An Interveiw Angelina Jolie on Brad Pitt

Angelina Jolie has a new interview with The Telegraph (UK). Here are some highlights:

Angelina on being told that Johnny Depp considers she and Brad the “Taylor-Burton” couple currently: Jolie smiles when I pass on Depp’s observation. ‘Did he really say that?’ I can’t tell if she’s pleased or not. ‘Well, I’ll take it as a compliment. When we made The Tourist we hung out constantly, although we were boring and just had play dates with the kids. Jack and Maddox played the computer the whole time.’

On Cleopatra project:It has been very misunderstood,’ Jolie Told me. ‘I thought it was all about the glamor, but then I read about her and she was a very strong mother, she spoke five languages and she was a leader.’ She is very glamorous, but she wasn’t so beautiful.’

Subject of marriage: ‘We are obviously extremely committed to the children and as parents together,’ is all she will say on the subject. That and that she ‘loves France. I can’t move about Paris as much as I’d like to but the children go out with other people sometimes so that they can have the experience.’

On child-rearing: ‘When Brad and I decided to have a large family we decided we’d only do it if we could be really hands-on and take the kids with us, seeing them every day,’ says Jolie. I am not able to give more time to our kid's because of my business. In this case dad of the kid's pass a more time for them. He is more helpful she replied.

On motorcycles: ‘I have an MV Augusta,’ she says. ‘But Brad is the real rider. He’s really good.’ She also flies a plane. ‘But that said, I love being a woman. I love that I can have children. I love feeling soft, I love being with Brad, always want to remain with beauty of nature.

More about Brad: ‘I am very lucky with Brad,’ she goes on. ‘He is a real gentleman, but he is also a real man’s man. He’s got the wonderful balance of being an extraordinary, great, loving father, a very, very intelligent man and physically he’s a real man,’ she says, i am very happy with him.

On her mother’s death: My mum was my role model. People called her Marshmallow because she was so soft and cool. But also she was so strong of heart and fiercely protective of her kids. Her integrity was unbreakable. The world couldn’t darken her. And now my daughters are very strong, like she was.

About the future: Once Kung Fu Panda 2 is released she’ll work on the distribution of her Bosnian War love story and begin developing a film about Churchill and Roosevelt . This summer she’ll also star in the new Louis Vuitton advertising campaign, at about the same time as beginning pre-production on Cleopatra. ‘I love my job and I love my family,’ she concludes. ‘But I’m not 20 anymore and I’m going to want to do a lot of other things with my life. At some point I will slow down.’ Just not yet. I want to remain with media. also want more and more love of people.

Snooki Is In Police Custody Again In Italy

It is reported that Nicole 'Snooki' Polizzi has been arrested and taken into police custody in Italy, after hitting a police car in the city of Florence. According to TMZ, the reality star was driving around the city of Florence when she rammed into a local cop car, wedging her and co-star Deena Cortese in the vehicle.

A source tells TMZ that "zero alcohol was involved," and nobody injured. Witnesses said Cortese had to climb out the window of the car Snooki was driving, as it was stuck between a highway security wall and the cop car. Sources also tell TMZ that although Snooki has been taken into custody it is not a formal arrest. She is also okay.

It is not first time for Snooki to break the law. Last July she was arrested in Seaside Heights, New Jersey for disorderly conduct while filming season two of the hit series. She and her cast mates are currently filming the fourth season in Florence, Italy.

Sean Kingston is now in ICU after watercraft crash

Hip-hop singer Sean Kingston is now in intensive care unit at a hospital after crashing his watercraft into a Miami Beach bridge, his official said Monday.The official , Joseph Carozza, said Kingston's family is grateful for everyone's prayers. They are also grateful for every one's support.

Kingston and a female passenger were injured when the watercraft hit the Palm Island Bridge around 6 p.m. Sunday, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Jorge Pino said.

The Miami Herald reports that a passing boater saw the accident and took the two on board his vessel.Both were hospitalized early Monday at Ryder Trauma Center, but Pino said he didn't know their conditions. May be he is vastly injured.

