Angelina Jolie is lookin’ absolutely gorge on the cover of the December issue of British Harper’s Bazaar magazine which hits newsstands later this week in the UK … check it out:

Thus far, no portions of the interview nor any other photos from the mag’s photospread are available and it’s unclear when the coverphoto was shot. She does look pretty spectacular on this magazine cover (which is a far cry from some of her previous magazine covers which weren’t that flattering, IMHO) and I’m anxious to see more. In the meantime, this is a great tease. What do y’all think … doesn’t she look good?

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Here are a couple of ADORABLE pics of Jessica Alba walking hand-in-hand with her hot (and bearded) hubby Cash Warren as she toted her only begotten child Honor Marie all bundled snug in her baby carrier on the streets of NYC this weekend. You will note, much to y’all surprise I’m sure, that Jessica looks unmiserable, is smiling and actually looks … wait for it … happy — behold:

It’s a rare sight to see Jessica not scowling with misery and actually looking happy and contented with life. I guess even the usually glower-faced Jessica can’t hide the happiness brought into her life by her new husband and her baby girl all the time. These three really make a pretty family … and Honor Marie is already growing so big! Glad to see them lookin’ so happy … hopefully we’ll get to see more of it.

[Photo credit: INFdaily]

Joaquin Phoenix made headlines last week when he announced that he would be “retiring from acting” in order to focus on things like music and … er, other stuff. To be honest, I didn’t really believe his proclamations at first but have since changed my mind. After all, Phoenix took to the red carpet of the premiere of his new (and final) movie Two Lovers in LA on Saturday night with the words Bye! Good scrawled on his knuckles to drive home the point. I guess he’s serious, y’all:

The writing on Joaquin Phoenix’s fists said it all. The words “Good Bye” were penned on the actor’s knuckles at a premiere Saturday night for his latest film, “Two Lovers,” and Phoenix confirmed a surprise announcement he made last week: He’s giving up movies. “I think it’s just moving on. It’s rediscovering something else,” said Phoenix, 34, said in an interview with Associated Press Television News before Saturday’s American Film Institute festival, which also premiered “Che,” starring Benicio Del Toro. “Two Lovers” is his last film, he said. His publicist had disclosed Friday that the actor intended to focus on music. Phoenix first mentioned his decision to “Extra” early last week at a fundraiser in San Francisco. He abruptly ended that interview after the reporter wondered whether he was joking about giving up acting for music. Phoenix learned to play guitar and did his own singing to play country legend Johnny Cash in “Walk the Line,” which earned him an Academy Award nomination. His publicist also said Phoenix has been directing music videos in recent years. “It’s like greener pastures, you know what I mean?” Phoenix said Saturday. “And so, I’m just going to try and like, I’ll just be doing the other thing. … Hopefully, I will emotionally impact you with that, as well.”

I mean, you know a man is serious about what he says when he takes the time to write it out on his knuckles with a Sharpie marker. I gotta say … altho Joaquin can be a bit of an odd bird (as the writing on his knuckles betray) he is a pretty spectacular actor. I thought he gave an amazing performance in Walk the Line and generally like his films overall. I’m not sure homie will enjoy as much success with his music career as he has with his acting career but … stranger things have happened. All I have to say to Joaquin on his new endeavor is, Luck! Good.

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Ashlee Simpson, who has yet to give birth to the spawn of Pete Wentz, hosted a baby shower for her unborn child at the Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA yesterday afternoon. Big sis Jessica Simpson and her BFF/hair stylist Ken Paves (who was bleeding from his face the night before after getting bashed with a paparazzo’s camera) were among the guests who attended yesterday’s shower. Here are a couple pics of Jess and Ken’s arrival and of centerpieces and gifts being delivered to the hotel:

Here is a report from Life & Style magazine that was published before yesterday’s shower: The race is on to get Ashlee Simpson set up with all the things the mom-to-be will need for the imminent arrival of her baby. In fact, “she’s having a last-minute baby shower tomorrow,” an insider tells Life & Style. “The location is top secret. They’ll send out an e-mail to all invited guests early Saturday morning. Ashlee was eyeing the Bel-Air hotel in LA — but no one will know exactly until tomorrow morning. “This could be the last chance for everyone to see Ashlee before she becomes a mom,” the insider says. As husband Pete Wentz told Ryan Seacrest recently: “I am on call permanently right now. She’s at the very end, and it could happen at any point.”

Indeed, it seems as if Ashlee has been pregs for ages now … but I guess it always seems that way at the end of a celebrity pregnancy. Gwen Stefani seemed to carry little Zuma Nesta Rock for a few years before she finally unloaded him in August. I was pretty confident that Ashlee and Pete would be welcoming their baby on All Hallow’s Eve as would be befitting such a child born of indie/goth/emo genes. I guess at this point we’ll have to hope for the child’s coming to occur by turkey day.

