With World Refugee Day 2009 just around the corner (this coming Saturday - June 20th), it’s excellent news to hear that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have donated $1 million to help refugees. The funds which came from their Jolie-Pitt Foundation will help refugees in Pakistan.

The head of the UN Agency said that the situation right now in Pakistan is “the most challenging humanitarian crisis of the past decade.” There are over two million displaced people in the country at the moment.

First it was a million dollars to help children with cancer, now a million dollars to help refugees in Pakistan - their willingness to assist people in need is so inspiring. Actors and athletes get paid a ridiculous amount of money and so many of them waste that money; look at how some celebrities end up bankrupt despite making millions because they blew it on ridiculous lifestyles. That’s why I love the way Brad and Angelina use their money. Yes, sometimes Brad will purchase expensive art, sometimes they fly around the world on a private plane, they have several homes and rent expensive homes when they’re abroad. But at the end of the day they give so much of their money to those who really need a hand and they make such a huge difference in people’s lives.

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Image: INF

When Brad Pitt and his family decide to do something right, they don’t go halfway. The Pitt family (including Brad and Angelina), Doug and Lisa Pitt, and Rob and Julie (Brad’s sister) Neal all pooled together to donate $1 million to St. John’s Hospital.

St. John’s is part of six affiliates of the St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and it has been re-named The Jane Pitt Pediatric Cancer Center in honor of Jane’s passion for children and the issues they sometimes face.

I love reading this type of story. Honestly, the movie news is always great for us as fans because it means more ways for us to see them as actors, but it’s reading about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s passion for helping others - and obviously Brad’s entire family feels the same way! - that makes me smile the most.

Jane Pitt must be so honored to have such an important place named after her. She should be proud - she’s obviously raised some very fine people.

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Thanks to everyone who emailed me!

Image: Newscom

Wow. This is possibly one of the Angelina Jolie news stories that I’ve heard in a long time. A man - unnamed at this time - gave a $30,000 donation on his credit card to the Lili Claire Foundation two years ago during a charity auction. Apparently the man made this bid under some sort of impression that he would then get to meet Angelina Jolie.

Two years later and the charitable foundation still has not produced a meeting between Angie and the donor so he’s suing the Lili Claire Foundation for a full refund of his 30 grand plus damages.

Damages? What on earth kind of damages could he have possibly accrued by not getting to meet Angelina?!

The story is still somewhat confusing because I don’t know if this was a simple mix-up where the man misunderstood what the commitment was or if the foundation honestly offered up a meeting with a massive celebrity without clearing it first. I think that if he didn’t get what he was offered he should get a refund, but not damages. And if he just didn’t understand what the auction was for, well, what kind of a creep would take his money back from a charity?

Meanwhile, Lili Claire’s reps have said:

“The Lili Claire Foundation has a 100% track record of honoring its commitment to donors and recipients with respect to every single auction item sold to support its charitable services. In the rare event that a sold auction item cannot be satisfactorily delivered to the winning bidder through no fault of our own, The Lili Claire Foundation works faithfully for an appropriate resolution with our bidder.”

If she hears of this news, I wonder if Angelina would take the initiative to meet this man if she found out he made a donation of such a substantial amount. Of course that might depend on what kind of “meeting” he had in mind.

Lili Claire Foundation raises money for children with neurogenetic disorders.

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Image used with permission: Newscom

I’m all for supporting a good cause, and raising awareness and funding for research for breast cancer is one of them. However, this is possibly the weirdest product for charity - or product, period! - that I have ever seen.

Feelunique.com and artist Willard Wigan have created two lipsticks that are carved in the likeness of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. No, really.

Brad and Angie were voted as the “most kissable couple” in some survey (well, duh), and so in honor of that, Wigan created a carving of each head in a pink lipstick.

I can sort of see how the resemblance is meant to be there, although I’m not sure that I would have known it was supposed to be Brad and Angelina’s likeness if I hadn’t been told. Still, it’s a lipstick; it’s not exactly a large surface area to work with, so I assume there are limitations to your art and all.

Obviously, one would expect that they aren’t meant to be used. Especially considering the current high bid is £220.00 or approximately $300+ in US dollars.

The cause is a good one, I just don’t know if I’d be bidding on lipstick carvings to help out, even if it IS Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie! If you’d like to, though, here you go!

What do you think? Pretty darn weird, no?

(Thanks, Ligaya!)

In other news, the hotel story has been refuted by the hotel itself, which is not surprising. However, I’m leaving it up anyway, because I still think it’s interesting to discuss the fact that people were so quick to blame Brad and Angelina as though it was their fault when they weren’t even there. I still stand by the fact that even the best behaved kids are still kids and will still try to push boundaries if given a chance, especially if mom and dad aren’t around!

Image used with permission: Splash News Online

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have donated approximately $2 million to set up a medical center in Ethiopia. The center will help a great deal of people who need medical attention, including children who are dealing with HIV, AIDS, and tuberculosis, three major concerns in Ethiopia.

Previously, Brad and Angelina established the Maddox Chivan Children’s Center in Cambodia, and they’re naming the new center after another one of the Jolie-Pitt kids. The medical center in Ethiopia is to be named after Zahara Jolie-Pitt, who was born in the country.

