The World's most influential people 2008

According to TIME magazine that is. Here's the full list:

ARTISTS & ENTERTAINERS
Lorne Michaels
Miley Cyrus (she gets everywhere, my sister was bitching to me on the 'phone today about how much money lil' Miley earns and she wasn't happy about it. I told her to wait a couple of years and we'll have another Britney Spears/Lindsay Lohan on our hands - you know it's true!)
Robert Downey Jr.
Herbie Hancock
Joel & Ethan Coen
Bruce Springsteen
Peter Gelb
Mariah Carey
Khaled Hosseini
Elizabeth Gilbert
Rem Koolhaas
Judd Apatow
Alex Rigopulos & Eran Egozy
George Clooney
Tim Russert
Suze Orman
Stephenie Meyer
Tyler Perry
Tom Stoppard
Chris Rock
Takashi Murakami

LEADERS & REVOLUTIONARIES
Dalai Lama
Vladimir Putin
Barack Obama
Hillary Clinton
John McCain
Hu Jintao
George W. Bush
Jacob Zuma
Anwar Ibrahim
Kevin Rudd
Bartholomew I
Ben Bernanke
Muqtada al-Sadr
Robert Gates
Michelle Bachelet
Sonia Gandhi
Baitullah Mehsud
Evo Morales
Ma Ying-jeou
Ashfaq Kayani

HEROES & PIONEERS
Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie
Oprah Winfrey
Oscar Pistorius
Mia Farrow
Andre Agassi
Lance Armstrong
Bob and Suzanne Wright
Peter Gabriel
Kaká
Sheik Mohammed al-Maktoum
Yoani Sánchez
Madeeha Hasan Odhaib
Randy Pausch
Lorena Ochoa
Tony Blair
Alexis Sinduhije
Aung San Suu Kyi
George Mitchell

SCIENTISTS & THINKERS
Michael Bloomberg
Craig Venter
Jill Bolte Taylor
Larry Brilliant
Jeff Han
Mehmet Oz
Nancy Brinker
Harold McGee
Peter Pronovost
Eric Chivian & Richard Cizik
Mary Lou Jepsen
Paul Allen
Nicholas Schiff
Mark Zuckerberg
Wendy Kopp
Shinya Yamanaka & James Thomson
Michael Griffin
Susan Solomon
Isaac Berzin

BUILDERS & TITANS
Indra Nooyi
Ali al-Naimi
Rupert Murdoch
Steve Jobs
Radiohead
John Chambers
Jeff Bezos
Jay Adelson
Steve Ballmer
Jamie Dimon
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal
Lou Jiwei
Neelie Kroes
Jeffrey Immelt
Karl Lagerfeld
Lloyd Blankfein
Carlos Slim
Mo Ibrahim
Ratan Tata
Cynthia Carroll
Carine Roitfeld
Michael Arrington

Brad Pitt shilling Edwin jeans to the Japanese

Here's Brad Pitt looking hot for at forty four (forty four!) shilling Edwin jeans to the Japanese. Damn, I hope I look at good as Brad when I reach his age.

Brad Pitt with freaky gun make up on his face

Looks like Brad Pitt really got into character during the making of his new film, The Assassination of Jesse James. He's even got some drawn on to his face for this photoshoot which on anyone else would look disturbing, but on Brad, still manages to look hot.

Brad Pitt in Mario Testino's "Let Me In"

Photographer Mario Testino has had a 300-page book published called “Let Me In”. The book is a collection of off-screen moments in color and black and white, featuring more than 100 contemporary stars including Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (and various children), Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tom Ford, Adrien Brody, Kate Hudson, Claudia Schiffer, Gisele Bundchen, Michelle Pfeiffer, George Clooney, Madonna, Anjelica Huston and Matt Dillon. Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher are on the cover but we're more interested in these photographs of hot dad Brad Pitt getting a buzz cut.

Here's the publisher's sales pitch:

As one of the 21st century's most travelled, acclaimed, and influential fashion photographers, Mario Testino has unsurpassed access to the most magnetic stars of popular culture. For some time now, he has been collecting a personal archive of off-screen moments, often snatched spontaneously before, during, and after more official sittings for Vanity Fair, Vogue, and Testino's many clients in the world of fashion. The result is a portrait not just of a generation of the most wanted and talked-about, but an invitation to be part of the backstage parties and unstaged moments of Testino's life. Sometimes offbeat, but always on the pulse, Let me in!, with Testino's eye for a modern kind of elegance liberated from conventional polish, is a new chapter from the photographer who has already made his mark with the books "Any Objections", "Front Row Backstage", "Alive", "Portraits", "Kids", "Diana Princess of Wales", and numerous exhibitions and publications worldwide. Features of this work include: an introduction by Michael Roberts, fashion director of Vanity Fair; a foreword by Nicole Kidman; and, 300 pages in color and black and white featuring more than 100 contemporary stars.