Authorities are investigating the crash, and "nothing at this point would indicate that alcohol played a role," Pino said.

Kingston rose to fame with his 2007 hit "Beautiful Girls" and was also featured on songs by artists including Justin Bieber. His self-titled debut album sold over 1 million copies worldwide.

On Twitter, Bieber posted a message of support for Kingston."Got my friend Sean Kingston in my prayers tonight," Bieber tweeted early Monday. "A true friend and big bro. Please keep him in your prayers tonight as well."

A number of hip-hop musicians were in Miami Beach over the weekend for Urban Beach Week.

"It's Sean Kingston genre. I have my own genre," Kingston told the AP at the time. "No disrespect to no artist or dudes out there. I feel like I am my own person. I am doing my own thing." He requests everyone to respect other.

His music has been unique among hip-hop offerings, as Kingston refused to use profanity.

So, we should pray for him and do something for support.

Shakira and boyfriend Gerard Pique's Kissing

All of Shakira's fan have got a great opportunity to enjoy a glamorous moment when she's boyfriend invited to dance with her in stage.

The Colombian singer, 34, was performing a show in Gerard Pique's native Barcelona when she stopped for a interlude featuring the defender and a group of his team mates. And the routine ended with Gerard wrapping his arms around his girlfriend, ten years his senior, in front of her audience at the Lluis Campanys Olympic Stadium.


Her boyfriend was first to get the call up, giving his girlfriend a kiss and a warm embrace as he stepped onto the stage and that was amazing.

Then, to a rousing response from the crowd, Shakira then called up players including Xavi, Bojan Krkić and Sergio Busquets, and got them to line up on stage.


They would have been in jubilant mood having celebrated Saturday's win over Manchester United by parading the Champions League cup through Barcelona earlier in the day.

The slightly awkward dance lesson then began with the pop star standing in front of the football stars and shaking her rear in signature Shakira style while the embarrassed looking players attempted to copy her. 'Follow me, it's very easy', she told them, as she swung her hips from side to side wearing a gold mesh top, lycra leggings and a pair of knee-high boots.


Finally she asked the females in the audience 'Do you ladies want more?', to a fevered response.

So the players gave it one last try before calling it quits.

Pique then gave his girlfriend another big hug before back from stage, wrapping his arms around her from behind this time, and the footballers returned to their place in the front row. At which point Busquets fell down clutching his face.

Everybody clapped at them.

Sandra Bullock's New House

Sandra Bullock is doing the single-mom thing in style. Gothic-Victorian style, that is.

The Oscar winner is spending her time these days getting settled in the New Orleans mansion that she and future-ex Jesse James scooped up last summer for about $2.25 million, in which she will now live in with her adopted son, Louis and some of her official members.

And while invitations into Bullock's inner circle aren't forthcoming for anyone right now, we've got pictures of the star's private, private property right here.

She brought the luxerious house by $2.25 million. it covverd 4.1 acr space including eight bathroom, four garrige, a library a officeroom and a sweemingpool.

She can enjoy from the sunset sea pacific on Loss Angeles easily.

Musician Gil Scott-Heron is no more

Musician Gil Scott-Heron, who was a brilliant musician by politcal impressinal music and poetry, died Friday at the age of 62.

A friend, Doris C. Nolan, who answered the telephone listed for his Manhattan recording company, said he died in the afternoon at St. Luke's Hospital after becoming sick upon returning from a trip to Europe."We're all sort of shattered," she said.

Scott-Heron was known for work that reflected the fury of black America in the post-civil rights era and also spoke to the social and political disparities in the country. His songs often had incendiary titles — "Home is Where the Hatred Is," or "Whitey on the Moon," and through spoken word and song, he tapped the frustration of the masses. He did more for black Americans.

Yet much of his life was also defined by his battle with crack cocaine, which also led to time in jail. In a 2008 interview with New York magazine, he said he had been living with HIV for years, but he still continued to perform and put out music; his last album, which came out this year, was a collaboration with artist Jamie xx, "We're Still Here," a reworking of Scott-Heron's acclaimed "I'm New Here," which was released in 2010. He was a regular smoker.

