sss-HE's the mAn!

Tinseltown's leading ladies may generate more tabloid ink, but when it comes to blockbuster paychecks, Hollywood is still a man's town. In an era where risk-averse studio executives have declared men the more reliable movie stars-- and the more desirable moviegoers -- perhaps it's no surprise that they are also the medium's top earners. The reality: Hollywood's 10 best-paid actors out-earned Hollywood's 10 best-paid actresses 2-to-1 over the course of the year. Collectively, the big screen's leading men took home an estimated $487 million this year, compared with the leading ladies' haul of $244.5 million. Will Smith leads the pack of Hollywood's best-paid actors, banking an estimated $80 million over the course of the year. Frequently called the hardest-working man in Hollywood, Smith has proved that no matter the genre -- be it sci-fi thriller ("I Am Legend") or sappy drama ("The Pursuit of Happyness") -- he can deliver an audience. The former "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" star also set a theatrical record this year. Thanks to the commercial success of this summer's anti-superhero flick "Hancock," Smith is the first actor in Hollywood history to have eight straight movies eclipse $100 million at the box office.

Coming in second on the list is "Pirates of the Caribbean" star Johnny Depp, an actor who is known to vacillate between commercial work and artier fare. He still managed to pull down $72 million this year. In this case, the bold-faced star followed up his three turns as Captain Jack Sparrow in Disney's $2.76 billion "Pirates" franchise with the Stephen Sondheim serial-killer musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Flat Street." Though the latter hardly set box office records, it did earn Depp an Oscar nomination. With $55 million, Eddie Murphy comes in third among Tinseltown's top earners, thanks to a slew of family-friendly hits. The long-reigning master of disguise continues to prove his range on- screen, playing notable roles in everything from animated flicks ("Shrek") to goofball comedies ("Norbit") to musical remakes ("Dreamgirls"). The latter earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Then there's "Austin Powers" star Mike Myers, who is tied for third on this list with earnings of $55 million, due in large part to the success of the hit animated franchise "Shrek." But when it comes to live-action fare, the comedy chameleon's ride has been far less smooth in recent years. Despite a stellar cast (including Justin Timberlake and Jessica Alba) and plenty of promotion, Myers' summer comedy "The Love Guru" failed to deliver at the box office. To date, the Paramount flick has generated only $31.8 million domestically. "Titanic's" Leonardo DiCaprio rounds out the top five, raking in $45 million during the year. He's the unique movie star who can get $20 million for work in R-rated adult dramas, which, because of viewer age restrictions, have limited ability to generate big box office numbers. Though his flicks are rarely blockbusters, DiCaprio's work can create a sizable amount of Academy Award season buzz. In fact, three of his last five flicks -- "Gangs of New York," "The Aviator," and "The Departed" -- were nominated for Best Picture. The latter took home the Oscar

her FINAL WORDS

'World's oldest blogger' dies in Australia

Mon Jul 14, 1:32 AM ET

SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian woman described as the world's oldest Internet blogger has died at the age of 108 after posting a final message about singing "a happy song" in her nursing home.

Olive Riley "passed away peacefully on July 12 and will be mourned by thousands of Internet friends and hundreds of descendants and other relatives," a note on her website said.

Riley had posted more than 70 entries on her blog from Woy Woy on the east coast since February last year, sharing her thoughts on modern life and her experiences living through the entire 20th century.

Born in the outback town of Broken Hill on October 20 1899, she lived through two world wars and raised three children while doing various jobs, including ranch cook and barmaid.

In her final post on June 26, she wrote: "I can't believe I've been here in this nursing home for more than a week.

"How the days have flown, even though I've been in bed most of the time. I still feel weak, and can't shake off that bad cough.

"Penny, who's in the next bed to mine, had a visit one day this week from her daughter, who's a professional singer. Guess what happened! She and I sang a happy song, as I do every day, and before long we were joined by several nurses, who sang along too. It was quite a concert!"

Riley's blog, initially on www.allaboutolive.com.au and more recently at http://worldsoldestblogger.blogspot.com, was "mind-blowing to her," her great grandson Darren Stone said.

"She had people communicating with her from as far away as Russia and America on a continual basis, not just once in a while," he told the national AAP news agency.

"She enjoyed the notoriety -- it kept her mind fresh."

PHOTOS worth the BIG $

First Photos of Brangelina twins will get fortune

By Associated PressJuly 13, 2008, 10:32 am PDT

- PARIS (AP) — They are the ultimate million-dollar babes. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's new twins, a girl and a boy born by Caesarean section on Saturday, are barely a few hours old but already their first photos are worth a fortune.

A million dollars, two, five, 10 even 20 million? Exactly how much the first "official" snaps will be sold for is not clear. But the figures being bandied about make the eyes pop.

Nice Matin, the hometown daily in the Riviera city in the south of France where Jolie gave birth, put the twins' worth at more than $11 million. It first broke news of the birth and reported Sunday that the couple have sold the rights for the first photo of their newly enlarged family to a U.S. publication, which it did not name, and that the proceeds would go to charity.