Apparently, there are some shirtless photographs of Jake Gyllenhaal in there too!!

AskMen.com's manliest Men of the Year

Those butch types at AskMen.com have been voting for their manliest men of the year.

"After a one-month period that saw more than one million votes cast, AskMen.com’s Top 49 Men of 2007 have been chosen, and the list is now revealed. We’ve spent the past few weeks sifting through your votes and assembling the rankings of the guys that you’ve deemed to be the best representatives of our gender – this year’s manliest men... George Clooney took the top place on last year’s inaugural Top 49 Men list. "

Here's this year's list of manly men (don't ask me why they only go to forty nine) so let's see how well gorgeous George did this time:

1. David Beckham
2. Matt Damon (woof!)
3. Timbaland
4. Roger Federer
5. Justin Timberlake
6. Daniel Craig
7. Steve Jobs (being a billionaire automatically makes you more manly)
8. George Clooney
9. Lewis Hamilton
10. Christian Bale
11. Brad Pitt
12. Clive Owen
13. Steve Carell
14. Denzel Washington
15. Rick Rubin
16. Peyton Manning
17. Matt Groening
18. Sacha Baron Cohen
19. Shigeru Miyamoto
20. Gordon Ramsay
21. Richard Branson
22. Leonardo DiCaprio
23. Prince Harry (the little lush!)
24. Stephen Colbert
25. Tom Ford
26. Tiger Woods
27. Ryan Seacrest (um, manly..?)
28. Kanye West
29. Alex Rodriguez
30. Shia LaBeouf
31. Ferran Adria
32. Frank Miller
33. Jonathan Ive
34. Sidney Crosby
35. Scott Schuman
36. Carlos Slim Helu
37. Stephen Schwarzman
38. Simon Cowell (moobs!)
39. Richard Hammond
40. Cormac McCarthy
41. LaDainian Tomlinson
42. Tony Parker
43. Dane Cook
44. David Chase
45. Ryan Gosling
46. Jonathan Rhys Meyers
47. Christopher Bailey
48. Jimmy Wales
49. Gerard Butler

How important is it to say "I Love You"?

Dlisted reports that Angelina Jolie told Marie Claire magazine that she doesn't think she's ever seriously said "I love you" to Brad Pitt. She said, "I don't think we've ever said (I love you). I mean, I'm sure we have, but we would have to punch each other in the arm first."

I hope Angelina Jolie does tell Brad Pitt that she loves him. That shit's important.

Brad Pitt gets shy and doesn't want to show off his ass anymore!

According to Dlisted, sexy actor Brad Pitt is refusing to bare his ass in his new film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Apparently, a minion has been told to find an ass double for Brad. Now, wouldn't that be a fun job to have?

Poor Brad, I preferred him before he got married to Angelina Jolie. At least he was still playful and sexy (if usually stoned) when he was with Jennifer Anison. Bring back the old Brad, ass and all!

Halle Berry says she'd consider adopting, but would prefer an American child

Halle Berry has been discussing the possibility of her adopting a child. StarPulse report that "Hollywood actress Halle Berry has condemned Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt for adopting children from abroad, claiming they have "forgotten" about the youngsters in America. The Oscar winner hopes to become a mom one day and would consider adopting again after taking on ex-husband Eric Benet's daughter India.

She says, "I hope I have children one day - it's not too late. I am looking forward to that. Maybe I will adopt somewhere down the road if that is the only way to bring a child into my life. There are lots of children that need a home in America. I feel we have forgotten about our own kids. With Brad and Angelina it's whatever works for them."

Reading the above, I don't know exactly if Halle is dissing Angelina and Brad. It's true than many people look abroad to adopt, especially if adopting a baby, but the attention give to high profile adoptions by Madonna and Angelina recently probably don't give the full picture. Looking at figures from Children's Bureau show annual US adoptions of over 50,000 whereas the number of children adopted from abroad is 20,000.

Also, don't forget the desire for many people to give a chance to a child with no chances in their own country. I've been to Africa and visited townships and, let me tell you, the reality of poverty there is very different to poverty in Europe or the US. What really matters is that there are families who wish to give a loving home to children who desperately need one, wherever they happen to come from.