Throughout his musical career, he took on political issues of his time, including apartheid in South Africa and nuclear arms. He had been shaped by the politics of the 1960s and black literature, especially the Harlem Renaissance.

He was born in Chicago on April 1, 1949. He was raised in Jackson, Tenn and in New York before attending college at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.

Before turning to music, he was a novelist, at age 19, with the publication of "The Vulture," a murder mystery.

He also was the author of "The Nigger Factory," a social satire.

Shakira wants to record an Arabic language song album

Shakira has replied that she would like to record an album of Arabic-language songs.

Recording a full-length LP in Arabic would prove to be a "challenge" because she doesn't speak the language, but she is expecting that, although that is very much tough but that will not impossible. Thsre are many example like this case.

"It would be a challenge to do an album in Arabic. I would first have to learn Arabic," the Colombian musician, who has scored eight US top 40 singles, claimed.

"I am completely open to that experience At some point I would love that to happen in my life."

She knows only a phrase ''attinee bossa'' which means a request for kissing, She jocked.

Now she is in tour in Spanish cities Valencia on Monday and Almeria on Wednesday, before moving on to Madrid and Bilbao later in the week.

Oprah Winfrey's interval

VETERAN talk show queen Oprah Winfrey's final show is set to broadcast on wednesday, after 25 years.

She is regarded as one of the most influential women on television, recorded the emotional final farewell in Chicago on Tuesday.

The talk show host will appear alone on stage, talking to viewers and telling them how much they have meant to her during the 25-year run.

Fan's leaving the recording of the last show said Winfrey, cccause there support is the main causes of my popularity.

She said: "This isn't final''. This is until we meet again," said Amy Korin, 32, who was in the audience.

She kept saying, "We did it! We did it!" and giving her staff members high-fives, Korin said.

The finale follows a double-episode extravaganza at Chicago's United Centre, which starred some of Hollywood's finest A-list celebrities such as, Aretha Franklin, Madonna and Stevie Wonder.

The star become the wealthiest black woman in the world, announced back in November 2009 that she would be ending her popular chat show.

At the time, she promised viewers she would use the final season to "knock your socks off."

On the 25th and final season premiere Winfrey was filmed on stage dancing with John Travolta and told everyone in the audience they would be going to Australia.

Other season highlights included interviews with President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, former President George W. Bush and the late Michael Jackson's family.

In January of this year, the icon launched her own Oprah Winfrey Network, which is set to offer lifestyle programmes.

Now there is a question that, what is the way by which Oprah doing her intervl now?

Ana Ortiz is adding to the family a new child

Ugly Betty actress Ana Ortiz and husband Noah Lebezon are expecting their second child coming soon .

Ortiz, 40, tells Latina.com she knows the baby's sex. "It's a boy!"

She and musician Lebezon are already proud parents to a little girl, Paloma, who turns two in June. Now, as Ortiz begins shooting a multi-episode arc on HBO show Hung, the two are "are trying to come up with some names that we can agree on" for their son-to-be.

They are looking for a name for coming babies.

Debut of Angelina as a film director

At last!

Angelina Jolie's highly-anticipated directing in film debut now has a title and a release date.

The controversial film, which centers around the romance between a Serbian man and Bosnian woman during the Balkans conflict that took the lives of 100,000 people, has been titled In The Land of Blood and Honey and will be released on December 23 in the US.
A statement by Angelina Jolie about film:

"It illustrates the consequences of the lack of political will to intervene in a society stricken with conflict. The film is specific to the Bosnian War, but it's also universal. I wanted to tell a story of how human relationships and behavior are deeply affected by living in side a war.

The former Yugoslavia has a rich history of dramatic arts. The cast was extraordinary.I was privileged and honored to work with them and I am very excited for everyone to see their immense talent."

This has been such an interesting project. Let's hope it really does have a proper portrayal of the Bosnian War. We're definitely looking forward to checking out how she does as a director.

