Angelina locked Brad out --??!! Actually...

Angelina locked Brad out??!! What was she thinking?! Actually --

He locked himself out. Of the house, that it. Now, when you and I do this, we can always resort the the key hidden under the third geranium from the left, just behind the Japanese lamp, where the drainpipe's got that big rusty spot ... but then again, you and I don't live in Castle Brangelina, where the security makes Fort Knox look like Free Ticket Day at the Megaplex...


Here's the story: BRAD PITT Star locked out of own home, which popped up on Bild.com (in English, not German -- you're safe).

I'll tell you one thing: it's nice ... comforting, reassuring ... to know that Brad can still have the same kind of problems as mortals. I mean, memory lapses -- forget your remote control to get through the security system! (Razor wire, guard dogs, searchlights, electrified fences, robotized veloceraptors...) I feel a little bit better about being mortal now!

Captain Jack and #11 ... John Barrowman meets Matt Smith

As everyone in this timeline has to know by now, David Tennant is turning in his Tardis keys at the end of the current season ... which means the Doctor is about to regenerate.

Is anyone out there old enough (come on, now, hands up, people: have courage!) to remember when Doctor #1 regenerated into #2?! Bill Hartnell turned into Pat Troughton. What, no takers??

Yo. My hand is going up. Fact is, there were some very good reasons to be there in the 1960s ... not that I had much choice about it, of course. My parents had made the decision ... or were taken by surprise. (When I appeared, it was probably more of a shock. I know: SHUT UP, AG, AND GET BACK TO JOHN BARROWMAN!!)


There's a very, very cute story running on The Daily Record right now. Let me quote you a little bit of it, and then you can click on over and read the whole thing (don't forget to come back here when you're done -- the eye candy is up later...)

JOHN BARROWMAN feels like he's cheated on David Tennant after meeting the new Doctor Who, Matt Smith.

Glaswegian-born John, 41, who plays Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood, has become friends with fellow Scot David, who is quitting as the 10th Doctor at the end of the year.

But John, who is gay, hadn't met Matt until five minutes before our interview, and was clearly a bit giddy at the chance encounter.

He laughed: "I feel like I've had an affair against David because I've met the new guy. I liked him but, David, my heart is always with you."

John was in the BBC's London HQ to chat to me about his new variety show, Tonight's The Night, and met Matt in the press office.

John said: "He walked right past me and he and I sat and had a chat. He's got some big shoes to fill when David leaves, but he'll bring his own spin to Doctor Who.

"He's very handsome, very quirky but striking. I think he'll do very well."

There's a really good article following on from this, and here's your link: Exclusive: David Tennant is the best Doctor Who for me, says John Barrowman ... nice one!

And now, the aforementioned pictures, which is what you're here for anyway, right? Right. Here goes:





Woah! Nice one. Verrrrry nice one. Scots rock. (And I oughtta know, being one...)

So who's Matt Smith, and what's in store for us when he and Jack get onto the samde soudstage?? Click here to take a sneak peak...!

Cold steel: Iron Man and other armored legends

Last couple of days, I've been re-reading some of the NARC books (which are my favorite gay SF of all time), and I got to thinking ... woah, if there was a NARC movie. I mean, it might never happen, but if it did, a team of designers would be working for six months to visualize, blueprint, and build, the NARC armor, right? What a blast it would be ... even trying to imaging the armor from these books is a thrill. Anyway --

Anyway -- all this got me thinking about Iron Man, and other armored heroes in the movies. Green Goblin (from Spiderman), Batman, and so on. And -- do you have about four minutes to spare? Because I found this roundup of armored heroes in the movies, and around the three minute mark, there's a great sequence showing how they got Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) into the suit. This is loads of fun:



Note to self: got to watch Iron Man tonight. One of my all-time favorites. What I loved about the movie was not just the fantastic effects -- and the armor! -- but also, Tony Stark is such a real human being, you believed him completely.

Orlando Bloom: sympathy for Australia, too

If you thought you recognized Orlando Bloom on TV downunder the other day ... you were right. He's been in Aus to spend Valentine's Day with his partner (fiancee??) Miranda Kerr, but celebs across the board were swept up into the Australia Unites telethon, raising funds for the victims of the Victorian Bushfires.

Here's a bit more on the event: Orlando Bloom joins Miranda Kerr for Australia Unites telethon ... and it was a great success. About twenty million in AUD was raised.

Orlie's new movie is called Sympathy for Delicious -- about a paralysed DJ who investigates the realms of faith healing and "gets more than he bargained for." This one's got me interested -- and, in it, he looks like this:

You have to admit, this one has big possibilities! Something different, new and a change for an actor who's done more historicals than any other actor since Charlton Heston and Stewart Granger! Nice one.