Angelina Jolie buys her new kid a Nintendo Gameboy

In an interview with HELLO! Magazine, Angelina Jolie discusses her latest aquisition, Pax Thien. Angelina Jolie reveals that has given her latest son the first taste of his new life of luxury – a Nintendo GameBoy. Angelina said she decided to give Pax Thien the toy because 'he has never had anything to call his own'. I hope Angelina got him the latest model, a Gameboy Micro or SP and not the original clunky Gameboy Color. The kid's won the adoption lottery with Angelina and Brad Pitt so he'll be wanting the good stuff.

She told Hello! magazine: 'We are slowly beginning to build his trust and bond but it will feel complete only when we are all a family.' Jolie added: 'It will take him a while to realise he has a family, that his new life is permanent and it won't keep changing. You can imagine what courage it takes to be in all new surroundings with new people and a new language. He is very strong. He is a very serious, very sweet little boy.'

Angelina Jolie adopts another Vietnamese boy, takes another step to becoming the Mia Farrow of our generation

Angelina Jolie has adopted another Vietnamese boy, sparking the predictable intense media interest. Speaking in an interview with Ho Chi Minh City newspaper Phap Luat, Angelina said: "I want to say sorry for bringing this into Pax's life." The three-year-old boy has been renamed Pax Thien, the Latin for peace and Vietnamese word for heaven.

Angelina added she would stay at home to help the boy, who speaks no English, settle into his new life. "We have to learn to adapt to each other and study each other's languages," Jolie told the newspaper. "I have four children, and caring for them is the most important thing for me now," added the 31-year-old Oscar winner.

Jolie has already adopted two children, from Cambodia and Ethiopia, and last year she gave birth to a daughter, Shiloh, with actor partner Brad Pitt. Angelina also vowed to pay regular visits to Vietnam. "To the best of my ability, I want to understand more about your country and see what I can do to help," she said.


It's great that Angelina likes kids, there are plenty that need to adopted into a loving home. But I can't help remembering the following joke by British comedian, Victoria Wood:

"You see rich people don't look after their own children, if fact they don't give birth ! If they really want a baby they go abroad and they buy one, you see them at customs..."Anything to declare" "Yes a bottle of Chanel No 5.....an twins !" Or they adopt them like Mia Farrow. Is she mad Mia Farrow, I think she must be mad don't you, I mean she's adopted so many ! She adopts babies like someone picking letters on Countdown. I'll have a black one..and another black one..and a blind one...and another black...and a Korean one....and another black one ! She obviously preferes them black and disabled, I don't know who she's going to adopt next but I would be panicking if I was Stevie Wonder !!!"

Angelina Jolie being pursued by Henry Kissinger, Condoleezza Rice also wants a piece!

The Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington foreign policy think tank, has trained its collective contemplation on Angelina Jolie. The group, which includes U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell and Dick Cheney, is deciding whether Jolie's serial international adoption spree and orphan building charity work qualifies her to become a member of this elite group.

Angelina has been nominated for a five-year "term" membership. Whilst there are no specific academic or social requirements, it helps that Jolie has served as a UN Goodwill Ambassador and made more than 30 trips around the world on behalf of refugees, AIDS orphans, and victims of natural disasters.

"It's not like Paris Hilton is being nominated," said Carol Adelman, a former head of US foreign aid programs, with eloquent understatement. Her membership was also supported by current council member Gordon Adams, an international affairs professor. "Bring her on. The idea of having Henry Kissinger and Angelina Jolie in the same organization is dazzling," Adams said.

I bet Kissinger also likes the idea! He's always had a eye for the ladies.
When asked about Jolie recently by Columbia School of Journalism graduate students, the old letch said "It's my only chance to meet Angelina Jolie," he said. I'm sure Angelina can't wait, Henry! After all, she's only got fugly Brad Pitt waiting for her at home.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt to adopt another Vietnamese boy

The rumours have been circulating for weeks but it seems we now have confirmation. Vu Duc Long, director of Vietnam's International Adoption Agency,confirmed today that Angelina Jolie has filed papers to adopt a Vietnamese baby. Vu Duc Long revealed they have exchanged papers with a US adoption agency representing the 'Tomb Raider' star. Long said: "She just filed the papers this week."

Last month, it was revealed Angelina and her partner Brad Pitt had filed papers with US Citizenship and Immigration services to enable them to adopt a boy from the Tam Binh orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City. That's gonna be one lucky kid, you know that for orphans getting adopted by a Hollywood star is like winning the lottery.

Here's a recent picture of Brad looking hot. I'd sure like to bounce up and down on his knee, wouldn't you?