Sideswipe

Some words just don't go together well.

Gwyneth Paltrow is a germophobe, according to a report, who takes her own hairbrush and comb to the hairdresser, won't use public toilets, and has even taken to scrubbing the bathtubs at hotels where she's staying. She's always been pretty clean-obsessed, but recently it's reached a whole new level, a source close to the actress told Star magazine. According to the source, Paltrow insists that visitors take off their shoes at her house, she sometimes won't shake people's hands, and she often asks people to use antibacterial soap before they touch her young daughter, Apple. Paltrow's spokesman confirms the actress' no-shoes policy and says that when Apple was a few weeks old her mother may have been rather protective but dismisses the other claims.

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While browsing Trade Me looking for a portable spa, a bemused reader came across an unusual potential buyer in Q & A section. "I am looking for a spa to wash some of my pigs. How many average sized pigs do you think I would be able to fit in it ... thanks.'

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In his review of Elizabethtown, TimeOut film critic Russell Baillie concluded Orlando Bloom can't act. (At the office water cooler he went as far as to suggest that Bloom was the Leonard Nimoy of his generation in that he required pointy ears to be convincing on screen.) Some readers didn't agree and wrote to tell us so. Wrote Paula: "It kinda pisses me off that you say that Orlando Bloom can't act. If he couldn't act then he wouldn't be in movies, but then again you would probly [sic] say, 'Yes he would because of his good looks'. I think he did very good, plus you have to admit we're all happy to see a contemporary movie from him. Nothing that has to do with swords. And Cameron Crowe is a very good director. I don't think he would of cast Orlando Bloom if he couldn't act." Wrote Sandy: "For Pete's sake ... Orlando is a fine actor. Take your criticism and put the blame where it truly belongs ... on Cameron Crowe ... Your words take me back to Passion of the Christ. Killing the man in this film like you all did in Kingdom of Heaven, eh? Is Orlando Bloom carrying the cross ... bearing the sins of the entire world on his shoulders? I think not. He'll survive it all ... everything that every last one of you ... the critics say about him. And more. As my mom says: 'What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger'." Was our reviewer too harsh or spot on? Can Bloom act or is he just nice to look at? Email Sideswipe.