Ocean’s 13 By the Sea

Angelina Jolie, Pitt Help Namibian Ranch Become Wildlife Reserve

A UN Goodwill Ambassador’s work is apparently never done, as word that Angelina Jolie and honey Brad Pitt visited a special Namibian ranch in an effort to bolster their efforts to become a full-fledged wildlife reserve.

The Insider reports that shortly before their daughter Shilow Nouvel was born, the duo visited the Harnas Ranch taking their adopted children Zahara and Maddox along.

The Harnas Ranch was once a cattle farm, but is now a ranch dedicated to saving endangered wild animals in Namibia, Africa. Now the Harnas Wildlife Foundation, they hope to turn the ranch into a nature reserve where orphaned animals can be released.

Jolie reportedly learned of Harnas back in 2003, and The Insider has a black and white photo in which she posed with an orphaned cheetah during her first visit to the ranch.

So far, the actress has donated $250,000 to their organization.

Tom Ford Cannes Do
Brad Pitt dons designer’s new line for festival

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

(CANNES) Brad Pitt, famous as he is, seems consistently overshadowed by his loves, be they Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie—both of whom garner the lion’s share of paparazzi attention wherever they go.

Tom Ford is about to change all that.

While the relationship isn’t official like the one Reese Witherspoon enjoys with Olivier Theyskens for Nina Ricci, Ford, who recently launched a namesake men’s line and a Madison Avenue flagship to house it all, said he recently completed fittings with the actor in Los Angeles for his several public appearances at the Cannes Film Festival this week, which include the world premieres of A Mighty Heart and Ocean’s Thirteen. “Brad always looked too scruffy,” Ford said. “I wanted him to look chic, like a true movie star. Plus, he’s not a bad man to clean up.”

On Monday night, while Pitt’s paramour donned a vintage Pierre Balmain Haute Couture Chantilly lace cocktail dress she acquired at Decades, the actor appeared a new man clad in Ford’s made-to-measure black wool peak lapel three-piece tuxedo, which he wore with a white piquet plastron shirt, black velvet bow tie, and black patent leather shoes. The icing on the cake came in form of diamond studs and cufflinks, all from Ford’s collection, natch. This followed a press conference earlier in the day, where he wore a slightly more casual, albeit stunning, Tom Ford made-to-measure grey suit, shirt, shoes and cufflinks. “I never wear a tie during the day; it gives me headaches,” Ford said. Looks like Pitt has found himself a new role model.
JIM SHI

http://www.fashionweekdaily.com/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=429845

para Spain: yo tengo 23 anos, y no soy ni mexicana ni argentina, sino venezolana, alguna vez has venido. si no haz venido te invito a que lo hagas, es uno de los paises más hermosos del mundo, la gente es fabulosa, y a pesar de que un loco es el presidente, no todo es tan malo como aparece en las noticias a nivel mundial.

I agree only/me if my finance tells me that marriage doesn’t have to be for all time, then you have to go in that marriage with the reality that’s its not going to last and don’t be shocked when it does or not marry the guy to begin with, because lets face it when brad made that quote this was not a fairy tale marriage,this was an eventual out-it doesn’t sound romantic to me but a business arrangement,i’m not saying he didn’t love her but by him saying that she wasn’t the love of his life.

I can’t believe I am saying this, but I think I am really starting to like Lainey. Notice I only like, not love :-) I love JJ though :-)

Botswana’s Bushmen Ask Angelina Jolie For Help, June 2, 2006

Botswana’s Kalahari Bushmen are seeking the support of Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie in their fight to reclaim their ancestral lands, a London-based organisation supporting them said on Thursday.

Jolie — a United Nations Children’s Fund ambassador — is currently in neighbouring Namibia, having recently given birth to a daughter, Shiloh, her first child with fellow actor Brad Pitt.

“We have heard that you are very interested in human rights,” reads the open letter to Jolie from Bushman organisation First People of the Kalahari and released by Survival International. “The government is trying to destroy us and we are asking for your help in our battle to save our people.”

Survival International, which helps tribal people “defend their lives, protect their lands and determine their own futures”, has waged a 30-year campaign in support of the San Bushmen.