Now it is the main matter that how people accept it.

'Fast Five' director ready for a sixth edition

With Fast Five taking close to $84 million on its opening weekend, director Justin Lin is clearly confident we're going to see a sixth edition of the fast-paced movie series.

The Vin Diesel and The Rock-led box office domination has ensured that news.

"After this big weekend, we're going forward," Lin tells USA TODAY. "It's pretty much 100 percent. It's going to happen."Because we are more influenced for the publicity of last five edition.

With Fast Five not only winning over audiences, and a number of critics who believe this is the best film in the series,He believes the franchise has new life.

"At five, we're just hitting our stride," he says "We're growing. People want to continue this journey."

While this movie highlighted the highs and lows of Rio de Janeiro, we can be assured the international car-loving crew will be moving to a new locale.

"We'll be going elsewhere," he says.

But first the movie will continue world domination by opening in Taiwan, where Lin spoke by telephone, and China in the next two weeks.

We think, that will also be accepted by the total world people.

How Julia Roberts watched the royal wedding of London

On Friday, 22.8 million Americans watched the royal wedding on TV, and Julia Roberts and Hillary Clinton are proud to say that they were among them.

For Roberts, the historic nuptials doubled as bonding time at home with her 6-year-old daughter.

"I sat with Hazel in my lap watching it," the Oscar winner told Time magazine in a joint interview with Clinton. The two have joined forces to promote the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, which brings home-cooking solutions to developing countries.

Roberts, no stranger to onscreen weddings reveled in watching someone else's big day. "It was very exciting," she said of Prince William and Catherine Middleton's nuptials.

Even Secretary of State Clinton found time in her busy schedule to tune in to the wedding, which was also something of a family affair.

"I was on e-mail with my daughter and my 92-year-old mother lives with us," she said, "so the three generations of women in my family were watching the royal wedding." and that was more exiting.

But for Clinton, the glamorous ceremony took on a greater significance.

"I deal with so many painful decisions about what's going on around the world every day," she said. "To relish the happiness of these two young people who carry a lot of the hopes of not only their fellow countrymen and women but people around the world who tuned in it was very joyous."

Not only we but also the people all over the world enjoyed it.Every people pray to God for their happy life.On Friday, 22.8 million Americans watched the royal wedding on TV, and Julia Roberts and Hillary Clinton are proud to say they were among them.

For Roberts, the historic nuptials doubled as bonding time at home with her 6-year-old daughter.

"I sat with Hazel in my lap watching it," the Oscar winner, 43, told Time magazine in a joint interview with Clinton. The two have joined forces to promote the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, which brings home-cooking solutions to developing countries.

Roberts, no stranger to onscreen weddings reveled in watching someone else's big day. "It was very exciting," she said of Prince William and Catherine Middleton's nuptials.

Even Secretary of State Clinton, 63, found time in her busy schedule to tune in to the wedding, which was also something of a family affair.

"I was on e-mail with my daughter and my 92-year-old mother lives with us," she said, "so the three generations of women in my family were watching the royal wedding." (Nine months earlier, the Clintons celebrated a hotly anticipated wedding of their own when Chelsea exchanged her vows with businessman Marc Mezvinsky.)

But for Clinton, the took on a greater significance.

"I deal with so many ... painful decisions about what's going on around the world every day," she said. "To relish the happiness of these two young people who carry a lot of the hopes -- of not only their fellow countrymen and women but people around the world who tuned in -- it was very joyous."

Death of Bin Laden and a good day America

Osama bin Laden, the world number one terrorist killed by Navy SEALs in an intense firefight, was hunted down based on information first gleaned years ago from detainees at secret CIA prison sites in Eastern Europe, officials disclosed Monday. The U.S. said a DNA match proved the man behind the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was dead, and millions of Americans rejoiced.

After the gunfire, U.S. forces swept bin Laden's fortified compound in Pakistan and left with a trove of hard drives, DVDs and other documents that officials said the CIA was already poring over.