[Photo credit: X17; Source]

The NBC series Heroes is in desperate need of a savior these days. After becoming the break-out hit series when it premiered a couple of years ago, Heroes suffered a few set-backs due in large part to the dreaded Writer’s Strike that plagued Hollywood last TV season. Some shows fell apart and were canceled as a result and some, like Heroes, managed to rally and survive to see another season on the air. Unfortch for Heroes, tho, the series hasn’t managed to regain any of its glory (or it’s huge ratings) since the third season debuted this Fall and, as a result, someone had to pay. Much like it did for Lost back when that show started to suck, Entertainment Weekly published an article dissecting all the things wrong with Heroes that may be keeping viewers away (offering 5 Ways to Fix a Series in Crisis) … one week after that article was published, Variety reports that co-executive producers (and writers) Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb have been axed from the show:

Big shakeup on the staff of NBC’s “Heroes” came down on Sunday with the axing of co-exec producers Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb. Both scribe-producers had been with the show since its first season and were known to have led the day-to-day production operation under the direction of creator/exec producer Tim Kring. “Heroes,” produced by Universal Media Studios, has struggled in the ratings its third season. It’s understood that Alexander and Loeb were let go because of Peacock execs’ frustration with the creative direction of the show. The show is also said to have been grappling with hefty budget overruns this season, that are going well beyond its already sizable $4 million per-seg pricetag. Reps for NBC and UMS declined comment.

EW.com adds:

Their departure comes at a watershed moment for Heroes, which has taken a serious hit in the ratings amid complaints by critics and fans alike that the show has lost its zeitgeist-tapping appeal. The drama is averaging 9 million-plus viewers this season, down from last year’s 11.6 million average.

Yeah, when a TV series starts to sag in this manner, someone has to pay the price … it looks like the folks calling the shots on Heroes decided to start at the top. I have to admit, my interest level in the series has waned since the show struggled to survive the Writer’s Strike. The storylines have gotten far too complex and there are way too many Heroes running around doing whatever it is that they are doing for me to be able to focus on the larger storyline. All of our fave Heroes are so diluted in all the extraneous new characters that keep getting introduced and keep confusing the storyline that I’m not all that invested anymore in caring for any particular Heroes. I’m not sure if firing the show’s two top producers/writers is gonna save the show but it’s a bold move nonetheless. I’d be all for trimming away some of the newer Heroes and focusing more on the faves. We’ll have to see what effect this shake-up will have on the series in the long run. If they do it right, Heroes can rebound just like Lost did. And let this be a lesson to Hollywood … when Entertainment Weekly talks, y’all better listen.

So … are any of y’all still watching Heroes? Do y’all think that this shake-up will help the show?

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Yesterday we saw a couple of pics of Ryan Reynolds as he was running in the famed New York Marathon and today we get to see his hotness just as he crossed the finish line — he managed to finish the marathon race in 3 hours and 50 minutes. Amazingly, Ryan was up for talking to reporters after his grueling run and gave much moral support credit to Michael J. Fox who he saw in the crowd cheering him on (Ryan ran for Team Fox which used the marathon to raise funds for Parkinson’s Disease research):

Mission accomplished! Ryan Reynolds completed the ING New York City Marathon on Sunday – and lived to tell about it. “I’m still standing. I’m very excited about that,” he told reporters after crossing the finish line in 3 hours and 50 minutes, faster than he anticipated. “It was an incredible experience.” Reynolds says in the last leg of the race, he was motivated to keep going by one special spectator. “When I saw Michael J. Fox on Fifth Avenue, I gained about 15 pounds in goose bumps,” said Reynolds. “It kind of pushed me through the last six miles or so.” Reynolds ran for Team Fox in honor of his father, Jim Reynolds, who has suffered from Parkinson’s Disease for the past 15 years. “[During the race] I thought a lot about my father and Michael and the 500,000 other people afflicted with this awful disease in the United States alone. I ran for those who can’t,” Reynolds told PEOPLE. Reynolds’s mother Tammy and brother Terry greeted him with hugs at the finish line in Central Park.

The New York Daily News managed to video their interview with Ryan Reynolds (and others) at the marathon finish line. After the jump, check it out …

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Now that little Zuma Nesta Rock has been let out of seclusion and has been introduced to the world, it appears that the little kid is everywhere these days. Gwen Stefani took her sons Kingston James and Zuma Nesta out for an afternoon in the park yesterday in plain sight of anyone who happened to be there. With all these very public outings of late (you may recall that Gwen took Zuma to the Beverly Hills Public Library last week before she posted an official photo of the little man on the No Doubt official website) it would seem that mama Gwen is taking great pains to get her newborn son as much attention as possible after keeping him hidden away for the couple of months after his birth. Here are a few pics of Zuma and his mama in a Beverly Hills park yesterday afternoon:

It was a bit cool here in SoCal yesterday so the crocheted baby jumpsuit was a wise decision. This baby is so cute … while Kingston look more like daddy Gavin Rossdale (I think), Zuma looks like his mother Gwen. It seems pretty clear that Gwen is no longer interested in keeping her youngest child sequestered from public view any longer … I suppose once the Zuma has been let out of the bottle (of the the genie variety not the liquor variety — altho Zuma does still remind me of Zima) there’s no putting him back in. I suspect that Zuma will become a mainstay from here on out. I, for one, am glad to have him.

[Photo credit: X17]