Check out these great portraits from the New York Times, their “photographic portfolio of the actors and actresses who defined excellence in the past year.” Celebrities featured include:

• Christian Bale, The Prestige
• Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
• Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
• Ken Watanabe, Letters form Iwo Jima
• Cate Blanchett, Babel & Notes on a Scandal
• Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed & Blood Diamond
• Brad Pitt, Babel
• Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat
• Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
• Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
• Annette Benning, Running with Scissors
• Vin Diesel, Find Me Guilty
• Eddie Murphy, Norbit
• Ivana Baquero, Pan’s Labyrinth
• Maggie Cheung, Clean
• Peter O’Toole, Venus
• Helen Mirren, The Queen
• Abbie Cornish, Somersault
• Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
• Gael Garcia Bernal, The Science of Sleep
• Paul Dano, Little Miss Sunshine
• Penelope Cruz, Volver

You can check out the rest of the New York Times portraits here.

More Here! »

Fictional Kazakh journalist Borat, the creation of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, recently topped GQ magazine’s annual list of top 100 most powerful men in Britain. The character is ranked 19th on the list, just one place behind Prince William.

Following lawsuits from Southern conservatives, frat boys, Romanian villagers and seemingly every other group in the “U.S. and A.,” Sacha Baron Cohen could be facing even more legal difficulties. This time his accuser is an Israeli comedian who claims that Borat’s signature exclamation of excitement — “Wa wa wee wa” — belongs to him.

Pictured: Sacha Baron Cohen and fiancee Isla Fisher traveling through UK’s Heathrow Airport yesterday afternoon. Sacha, 35, and Isla, 30, started dating in 2002 and became engaged in 2004.

You can tack Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and Sacha Baron Cohen to the list of Barbara Walters‘ 10 Most Fascinating People of 2006. Barbara just shared them on The View this morning.

Seven of the 10 names that were previously released: Vogue Editor in Chief Anna Wintour, hip hop mogul Jay-Z, newly retired tennis legend Andre Agassi, John Ramsey, televangelist Joel Osteen, Steve Irwin’s widow, Terri Irwin, and Patrick Dempsey.

Well, if you did your match correctly, you may be thinking, “Babs is mad, that’s 10 already!” Well, since they are family in almost every sense of the word, Brad and Angelina were clumped as “one unit.” The Number One Most Fascinating Person of 2006 will still be announced on the program, which airs tomorrow night, Dec. 12 @ 10PM ET/PT on ABC. Check out the video montage below of the Top 9 out of 10 Most Fascinating People of 2006. Here’s a little preview:

Babs asks Jay-Z, “Do you think you’re the best rapper there is?” His response: “Of course!”

The Angelina Jolie teaser seems to be an old one, but she shares, “I remember one of the most upsetting times in my life. I thought, ‘I have everything that they say you should have to be happy. And I’m not happy.’”

• Everyone Look at Lindsay Lohan and Her Hand Cuffs
• Jessica Simpson Filming “Blonde Ambition”
• Tom Cruise Wore a Girdle On His Wedding Day
• Derek Jeter and Jessica Biel Still Hooking Up
• Rihanna Is Well Padded
• Borat Broke Up Pam and Kid
• Bruce Willis Demands Rootbeer!
• Noooooo! I Wish I Had a PS3! Lifetime Supply of Taco Bell!!!!!
• Style Insider: Brad Pitt in Cuffs

• Justin Timberlake will be hosting Saturday Night Live again on Dec. 16 as host and musical guest.
• A rep for Britney Spears is shooting down rumors that the pop star has missed recent recording sessions because of her late night partying with new pal Paris Hilton.
• According to a London newspaper, Jennifer Aniston is considering an appearance on Dancing with the Stars. “Jen thinks it would be a laugh,” a friend of the actress told the paper.
• Prince Lorenzo Borghese chose Florida teacher Jennifer Wilson, 24, over 23-year-old L.A. publicist Sadie Murray on the finale of The Bachelor: Rome.