"The world is safer. It is a better place because of the death of Osama bin Laden," declared President Barack Obama, hours after U.S. forces killed the al-Qaida leader. They then ferried the body out for a quick burial at sea.

Bin Laden's death after a decade on the run unloosed a national wave of euphoria mixed with remembrance for the thousands who died in the Sept. 11 2001, terror attacks. Crowds celebrated throughout the night outside the White House and at ground zero in Lower Manhattan where the Twin Towers once stood. Thousands of students at Penn State University and in other college towns spilled into the streets and set off firecrackers to mark the moment.

"For my family and I, it's good, it's desirable, it's right," said Mike Low of Batesville, Ark., whose daughter Sara was a flight attendant aboard the hijacked plane that was flown into the World Trade Center North Tower. "It certainly brings an ending to a major quest for all of us."

"Woe to his enemies. By God, we will avenge the killing of the Sheik of Islam," he wrote under his online name Assad al-Jihad2. "Those who wish that jihad has ended or weakened, I tell them: Let us wait a little bit."

U.S. officials conceded the risk of newly attack. The terrorists "almost certainly will attempt to avenge" bin Laden's death, CIA Director Leon Panetta wrote in a memo that congratulated the agency for its role in the operation. "Bin Laden is dead. Al-Qaida is not."

FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said, "While there are no specific, bin Laden-related threats at this time, every logical and prudent step is being taken to mitigate any developing threats." There were questions, as well, about Pakistan's role in bin Laden's years in hiding. Both Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said cooperation from the Pakistani government had helped lead U.S. forces to the compound where he died.

By their condemnations, bin Laden's supporters confirmed his death in what U.S. officials said was an operation years in the making. Even so, officials were weighing the release of at least one photo taken of bin Laden's body as part of what Brennan called an effort to make sure "nobody has any basis to try and deny" the death.

U.S. officials said the information that ultimately led to bin Laden's capture originally came from detainees held in secret CIA prison sites in Eastern Europe. There, agency interrogators were told of an alias used by a courier whom bin Laden particularly trusted.

U.S. counter terrorism officials considered bombing the place, an option that was discarded by the White House as too risky, particularly if it turned out bin Laden was not there.

According to officials who declined to be identified by name, bin Laden was shot in the head during a firefight, and his body was identified to near 100 percent certainty through DNA testing. Photo analysis by the CIA, confirmation by a woman believed to be one of bin Laden's wives, who was also at the compound, and matching physical features added confirmation, they said.

In addition to bin Laden, one of his sons, Khalid, was killed in the raid, as was the wife who shielded him, Brennan said. Also killed were two of bin Laden's al-Qaida facilitators, including the one who was apparently listed as the owner of the residence, Brennan said.


Within 40 minutes, the operation was over, and the SEALs flew out — minus one helicopter, which had malfunctioned and had to be destroyed. Bin Laden's remains were flown to the USS Carl Vinson, then lowered into the North Arabian Sea.

There was one last nerve-wracking moment back inside the White House, Brennan said, when the Pakistanis started scrambling their jets and there was brief concern that the U.S. force might be in danger.

The decision to bury the body at sea drew condemnation from some Muslim clerics despite Obama's statement that the burial was handled in accordance with Islamic tradition.

"They can say they buried him at sea, but they cannot say they did it according to Islam," said Mohammed al-Qubaisi, Dubai's grand mufti. "Sea burials are permissible for Muslims in extraordinary circumstances. This is not one of them."

Now total america is floating in happiness for the expected death of Osama Bin Laden.There are also ensured high security in various countries for the possibility of Al- Qaida's attact.

Atlanta Braves Coach Suspended by Major League Baseball

Roger McDowell, the Atlanta Braves pitching coach who allegedly hurled gay slurs at a group of fans earlier last weeked was suspended today by Major League Baseball.


McDowell's suspension will last two weeks, during which time he will not be paid. He was also fined. Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement Sunday, "Conduct by people associated with MLB that shows insensitivity to others simply cannot and will not be tolerated."