It maintains they were driven out of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve — one of the world’s largest sanctuaries — to make way for diamond mining, a claim the government has denied.

The government in the capital, Gaborone, has maintained that it resettled the Bushmen in villages where it could provide them with water and social amenities.

Writing before the birth, the Bushmen extended their “blessing and good luck” to Jolie on her pregnancy.

They added: “Those who remain inside the game reserve are not allowed to hunt and gather and have no access to water.

“The health situation is bad in the resettlement camps. Young people are getting HIV and are drinking. This is not the way of our people. The death rate is now high.”

About 240 San Bushmen have taken the Botswana government to court to secure the legal right to return to the reserve they have called home for the past 20 000 years.

Once numbering millions, roughly 100 000 San are left in Southern Africa, with almost half of those — 48 000 — in Botswana. Others are spread across Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. — Sapa-AFP

73
T&L Says:
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:38 pm - flag comment

Another Lainey account - this was posted on canada’s ctv website
________________________________________________________________

Thank you for bringing this over. I’m loving Lainey of late. I’ll probably go back to being wary of her soon enough though.

I’m glad angie will be taking a year off to rest and be with brad and the kids-between three movies to promote and her UN work , brad and the kids she won’t be too bored-ps you could also throw in a little baby pitt in there too-lol

Thanx again j@r3d for this new other thread! Hopefully there’ll be social gatherings including their entire fam in the near future!!!

Tom Ford Cannes Do
Brad Pitt dons designer’s new line for festival

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

(CANNES) Brad Pitt, famous as he is, seems consistently overshadowed by his loves, be they Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie—both of whom garner the lion’s share of paparazzi attention wherever they go.

Tom Ford is about to change all that.

While the relationship isn’t official like the one Reese Witherspoon enjoys with Olivier Theyskens for Nina Ricci, Ford, who recently launched a namesake men’s line and a Madison Avenue flagship to house it all, said he recently completed fittings with the actor in Los Angeles for his several public appearances at the Cannes Film Festival this week, which include the world premieres of A Mighty Heart and Ocean’s Thirteen. “Brad always looked too scruffy,” Ford said. “I wanted him to look chic, like a true movie star. Plus, he’s not a bad man to clean up.”

On Monday night, while Pitt’s paramour donned a vintage Pierre Balmain Haute Couture Chantilly lace cocktail dress she acquired at Decades, the actor appeared a new man clad in Ford’s made-to-measure black wool peak lapel three-piece tuxedo, which he wore with a white piquet plastron shirt, black velvet bow tie, and black patent leather shoes. The icing on the cake came in form of diamond studs and cufflinks, all from Ford’s collection, natch. This follows a press conference earlier in the day, where he wore a slightly more casual, albeit stunning, Tom Ford made-to-measure grey suit, shirt, shoes and cufflinks. “I never wear a tie during the day; it gives me headaches,” Ford said. Looks like Pitt found himself a new role model.
JIM SHI
—-
I knew it! only Tom Ford makes those tight ass suits.

Foregoing the ‘baggage’ talk…

Did anyone else watch the ET interview with George/Matt and Brad/Don? Major pi$$ing contest going, I must say.

The interview focused on the typical things: George, being the odd man out since he’s childless and woman-less. George referred to the rest of the guys as deserters. George added that Pitt had it the worst– being huddled down with kids and having to endure an ugly, ugly wife. ;)The interviewer asked if they were this generation’s Rat Pack; Don and Brad said no. Brad said that they don’t party nearly as much as the Rat Pack… with the exception of George.

And for those who are worried… Brad’s hair looked fine. ;)

(Credit fati)

http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct=us…&cid=1116500883

May 22, 2007

CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

For Angelina Jolie, her most difficult role

Because of her high regard for Mariane Pearl, the actress worried greatly about properly portraying her in ‘A Mighty Heart.’

By Kenneth Turan, Times Staff Writer

Cannes, France —

IF you believe the tabloid press, or even if you don’t, Angelina Jolie hasn’t lacked for experiences in her life. However, her relationship with Mariane Pearl, widow of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, brought her in contact with something completely new.

“It’s the first time,” the actress says, an indefinable expression crossing a face so striking it can be difficult to look at straight on, “I’ve had a friendship with a journalist.”

