Paris Hilton returns to play the field

Another day, another sweetie for Paris Hilton. Make that two sweeties.

The partying heiress — who apparently has split with Stavros Niarchos — has been busy auditioning replacements. When Hilton was unable to hook up at a party with Olympic hottie Jeremy Bloom recently, she "made a bee line" for another club, according to Life & Style Weekly, where she was spotted holding hands with actor Simon Rex, before ditching him for USC quarterback Matt Leinart.

But Hilton's dance card has been even more crowded. A week earlier, she was spotted with “The O.C.'s” Benjamin McKenzie. “She was desperately hanging on to him the whole night,” an “eyewitness” told the mag, adding that the two exchanged numbers. “They seemed really friendly as they said goodbye.”

‘Extreme’ frustration
Ty Pennington is spitting nails about the condition of the area ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

The host of “Extreme Makeover” visited the gulf region for a four-part special of his show, and has written a companion piece that appears in Life magazine. “Right now, there's a lot of red tape and bull---- in New Orleans,” he wrote. “The levees aren't rebuilt, and hurricane season is less than three months away. It's scary. People aren't crying. They've passed that stage. The sadness is over, and now the anger is moving in.”

Biloxi, Miss., isn't much better. “The normalcy of life in Biloxi is gone,” he wrote. “Even in February, five months after the storm, houses were piled on top of houses, entire hotels were gone, playgrounds were just rubble.” But Pennington also wrote that they way people helped each other out “made me appreciate human nature and the fact that when tragedy strikes you can rely on your family and neighbors.”

Notes from all over
Looks like Tom Cruise's very busy lawyers devote time even to his fans. Posted on a Tom Cruise fan site is a disclaimer, which reads, in part: “TomCruiseFan.com is a NON-OFFICIAL Fansite, run by fans for fans. We're NOT affiliated with Tom Cruise or his management. We do not have any type of affiliation with his production company. I AM NOT TOM CRUISE. We're just fans.” ... From the If Anyone Cares Department: Tom Sizemore claims that Liz Hurley was among the nearly 2,000 women he slept with. “I've never ever had bad sex, but without a shadow of a doubt Liz was the sexiest of them all,” Heidi Fleiss's violent ex told London's News of the World. Sizemore claims he had a tryst with Hurley in 1992, when she was still dating Hugh Grant. “Hugh was back in London and I really thought I'd win her over. It gave me great pleasure thinking of Hugh's smug, handsome face every time I was in bed with his girlfriend! But sadly she was more in love with Hugh than me and finally went back to him.” ... Do Paula Abdul's private parts influence her tastes as a judge?  Here's what the “American Idol” panelist said when Rolling Stone asked her if she's ever tempted to rip into contestants: “It's not my role. Why should I, when the guys to the right and left of me [Simon Cowell] will crush them? And that's on top of the fact that I have a vagina. Though I do check between my legs to see if something else is sprouting down there.”

Jeannette Walls Delivers the Scoop Mondays through Thursdays on MSNBC.com.