living down rumors that she’s had her top half enhanced. But really, the final straw has to be her flirtation with the celebrity religion du jour: Kabbalah.
Lohan’s interest in the mystical sect, whose followers wear red string bracelets and drink special Kabbalah water, was piqued when she ran into actress Demi Moore on the set of “That 70s Show.” Demi and her toy boy, Ashton Kutcher, are avid followers, so when Lindsay started asking questions, Demi was more than happy to fill her in.
“It interested me,” Lindsay told reporters. “Because they talk about the ego and stuff.”

“Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe probably wishes he had those wizardy powers in real life. If he did, he could use them to realize one of his fondest wishes: working with Daniel Day-Lewis.
The 15-year-old actor says that rumors about high-profile costars are always swirling around on the set of the film.
“Like, they said Rowan Atkinson for Voldemort and Hugh Grant’s been linked to Professor Lockhart,” he told IrelandOnline. “I think they make it up as they go along.”
If Daniel could hand pick one costar, it would be the Oscar-winning star of “My Left Foot.”
“[He’s] one person I’d love to work with very badly,” said Hogwarts’s star pupil. “But it doesn’t look like that’ll ever happen now. Hasn’t he sworn off films?”