To have attended the afternoon news conference after the well-received screening of “A Mighty Heart,” the Michael Winterbottom-directed film about the Pearls’ story, is to glimpse why this is true. Bizarre even by Cannes’ elastic standards, the event featured an argument between journalists as to whether Pearl should answer in French or English as well as a public apology by another reporter for a question he’d asked Pearl in Pakistan in the aftermath of her husband’s death.

It is now several hours later and Jolie, whose forceful, immediate performance as Mariane Pearl is the heart of Winterbottom’s taut, involving film, is seated on the nearly deserted terrace of the Hotel du Cap, displaying the same level-headed focus and intelligence that enables her to survive the Cannes madness without a glove being laid on her.

Jolie’s friendship with Pearl, as it turns out, considerably predates the film. “Like most people in the world, I assumed Danny would be returned,” she remembers of Pearl’s 2002 kidnapping and execution in Pakistan. “When he wasn’t, I was moved by Mariane’s strength, I was shocked by it. To be able to speak about her love for that country, her thoughts about the other Pakistani men who lost their lives in the same period, I didn’t know where that came from. I didn’t think I could have done it.”

United by an interest in Buddhism and motherhood, the women scheduled “a play date” and a friendship began. When Pearl’s autobiographical book came out and Brad Pitt’s Plan B became the producer of the film, “when actor choices came up, it was Mariane who happened to mention me to him.” At that point, the future romantic companions “were just getting to know each other as friends.”

Because of this connection, Jolie (who said during the news conference that as late as “the night before shooting began, I didn’t know whether I could do it”) had great worries about the project.

“My fear,” she says, her hands playing with a small plastic water bottle, “was whether we could find any possible way to do this and make it feel close, make it feel real. If not it would be some melodrama, some woman’s story. We used to talk about the day Mariane hears about Danny’s death with the camera slowly coming in for a close-up. And I’d say, ‘I don’t see how this is going to work.’ ”

Because of these fears, Jolie considers “A Mighty Heart” “the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. To represent somebody you truly respect, who has a very strong public presence and a lot of private pain, to try to embody all the elements of her in the right way, so people would feel a connection, it was something I really worried about.

“To get this wrong …,” she concludes, almost shuddering as she remembers the possibility. “It was really horrible.”

That Pearl pronounced herself pleased with the result is in part because of the decision to hire Winterbottom, the British director whose previous films include “In This World” and “The Road to Guantanamo.” Winterbottom is known for an ability to bring the texture of reality to dramatic stories, and his rigorous sensibility enhances the film’s emotional content.

One of the curious places Pearl’s story connects with Jolie’s are the moments when both have had to deal with hoards of insistent journalists camping out at their front door. “It did feel familiar at moments,” Jolie admits a bit reluctantly, adding “my immediate thought was, ‘My God, I know what it’s like to go through that on an everyday basis, but I have no idea what it feels like to go through it when your husband has been taken or killed. And when you’ve never seen it before.’ ”

Asked about her methods of coping with the media madness that follows in her wake, Jolie gestures toward a small building on the hotel grounds. “Right behind you I’ve got four kids, and there it’s quiet, peaceful, it’s a lovely day,” she says. “I focus on all the luck I have, and nothing else matters. We [she and Pitt] have a very full life, they keep us well distracted. When you know the truth of your life, when you know the person you are, there is very little that can affect that.”

Though she was raised by her mother, also helping is Jolie’s experiences as the daughter of movie star Jon Voight. “I did know from an early age that a celebrity, an actor, is very much just a human being,” she says. “You shouldn’t believe the hype, you shouldn’t believe the criticism, you shouldn’t get lost in the hype. There were no rose-colored glasses.”

There are, in fact, even more connections between Jolie’s life and Mariane Pearl’s. The actress relates that one of the last scenes in “A Mighty Heart,” Mariane’s first TV interview after Daniel’s death, ended up being shot in the United States. “By some strange twist,” she says, “my mother passed away just before we shot that. It was such a great reminder of Mariane’s strength in that moment and how lucky I was to have had all those years with my mother.

“When I went on set, everyone was saying, ‘I’m so sorry for your loss’ to me, and then they were saying the same thing to me as Mariane in the scene. It was really strange.”