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Your support makes all the difference.John Wayne Bobbitt is hot stuff in Cannes. The man famous the world over because his wife cut off his penis has won an award for his performance in Uncut. He received a Hot D'Or ("Golden Hot") award for his starring role in the X-rated film of his own painful story.
The Hot D'Or awards run parallel to those of the official Cannes Film Festival. A spokesman said Mr Bobbitt's prize was for his achievement in overcoming his situation to forge a successful movie career.
Mr Bobbitt, whose penis was surgically reattached, says his career has just begun. In fact, he is considering taking acting lessons and "I think I could be a big star in the regular cinema".
His ex-wife, Lorena, meanwhile, is a cuticle star. She is the most popular manicurist in northern Virginia. The salon at which she works reports heavy demand - by men - for her services with the nail scissors.
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Alain Juppe, France's new Prime Minister, is already causing trouble - for the country's cartoonists. Apart from his bald head, Mr Juppe has no physical characteristics to inspire their drawings.
"One can't use his ears because they're tiny,'' Plantu, Le Monde's cartoonist, told Liberation, which surveyed its competition on the subject.
''For the nose, I did a little ping-pong ball -- I've got to catch something funny because the rest of him isn't.''
"It's not easy to draw Juppe because I don't dislike him," he added. "The mean ones are always easier to caricature.''
Cabu, who draws for Le Canard Enchaine, depicted Mr Juppe as Stan Laurel. That idea stemmed from the wonderfully corpulent Oliver Hardy that Cabu saw in the Prime Minister's fellow Gaullist, Philippe Seguin, the National Assembly speaker. "In 10 years it'll be easier to draw Juppe, because he'll look like Fred Astaire," Cabu said.
Liberation's own cartoonist, Willem, shares his competition's problem with Mr Juppe. "He's got dog-like eyes and he's unshaven, but he doesn't look like anybody," he lamented.
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Bill Clinton's former spokeswoman at the White House, Dee Dee Myers, is behind the microphone again. She is co-hosting Equal Time, the political interview and commentary programme seen in Britain on the CNBC cable-television station. Ms Myers is sharing the duties with the sharp-tongued Mary Matalin, Equal Time's original presenter and a director of George Bush's 1992 campaign against Mr Clinton.
Ms Matalin, who married her old sparring partner James Carville, the ''Ragin' Cajun'' who ran the Clinton campaign, is expecting her first child shortly. Despite predictions of a two-headed monster, "the child will have about an 80 per cent chance of being an independent in spite of both of us," Mr Carville said.
The couple are expected to take opposite corners again in next year's presidential campaign - and the baby won't be the only one screaming.
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