• Jessica Alba’s Stunt Double Looks The Part
• Divorce Settlement Makes Ryan Phillippe a Rich Man
• Adriana Lima Is Out Of My League… And Yours Too!
• MGM Gives Tom Cruise A New Toy
• Paris Hilton Still Has Her Crazy Eye on You
• The Stars Shine For Bobby
• The Reason Behind Victoria Beckham’s Hair Loss
• Ivanka Trump and Topher Grace? Really?
• How Tom Cruise Protected Nicole Kidman
• Tom & Katie’s Romantic Steak Dinner Date

• Courtney Love, who has been sober for 15 months, says Mel Gibson helped her get sober. According to Courtney, Mel and addiction counselor Warren Boyd showed up at a Beverly Hills hotel room while she was doing drugs with several men. Mel drew the men in Courtney’s crew away while Boyd stayed behind to stage an intervention, said Courtney in an interview with Diane Sawyer that aired Tuesday on Good Morning America.
• Catherine Zeta-Jones’s new skinny look shocked onlookers at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards in Manhattan on Monday, according to the New York Post. “She’s gone from a 14 to a 10 virtually overnight,” one witness said.
• Donald Trump is at odds with a Florida town over the rights to fly a gigantic American flag atop an 80-foot flagpole at one of his resorts.
• Borat has been banned in Kazakhstan. The Asian nation’s movie theaters will probably not show comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s film, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, the Kazah foreign minister said, adding that he did not find the film funny.
• Janet Jackson, Fergie, and The Killers will be performing at The 2006 Billboard Music Awards held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena Monday, airing Dec. 4 @ 8PMET on FOX. Celine Dion, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Katharine McPhee, and Chris Daughtry are set to make guest appearances.
• Don’t miss The O.C. tonight, guys! It’s a great episode –
• Just Jared was nominated for “Most Gay Friendly” in the 2006 Gay Bloggies. Hey, I’ll take it. Vote for me!

• Heidi Klum and Alyssa Milano Close Off Halloween
• Jessica Simpson is a Hungry Hungry Hippo
• Doogie Howser Is Not Of That Persuasion
• Jessica Alba Chills in Vancouver
• Christina Aguilera is Halloween’s Corpse Bride
• More Murders on Wisteria Lane
• Cameron Diaz Justified With $30 Million Lawsuit?
• Jared Leto Keywords: Talentless Loser
• Borat: Kazakh’s Love Mel, Hate Syphilis
• Sacha Baron Cohen wants to write a book based on his Borat character but publishers are concerned that major stores won’t sell it because of the 100 racy Polariods Cohen wants to include that depict actresses as Kazakh women various states of undress. Oh, Borat, how funny are you.
• Daytime-TV icon Bob Barker has announced he is retiring in June after 50 years on TV, 35 of which were spent hosting The Price Is Right. “I will be 83 years old on December 12, and I’ve decided to retire while I’m still young.”
• Several news reports say that Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe split because Ryan was cheating on her with Australian actress Abbie Cornish. Reese supposedly found an incriminating email exchange between Ryan and Abbie on his BlackBerry while she was in New York to attend Ryan’s premiere of Flags of Our Fathers.

BLOG STATUS :: Thank you to all you lovely readers for your patience. I’m so sorry for the state that my blog is in. It’s quite unacceptable. Basically all of the galleries have been stripped down and posting has been infrequent in order to keep up a semi-working site. We’re currently in the process of moving to a much better (and more stable) blogging platform. So, stay tuned! (:

WA WA WEE WA WA! Borat make real-life sexy time to fiancee!!!

British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen (best known playing Borat, an offensive Kazakhstan TV journalist) was spotted at Heathrow airport from L.A. to attend the premiere of his new film, Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Great Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan. Sacha, 35, arrived hand in hand with his uber cute fiancee Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers). It pays to be funny! Borat comes out next Friday, Nov. 3! GO SEE IT!

Isla on her man’s upcoming film: “My favorite part of the film was the naked male wrestling. I want the world to be jealous of my man.”

Asked if he ever heard of the Isla Fisher, Sacha said, “‘No … she look like a child.” HAHAHA. More pictures in the gallery!