Superstar attorney Gloria Allred, who is representing Mr. Quinn, tells TMZ, "The fact that Coach McDowell will be subjected to an unprecedented two-week suspension, be required to take sensitivity training and be fined, demonstrates that Major League Baseball believes that homophobic slurs, sexually lewd conduct and threatening behavior by Coaches or any other person employed at a game in the Major League will not be tolerated."

For his part, Justin Quinn tells us, "I am pleased to see Major League Baseball imposing discipline on Coach McDowell for his actions. I love baseball dearly and my family and I are now looking forward to getting back to the ballpark for another game."

McDowell himself released a statement that said, "I understand the decision made today by the Commissioner. I am embarrassed by my actions and I plan to give a personal apology to Mr. Quinn and his family."

The family is demanding an apology from McDowell ASAP for his alleged anti-gay behavior.

A rep for the Braves released an additional statement, saying, “We are concerned by these allegations and the behavior described by a witness today. This in no way represents the Braves organization and the conduct we expect of our employees.”

Trump: White House Dinner was't appropriate

American business magnet Donald Trump was surprised that he was the butt of so many jokes at last night's White House Correspondents' Dinner, bemoaning, "It was almost like, is there anyone else they could talk about?"

He feels lonely and thought about the real condition of general people.

The Donald called in to "Fox and Friends" this morning inappropriate" considering that "the American people are really suffering."

He went on to call Seth Meyers "a stutterer" and said he didn't think he'd be "virtually the sole focus" of the evening.
He celebrate a dinner at White House last night.

Angelina Jolie

Date of Birth:4 June 1975, Los Angeles, California, USA

Birth Name:Angelina Jolie Voight

Nickname:AngieCatwomanAngeAJ

Height:5' 8" (1.73 m)

She was growing up in Los Angeles, was no stranger to the film industry, being the daughter of Academy Award-winning actor Jon Voight. She later trained and performed at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, where she was learned more about production.

She worked as a professional model in London, New York and Los Angeles, and has also appeared in music videos for such artists as Meat Loaf, Lenny Kravitz, Antonello Venditti and The Lemonheads. In addition, she has acted in five student films for the USC School of Cinema, all directed by her brother, James Haven.

Angelina Jolie is an Oscar-winning actress who has become popular by taking on the title role in the "Lara Croft" series of blockbuster movies. Off-screen, Jolie has become prominently involved in international charity projects, especially those involving refugees. She often appears on many "most beautiful women" lists, and she has a personal life that is avidly covered by the tabloid press.

In her earliest years, Angelina began absorbing the acting craft from her parents - her father is the Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight and her mother is Marcheline Bertrand, who had studied with Lee Strasberg. At age 11, Angelina began studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. She undertook some film studies at New York University and later joined the renowned Met Theatre Group in Los Angeles. At age 16, she took up a career in modeling and appeared in some music videos. Her exotic good looks may derive from her mixed ancestry which is Czech, French-Canadian, Iroquois and English.

In the mid-1990s, Jolie appeared in various small films where she got good notices, including Hackers (1995) and Foxfire (1996). Her critical acclaim increased when she played strong roles in the made-for-TV movies True Women (1997) (TV), and in George Wallace (1997) (TV) which won her a Golden Globe award and an Emmy nomination. Jolie's acclaim increased even further when she played the lead role in the HBO production Gia (1998) (TV). This was the true life story of supermodel Gia Carangi, a sensitive wild child who was both brazen and needy and who had a difficult time handling professional success and the deaths of people who were close to her. Carangi became involved with drugs and because of her needle-using habits she became, at the tender age of 26, one of the first celebrities to die of AIDS. Jolie's performance in Gia (1998) (TV) again garnered a Golden Globe award and another Emmy nomination, and she additionally earned a SAG Award.

Angelina got a major break in 1999 when she won a leading role in the successful feature The Bone Collector, starring alongside Denzel Washington. In that same year, Jolie gave a tour de force performance in Girl, Interrupted (1999) playing opposite Winona Ryder. The movie was a true story of women who spent time in a psychiatric hospital. Jolie's role was reminiscent of Jack Nicholson's character in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), the role which won Nicholson his first Oscar. Unlike "Cuckoo", "Girl" was a small film that received mixed reviews and barely made money at the box office. But when it came time to give out awards, Jolie won the triple crown -- "Girl" propelled her to win the Golden Globe, the SAG Award and the Academy Award for best leading actress in a supporting role.

