I meant to write about this last week but time got away from me. We know how hard Brad Pitt’s Make It Right campaign has been working to provide housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina, and we’ve even seen some of the homes that have been built.

According to my favorite “green celebrity” blog (a fantastic site that provides happy news about celebrities doing good for the environment and the world), it looks like Make It Right is ready to start providing duplexes and multi-family homes. The article shows a prototype for the buildings as well.

That’s such a great thing to read about. All the homes are designed to be environmentally friendly and self-sustaining, but duplexes are even better. As the Make It Right director Tom Darden said, “And duplexes are right in keeping with Make It Right’s mission: They allow more people to live together with less impact on the environment and are more cost-effective to build.”

I love reading these stories!

Image: Zuma Press

This may only be useful for Canadians since I’m not sure if it will be picked up by any US networks or not.

Canadian contractor Mike Holmes has been on television for quite some time with his household show “Holmes on Homes”. Aside from being an excellent contractor and a bit of a Canadian icon, he’s also very passionate about Brad Pitt’s Make It Right campaign. He has done a great deal to help in the rebuilding of post-Katrina New Orleans. His own website even forwards to the Canadian branch of Make It Right.

Tonight on the Global network, the first episode of a two-part special will air, where Mike Holmes will connect with Brad Pitt to discuss the ongoing work in NOLA. The second part will air tomorrow.

No word yet on when the segment with Brad was filmed.

I’ll try to find video footage in the coming days!

(source)

Image: INF

While Angelina Jolie was busy running around Washington, D.C., our man Brad Pitt put on his good suit and headed to Capitol Hill.

Brad was attending a meeting with Nancy Pelosi to discuss the ongoing situation regarding lost housing in New Orleans and the current status of his Make It Right project.

My goodness, Brad looks delicious.

More photos of Brad Pitt visiting Capitol Hill, as well as a video clip, below the cut.

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For those of you who missed seeing Brad Pitt on Larry King on Wednesday night, I was able to get the full video clip (16 minutes) of the interview from the CNN website. Here it is!

If the video won’t work with your browser or connection, I’ve also included part of the transcript and the link below the cut.

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Here’s the video clip of Brad Pitt on Ellen today, coming in from New Orleans.

It was his first time on the show, and it was so great to listen to him talk about New Orleans and Make It Right and to hear him get into the architecture of the houses they’re building in the Lower 9th Ward.

I particularly love when, at the 5-minute mark, Brad completely mis-hears Ellen (for the first time!) and gets all flustered and laughs. There’s also a cute moment where they talk about how to catch George Clooney to get him on the show and Brad gives the secret on how to get George’s attention - I won’t spoil it but it’s *hilarious*!

Enjoy the clip!

Brad Pitt is still doing the rounds for television appearances and today he will be appearing on Ellen at 4 pm to discuss Make It Right among other topics. It was already filmed - Brad did not appear live in studio with Ellen, but he appeared via satellite from New Orleans.

Part one of the interview was actually leaked and up on YouTube already, pretty fast considering it hasn’t officially aired yet. I watched it, and in the clip, Brad thanks Ellen for her hard work in helping raise $1.2 million for Make It Right, and he discusses the architecture behind the houses in the Lower 9th Ward. He also jokes about how he’s currently “squatting” on their land by filming the show’s segment there and Ellen teases him by saying she’s pretty sure no one minds that BRAD is there. Alas, the clips obviously weren’t meant to be released so soon since it hasn’t even aired yet, so they’ve already been taken down. As soon as something is back up, I’ll post the video.

Then, since there is no rest for the Jolie-Pitt family, later tonight Brad will appear on Larry King Live on CNN.

Check your local listings to be sure of the time in your area so you don’t miss it!

Image used with permission: Newscom

Brad Pitt and Ann Curry sat down yesterday in New Orleans to talk about Make It Right, New Orleans, and his life with Angelina Jolie and their children.

It was taped yesterday but aired this morning on the Today show. Here’s the six-minute segment:

Do you know what struck me right off the bat? They were talking about how there are already eight families living in completed homes while work continues on the rest. Brad was saying how great it was to know that some families were finally home for the holidays after so much time since Katrina - and then when Ann asked him if he had met these families, he started talking about them by name.