Brad has already said he hopes Zahara will have an interest in the center later in life: “It is our hope when Zahara is older, she will take responsibility of the clinic and continue its mission.” Some people have voiced the opinion that it’s strange or unfair to expect that Zahara will want anything to do with the clinic just because her parents want her to. To that, I can only be confused. He didn’t say that they have opened it with the strict intention that she MUST take it over when she grows up - he said he HOPES she will want to be responsible for it. And why not? Brad and Angelina do so much to help other people, it’s certainly logical that they would hope that all of their children will grow up to also reach out to those in need. And both of them are perfect examples that their kids can be whatever they want to be, career-wise, and still have the time, energy, and desire to do charity work.

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Brad Pitt was looking quite hot in his relaxed suit (loving the open collar and no tie/bow tie, rowr!) and goatee as he arrived at the Not On Our Watch charity dinner in Venice.

He’s co-hosting the event with George Clooney, but Not On Our Watch was founded by Brad, George, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Jerry Weintraub, and David Pressman. The proceeds from this gala will provide funds for various humanitarian projects.

Check out photos of Brad Pitt arriving at the Not On Our Watch dinner over here.

I debated about whether or not to even bother writing about this because, on the one hand, who cares? However, on the other hand, several readers have emailed me to ask me to post about it so we can talk about it. So here you go.

Roseanne Barr posted a blog entry of her own, where she ripped apart Jon Voight, then went on to tear down Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. One classy gem is this:

your evil spawn Angelina Jolie and her vacuous hubby Brad Pitt make about forty million dollars a year in violent psychopathic movies and give away three of it to starving children trying to look as if they give a crap about humanity as they spit out more dunces that will consume more than their fair share and wreck the earth even more. (Just sayin’).

I don’t even really know what to say. I know that not everyone is going to love Brad and Angelina, and honestly, I really don’t expect everyone to do so. Everyone’s entitled to an opinion, but what purpose is served by spewing such incredible vitriol as that? There are several celebrities that I personally can’t stand, but I can’t be bothered to go out of my way to blast each one of them - nor do I go to fan websites and snark over there. I just leave it at “I really don’t like XYZ” and there’s no need for more.

I can only wonder if Roseanne has some new project coming up and needs to direct some free publicity her way. Slamming two major stars who are of interest to a great deal of people? That is a surefire way to get attention.

Never mind that she’s not even right. Brad and Angelina donate a great deal more money than just $3 million. I’d love Roseanne to let us know how much SHE gives to those in need on a regular basis.

I won’t even get into the snarky tone she uses when discussing the Jolie-Pitt children.

It’s a shame and it saddens me because I was always a huge fan of Roseanne - in fact I still love to watch the show Roseanne in re-runs in the evenings. She never failed to make me laugh (especially now that I’m a mother myself and can relate even more), but now she’s just making me sigh.

Ugh. In light of this, let’s all watch the wonderful video that reader Lara linked to in the comments a few entries back, a video showing some of the great work Angelina Jolie has done with the UNHCR - some of the footage includes things Brad Pitt has done too.

Take THAT, Roseanne.

Well, that would be nice, wouldn’t it? I’m afraid I can’t arrange for you to actually shower with Brad Pitt (and besides, Angelina Jolie might not appreciate that!). But you can help him while you’re in the shower.

Brad is teaming up with Kiehl’s for their new Aloe Vera Biodegradable Liquid Body Cleanser. Not only is the cleanser good for the environment, something that’s important to Brad, what with all the eco-friendly details of the homes he’s having built in New Orleans. Aside from that, proceeds from the sales of the $16 product will benefit the JPF Eco Systems Charity - a foundation that was created by Brad and Kiehl’s for the sake of global environmental initiatives.

We won’t be seeing any steamy photos of Brad Pitt in the shower, unfortunately. He has no plans to endorse the product with his face (or anything else) in commercials, but the bottle does feature a handwritten note from Brad on the label. Almost good enough for me!

Will you try the product out?

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You can proudly wear the very same black leather jacket that Angelina Jolie wore in Wanted. It’s currently being auctioned off on eBay, with the proceeds going to charity. The funds will be donated to PLAN!T Now, which used to be known as the Grenada Relief Fund.

As of the time of my posting, the bids are already up to over $7000 US. That’s pretty good; I wonder how high it will go. If you have a lot of cash weighing your bank account down, you can go bid on Angelina Jolie’s jacket too.

Alas, I don’t have that kind of money, I’ll have to stick to my small donations to the UNHCR instead!

(Thanks to Rita for the link)

Image used with permission: Splash News Online

People who know me offline often assume that I must get really angry at some of the negative things people say about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Sometimes I do get annoyed, but usually I just roll my eyes and laugh because it’s often so ridiculous. But do you know why I sometimes love the negative stories?

Because it makes me smile to know some people are just clawing around, looking for something nasty to say and meanwhile, Brad and Angelina help so many people who need it. Like when they donated $1 million via the Jolie-Pitt Foundation to the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict.

The EPCC was actually co-founded by Angelina last year - she has said that “these educational support programs for children of conflict are the best way to help them heal.”

Half the money will go to help the education and emotional support of children of military people over in Iraq, while the other half will help various groups that offer aid to Iraqi women and children.

It is Brad’s hope that they can encourage others to help as well through these different groups.

That’s why I don’t understand the people who criticize Brad and Angelina for the spotlight that shines on all their humanitarian efforts. Angelina herself said that cameras follow her anyway so let them follow her to places that need that spotlight. I don’t see how some people can’t realize that because of their fame, they draw attention to groups that would just be one more charity among thousands if it weren’t for the big names that attach to them.

But then again, the Jolie-Pitt fans have always understood, right?

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Image used with permission: Newscom