By mind blowing acting , Jolie began to get in-depth attention from the press. Numerous aspects of her controversial personal life became news. At her wedding to her Hackers (1995) co-star Jonny Lee Miller, she had displayed her husband's name on the back of her shirt painted in her own blood. Jolie and Miller divorced and in 2000 she married her Pushing Tin (1999) co-star Billy Bob Thornton. Jolie had become the fifth wife of a man twenty years her senior. During her marriage to Thornton, the spouses each wore a vial of the other's blood around their necks. That marriage came apart in 2002 and ended in divorce.
Tomb Raider (2001). At first, she expressed disinterest, but then decided that the required training for the athletic role was intriguing. The Croft character was drawn from a popular video game. Lara Croft was a female cross between Indiana Jones and James Bond. When the film was released, critics were unimpressed with the final product, but critical acclaim wasn't the point of the movie. The public paid $275 million for theater tickets to see a buffed up Jolie portray the adventuresome Lara Croft. Jolie's father Jon Voight appeared in "Croft", and during filming there was a brief rapprochement between father and daughter.

One of the Croft movie's filming locations was Cambodia. While there, Jolie witnessed the natural beauty, culture and poverty of that country. She considered this an eye opening experience, and so began the humanitarian chapter of her life. Jolie began visiting refugee camps around the world and came to be formally appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Some of her experiences were written and published in her popular book "Notes from My Travels" whose profits go to UNHCR.

Jolie has stated that she now plans to spend most of her time in humanitarian efforts, to be financed by her actress salary. She devotes one third of her income to savings, one third to living expenses and one third to charity. In 2002, Angelina adopted a Cambodian refugee boy named Maddox and in 2005 adopted an Ethiopian refugee girl named Zahara. Jolie's dramatic feature film Beyond Borders (2003/I) parallels some of her real life humanitarian experiences although, despite the inclusion of a romance between two westerners, many of the movie's images were too depressingly realistic -- the film was not popular among critics or at the box office.

In 2004, Jolie began filming Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) with co-star Brad Pitt. The film became a major box office success. There were rumors that Pitt and Jolie had an affair while filming "Smith". Jolie insisted that because her mother had been hurt by adultery, she herself could never participate in an affair with a married man, therefore there had been no affair with Pitt at that time. Nonetheless, Pitt separated from his wife Jennifer Aniston in January 2005 and, in the months that followed, he was frequently seen in public with Jolie, apparently as a couple.

The Gibson Interview: Jim Dickinson

“The Gibson Classic Interview,” where we open our archives and share with you interviews we’ve done over the years with some of the world’s biggest artists. This week, we revisit Russell Hall’s 2007 interview with Memphis legend Jim Dickinson.

“I’ve tried to create things that have some shelf life,” says Jim Dickinson. “Great records endure because they’re art. Art is supposed to last, and I’ve never tried to do anything else but make art.”

As a producer, session player, and recording artist in his own right, Dickinson has successfully pursued that ambition for last four decades. An integral cog in the Memphis and Muscle Shoals scenes in the late ’60s and early ’70s, Dickinson played piano on countless albums—including recordings by Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones.

Now in his late sixties, Dickinson remains as active as ever. Working at his legendary Zebra Ranch Studio in Independence, Mississippi, he continues to produce albums for a variety of artists, most notably his sons’ band the North Mississippi Allstars. In the past two years he’s also released two superb albums of his own, both of which prominently feature his barrelhouse piano style. Titled, respectively, Jungle Jim and the Voodoo Tiger and Killers from Space, the recordings consists of rough-and-tumble nuggets from what Dickinson calls “the jukebox of my mind.”

You recently set up a Baldwin M1 in your Zebra Ranch studio. What are your thoughts about the instrument so far?