It may not sound like a huge deal but Hollywood is made out to be selfish in general, but here was Brad, knowing everyone’s name, their kids’ names, which house they live in… That’s someone who isn’t just throwing money at a problem but someone who is getting as completely involved as possible in every aspect of helping out people who have been waiting for years to come home.

Brad was reluctant to talk about his family at first but he opened up a bit, saying how amazing it is to have these six kids from all parts of the world who play and laugh and fight. He admitted that no, having six kids is not easy, but you get so much out of it.

More details of the Brad Pitt interview below the cut.

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Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation is ready to proceed with building another 90 homes in New Orleans - now we know why the Jolie-Pitt family headed straight to New Orleans after New York. The announcement for the new homes was made at a special charity reception.

Also, we all remember when Brad Pitt appeared on American Idol Gives Back - with all the money that was raised from that event, a portion went to Make It Right. That’s such great news.

I’m so excited to hear about more homes being built for the people who are STILL displaced after Hurricane Katrina.

Meanwhile, there are some great photos of Angelina Jolie, Maddox, and Pax in the Lower Ninth Ward over here!

(source)

Boy, that last post was a downer, wasn’t it? Thank you to everyone for sharing your thoughts and opinions, it was much appreciated. However, here are two good news bits for us to read about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

First of all, Roseanne Barr has apologized (more or less) for her attack on Brad and Angelina the other day. I guess she was hoping for a bit of controversy and wound up a little stunned by the incredible backlash. On her blog, she wrote:

“I do not know Brangelina. I do not mean to personally impugn them as they might be good people in the flesh, but the media’s images of them are smelly and vile, and I must always attack the media’s representation of what is good or cool.

She went on to slag people like me - the bloggers and media people who immediately picked up on her attack. Please, that’s what she wanted, she just couldn’t handle the heat when so many of us rose to Brad and Angelina’s defense. I don’t mind, she can rant about me if she wants, it certainly won’t affect my life or career!

In other good news, the first group of houses for Brad Pitt’s Make It Right foundation are just about completed.

While complaints of bureaucratic sloth persist, Pitt’s foundation instead provides a striking example of a private entity taking the simplest of plans — build houses where the flood knocked them all down — from idea to execution in a relatively short time. As of today, Make It Right has raised enough money to build at least 84 houses, with an ultimate goal of financing at least 150 houses in the Lower 9th Ward, said Tom Darden, the foundation’s executive director.

Currently six homes are in the process of being built, and hopes are high that at least one will be fully completed by August 29th. Those residents have been without proper homes for so long that it’s about time they get them back - and good for Brad for being the one behind it all.

One resident even said, “the answer to our prayers — Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.”

Please check out the full article here. It’s so heart-warming, especially on the heels of accusations that the Jolie-Pitt family doesn’t do enough.

(Two administrative notes: 1. Comments that are disappearing are actually going into the moderation queue, I don’t know why you guys aren’t getting that message anymore, I’ll look into it. 2. Reader Leila from Iran - I got your emails, and I’m trying to set you up with someone who can send you People/Hello. I’m not ignoring you because of where you’re from, when I try to reply to your emails, they bounce back telling me the email address doesn’t exist.)

Less than one year after announcing the start-up of Brad Pitt’s Make It Right campaign in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward the first Global Green house has been built. That is awesome! It’s the first post-Katrina home to go up in the area and was made with environmentally sustainable materials. This first house will also serve as a model home and visitors’ center while the other homes are being built.

Don’t forget you can still help out. PittWatch readers were awesome with donations, helping to build these much-needed homes for so many displaced families, I’m so proud of all of you.

There’s a full article over here about the current status of the Make It Right project.

Though Pitt hasn’t visited the home since its completion, Global Green president and CEO Matt Petersen said he’s sure Pitt will stop by eventually.

“He contributed significantly to this home being built,” Petersen said. “We’re deeply grateful for all that he has done.”

When you go read it, be sure you either read quickly or else create an account for yourself because the story will eventually remove itself and redirect you to a login page.

Thanks Ligaya!

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