Caught in the Act!

Plus: Kanye West gives a blinding performance in L.A., Jessica Alba and more

Photo: Marion Curtis/Startraks

• Ben Affleck, hanging with pal Sheryl Crow during a party at New York’s Soho Grand penthouse following a Cinema Society screening of his film Gone Baby Gone. Guests at the bash (including Casey Affleck and Patricia Clarkson) enjoyed a spread of comfort food – meatloaf, mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts – in a comfy setting with big beds and sofas. And a thin looking Affleck shared a diet secret with PEOPLE earlier in the night. “[I] just lay off the bread,” the actor said. Back at the penthouse bash, Clarkson raved about the man of the hour. “Ben is a wonderful guy,” she told us. “He made a great movie.”

• Newly engaged Rose McGowan, indulging a sweet tooth at Beverly Hills bakery Crumbs, where she picked up cupcakes in flavors including coconut, piña colada, caramel apple and vanilla. (No sign of her director fiancé Robert Rodriguez, though.)

• Jessica Alba, enjoying a poolside dinner at blue on blue in Beverly Hills’ Avalon Hotel.

• Wilmer Valderrama, taking in an explosive Kanye West performance from atop a banquette inside a T-Mobile Sidekick LX party at the Clubhouse at the Griffith Park’s Harding and Wilson Golf Course in Los Angeles. The rapper offered attendees (including Carmen Electra and Shia LaBeouf) a long performance dominated by tunes from his latest disc, Graduation (and blinding strobe lights that had audience members joking they’d have seizures). Meanwhile, Electra watched front-and-center, shimmying from inside her banquette. Jeremy Piven alternated his attention between his male friends and a group of women who congregated around him, and LaBeouf enjoyed the company of a few female partygoers, too.

• Ron Howard, playing his favorite role – doting grandpa – during lunch at AMMO in Hollywood with his wife, daughter Bryce Dallas Howard, her husband Seth Gabel (Dirty Sexy Money) and their 8-month-old son.

• By JENNIFER GARCIA, MAUREEN HARRINGTON, SCOTT HUVER, MARISA LAUDADIO, ALYSSA SHELASKY and JEFFREY SLONIM

Wednesday’s Caught in the Act >