Just a couple more pictures, then -- can I twist your arm here? What's that? "Stop being a berk, AG and post the pictures?!" Message received and understood. Urk. So:

Orlando Bloom: headed back to Australia in '09!

It's official, folks: Orlando Bloom has signed up, along with French actor Vincent Cassel, to shoot a movie downunder.

He'll be arriving here in June or July, and the movie shoots in July. The project is called The Cross, and is being described as "a sci-fi escape story." It's shooting on a $24m budget, so it's on a little bit of a shoestring by today's standards ... good idea to film it downunder -- it's cheaper here!

This makes a break -- could be a welcome one?? -- for Orlando, who's done three of the most enormous fantasy movies, and then another five or six historicals that I can think of, and a small number of contemporary films that didn't go down too well. (I really liked Elizabethtown ... I caught on to its loopy sense of humor and laughed my a$$ off, but apparently some people just didn't see the joke. Well -- their loss.)

Am I right, is The Cross the first big Hollywood picture to be filmed down here since Nicholas Cage in Ghostrider?

Here's just about all that's known about the movie at this time: Orlando Bloom to star in 'The Cross' ... that story ran about a week ago, but at the time I saw a few pages that put a big question mark against Orlie's name -- would he be in it, wouldn't he? Seems, he will!

It'll be the first time he's been down here in Aus since making Ned Kelly with Heath Ledger ... and it's interesting that Vincent Cassel has an odd kind of connection: he starred in Eastern Promises with Viggo Mortensen, who starred with Orlie in Lord of the Rings. Full circle. Nice.

Now, how about some eye candy, thanks very much! Here goes:




Want more? Come back tomorrow! There's plenty of candy for the senses -- and a lot to talk about...

Going postal!

Australia Post has come up with a novel way to take the boredom out of a trip to the post office. You get to give Cate Blanchett, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman and Geoffrey Rush a good licking ... well, stamps featuring them, anyway! They're appearing on the new 55c stamps, which will pay postage on a domestic letter, anywhere in the country:

Cool set of stamps. Now, you would think that one could at least issue a set of stamps, for heaven's sake, without rubbing someone, somewhere the wrong way ... but you'd be miles away from the truth. Something is apparently wrong with the above lineup.

Let's see. Both the women are blonde, there's a prejudice against brunettes? Um ... all four are European, there should have been at least one black Australian? Uh ... all four have hair; at least one ought to have been bald? Ah -- I have it.

One of them isn't actually an Australian. Russell Crowe is a Kiwki by birth, related to the famous Crowe family of international cricketers, who've played for the Black Caps. Right?

Right. Now, Russell's New Zealand origins don't bother Aussies; but --

The decision by Australia Post to include Russell Crowe in a special series of stamps to mark Australia Day has rubbed New Zealanders the wrong way. Some Kiwis - already cranky about Phar Lap and Pavlova - believe it is another case of Australians claiming what is not rightfully theirs. Now Australia Post has added salt to the wound, naming Russell Crowe an "Australian legend" and putting his picture on a special Australia Day stamp. The colourful and at times controversial Crowe was actually born in Wellington and went to school in Auckland. He became an Australian citizen in 2006, but this doesn't seem to faze the Kiwis, who say Australia can keep Nicole and Cate but can't have Russell. (Kiwis cranky over 'Australian' Russell Crowe stamp).

In fact, you'd be surprised by the people who'll go down in history as Aussies, but are really Kiwis. Like Sam Neill and Karl Urban ... and Russell Crowe!

Top o' the A-List and loving it!

So, who's the top-paid actor in Hollywood today? Brad, or maybe George?

No surprise here: it's Will Smith, who earned more than US$80m in, uh, a short time. Here's the stats, from Sky News:

The Hancock star earned $82.4 million dollars between June 2007 and June this year - to lead the magazine's poll of rich celebrities.

Smith was followed on the Forbes list by Johnny Depp with $72 million dollars.
Smith's recent science-fiction film I Am Legend took $76.5 million in its opening weekend, recording the biggest December opening of all time.

And after the chart-topping success of Smith's current hit Hancock, he has become the first actor ever to have eight consecutive films earn more than $100 million at the box office.

(See the whole feature: Will Smith tops Hollywood's Rich list.)


Meanwhile, talks are underway for a sequel to TOP GUN ... but apparently Tom Cruise won't by at the controls. At the time of this typing, I can't say that I know why, but I'll find out and tell you what I hear!