It’s quite a different experience. I’ve never had a new piano before. It’s an amazing instrument—just beautiful. It’s candy apple red, like a ’58 Chevy convertible. It’s big for a baby grand, but small for a grand, which makes it perfect for recording. In a recording situation a grand piano is really too much. The harmonics and the overtone are so strong they wipe out an acoustic guitar, or an instrument like that. But this piano is perfect.

Can you characterize the sound—what makes it distinctive?

It’s got a really good bottom end—really loud and bright. And that may be because it’s red, in all seriousness. For years my favorite studio piano in Memphis has been a Baldwin grand in Sam Phillips’ studio. It’s had the crap beaten out of it, and they don’t really maintain it, but it just keeps getting better and better. This piano sounds like a smaller version of that one. It has a brightness that’s not usually associated with grand pianos.

You did lots of session work in the ’60s. Did you have to change your style of playing a lot?

You do have to be adaptable to do that kind of work. Working for Atlantic, we would go from Jerry Jeff Walker to Aretha Franklin to Carmen McCrae within a single week—covering everything from rockabilly to reggae. What I do as a piano player is really simple and rudimentary. For that reason I can pretty much play with anyone, regardless of genre. I’m not a jazz player, for instance, but I’ve got a little jazz trick that I do. And the same is true of country music. I’m not really a country player, but I’ve got some country tricks. In session playing, the piano—certainly in rock music if not most pop music—should be colorless. You should be able to detect it only when you take it out, when it’s missing.

Do you read music?

No. I’m completely untrained, as far as that goes. I have really bad eyesight—a multiple vision problem that makes reading music impossible.

Your most famous session is the one you did with the Rolling Stones on “Wild Horses.” Ian Stewart was the Stones’ regular piano player at that time. Why didn't he play on that song?

I didn’t know the reason, for 10 years afterward. As soon as they started doing the song, Stu got up from the piano and started packing the gear, as if they were leaving. I was standing with Jerry Wexler, and Jagger came over to me and said, “So, I assume now we need a keyboardist.” Wexler said, “We could call Barry Beckett.” And I said, “Jerry, I don’t think that’s what he means.” So I just sat and started playing.
Did you take anything away from that session that you were able to use later in your own production work?

Yes. Spontaneity. Capturing the moment. As an R&B player, which is what I was then, you play lines and patterns—things that are very rote. And you play the song until you get it right.



What have you been working on lately?

Just yesterday(29th April) we finished another Allstars record. Actually this will be the first record we’ve used the new Baldwin on. I play most of the piano. Kurt Clayton, a local pianist who plays like Billy Preston, is also on one track. The record is going to be called Hernando. It’s coming out in January.

My heart was Broken, On 'When I Was 17:Vanessa Simmon

Vanessa Simmons may not have had a childhood like most of ours but that doesn't mean she didn't experience the same growing pains we all do. Everybody has some experience on his/her childhood.

Just like everyone else, Vanessa went through perhaps the single worst rite of passage for any teen: the first heartbreak. The actress/reality star sat down with MTV to open up about her painful split with her first true love for the latest episode of "When I Was 17,"

As a teen, Vanessa had a serious boyfriend, whom she described as her "high school sweetheart." She reminisced with a laugh about her puppy love with her boyfriend.

But poor Vanessa wasn't heading down the aisle anytime soon as her boyfriend soon broke up with her. Still, the worst was yet to come for the "Run's House" star. "Cut to not even a week after we broke up, he walks into homeroom. He has a necklace with another girl's name on it," she recalled. "Everybody else knew that he was with this other girl, except me. Apparently they were, like, really into each other and kind of serious and I was like, 'When did this happen over the weekend?'

"It felt like my heart literally was breaking," the 27-year-old beauty continued. And while she did commit the ultimate dumped-by-a-jerk sin by getting back with him, something she said she now regrets, Vanessa is truly having the last laugh.

"I ended up breaking up with him at the end of senior year anyway," she told MTV, adding, "it doesn't even matter."
I was more painful that time and that was more affecting.