"I've never known a set of pictures to be worth this amount of money," said Darryn Lyons, owner of Big Pictures, a celebrity photo agency in London. He estimated that the twins' official photos will be worth between $15 million and $20 million.

The only other photos that "would possibly come that close is Britney Spears giving birth to an alien," he said.

Veteran London-based celebrity publicist Max Clifford estimated that the first photos could fetch 10 million pounds — roughly $20 million — "which would make it the biggest baby deal ever."

"These kind of pictures sell lots of magazines," he said. "It's a 10-million-pound gamble as to whether the ends justify the means. But obviously it's a very calculated risk because whoever lands the photos will have a lot of experience with the popularity of mum and dad."

Cue the paparazzi. They've been camped in Nice since shortly after Jolie's admission to the Lenval hospital there at the end of June, hoping for possibly lucrative pictures of the glamourous Hollywood couple. For them, the Brangelina twins are the biggest story of the year.

Never mind that Jolie was ensconced on the fifth floor in a section of the maternity ward that has been security-enhanced, that she was staying out of sight behind the mirrored blue windows, and that the hospital said that it had put up a special material on the windows of the couple's room that prevents telephoto lenses from peering through.

Paparazzi still had hopes that they would get a valuable shot of Jolie — either as an expectant or brand-new mother. And Pitt made an attainable target: he was photographed coming and going from the hospital with some of the couple's four other children.

Clifford said he didn't think that paparazzi will be able to get any candid shots of the babies and, if they do, he didn't think they will have much impact on the value of the official photos.

"If there are sneak shots, they're not going to be anything like the posed ones," he said. "All it does is whet the appetite of those who want to see real quality pictures."

Lyons of Big Pictures also did not think paparazzi will get candid shots.

"There's always a chance in this business. It's down to who is good at what they do," he said. "If you were to get a paparazzi set of photos you could easily buy a little island to live on for the rest of your life."

"Certainly, the feeding frenzy just goes to show that people talk about the celebrity-obsessed world we live in. If publishers are willing to pay up to 15 million, there are obviously plenty of people wanting to see them."

"In the celebrity world, it seems to be the double second coming," he added.

___

Associated Press writers Colleen Barry in Nice, France, and Emily Ristow in London contributed to this report.

Celebrity R-U-L-E-S

Can celebrity relationships really survive?

by Anne Ichikawa, Shine staff, on Thu Jun 26, 2008 9:51pm PDT

...

Rumors have been tiptoeing around about marriage troubles between Madonna and her husband of seven years, director Guy Ritchie. It seemed to everyone that the once wild, pointy bra-wearing Queen of Pop had settled down for good with her Brit, with her finding Kabbalah, doing massive amounts of yoga, and adopting little David from Malawi. However, all indications point towards a confirmation of a divorce, with word that she's hiring Paul McCartney's divorce lawyer, Fiona Shackleton. Thus, another celebrity marriage bites the dust. Sad, sad, sad. All relationships and marriages face their challenges, but in the world of Hollywood and fame, there are booby traps left and right from being surrounded by gorgeous men and women, having nasty rumors spread, and over publicized romances.

After the jump, pitfalls that celebrity couples face that us average Joe's and Jane's don't have to deal with.

Temptation: the other woman/man
Case in point: Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston
Imagine yourself in Jennifer Aniston's shoes: your husband is the hottest man alive and he's leaving to shoot a movie with the hottest woman alive, Angelina Jolie. The set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith proved to be too much quality time between Brad and Angelina and those pouty lips were no match for Jen's toned arms. Temptation abounds in the sea of endless beauty that is Hollywood.

Over-publicity
Case in point: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez
There was a time in 2002 where you couldn't turn on the TV or read a magazine without seeing or hearing that dreaded, stupid compound word, "Bennifer." They were the ultimate publicity whores, which probably was the end cause of their broken off engagement. The couple was overexposed in a bad way, resulting in the embarrassing, box office failure, Gigli. No wonder both J.Lo and Affleck try to keep a low profile with their now husband and wife, Marc Anthony and Jennifer Garner.

One is more famous
Case in point: Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe
Reese Witherspoon is America's darling. She was charming and hilarious in Legally Blonde and won an Oscar for her portrayal of June Carter in Walk the Line. Her husband...er, what's his name? Exactly. Ryan Phillippe was suffering from a severe drought of good movie roles, and little fame. Perhaps he felt neglected and emasculated? Whatever the real issue was, he cheated on her with actress Abbie Cornish and the World's population collectively thought: downgrade.

Overexposed by Reality TV
Case in point: Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey
They were like the Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez of the millennium, except she was the wacky blond and he was the straight laced boy next door. Neither one of them was very famous before the run of their reality show Newlyweds, that documented their marriage, showcasing her ditziness and his good guy demeanor. It really catapulted Simpson to celebrity status, inflated her ago, and resulted in her leaving poor Nick. Another couple gone bad due to reality TV: Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler in MTV's, Meet the Barkers.

Are celebrity couples doomed to fail because of the nature of the industry they work in? How would it be possible to avoid these pitfalls?

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