Los Angeles, October 30, 2007 – It seems like a natural for Angelina Jolie to support the International Women’s Media Foundation’s “Courage in Journalism Awards”, given her activism and recent work with journalist Mariane Pearl, widow of slain reporter Daniel Pearl.  And so Jolie came to the Los Angeles award ceremony on Tuesday, where Mexican Lydia Cacho, Ethiopian Serkalem Fasil and six women working in the Baghdad Bureau of McClatchy publications were honored.  Zimbabwe’s Peta Thornycroft received a lifetime achievement award at the Beverly Hills Hotel ceremony. 

CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, who has done some dangerous reporting herself, journalist and California First Lady Maria Shriver and a surprisingly long-maned Meg Ryan also attended.

New York, October 26, 2007 – Controversial Hustler publisher Larry Flynt brought his new documentary, The Right to be Left Alone, to the Paley Center’s DocFest07, and the wheelchair-bound free speech activist stuck around for a post-screening Q&A session.  Not surprisingly, Flynt is not a fan of the Bush administration, and while he hasn’t decided who he’ll support in the presidential election, it won’t be a republican.  The pornographer said that though he thought highly of Barack Obama, he threw his support behind Hillary Clinton – until the Clinton campaign returned his donation.  Flynt told the crowd at The Museum of Television and Radio that he fired off a letter telling the Clinton campaign that they’d lost both his money and his vote.  Now, he’s thinking of voting for a green party candidate. 

Flynt’s prediction is that the final battle will be Hillary vs. Rudy Giuliani.  Inevitably, he brought the political discussion full circle – back to sex - by criticizing Giuliani for moving in with a gay male couple when he split with his wife Donna Hanover back in 2004.  Flynt has no objection to homosexuality, but said that in that situation, he would have moved into a household where at least one of the other guys was straight.  “So we could have gone hunting for girls together.”

Los Angeles, October 26, 2007 –  If you don’t look quite as good as Heidi Klum does when wearing undies from Victoria’s Secret’s Very Sexy collection, maybe you just need some blush.  The entrepreneurial supermodel launched the “Heidi Klum Very Sexy Makeup” collection on Friday with a personal appearance at the VS store at The Grove in L.A. 

Never at a loss for filling a moment, the Project Runway star posed for photos, dabbed a bit of product onto her face, and then wondered aloud, “What should we do next?”  She pondered for a moment and then declared, “I should put makeup on someone!”

Klum beckoned a little girl from among the curious onlookers at the store, but the child shied away when she noticed the cameras, so Heidi did a makeover on one of her representatives.

New York, October 25, 2007 – We figured that the Bee Movie promotional stunts couldn’t get any more over-the-top than when star Jerry Seinfeld donned a bee costume and jumped off a roof months before the movie was even finished.  Well, the animated feature's premiere almost six months later was one of the biggest – and kitchiest – we’ve ever seen. 

The carpet that wound around the block at the Lincoln Square Theater in Manhattan was yellow with black stripes, and it was encased inside a yellow-colored tent.  Said carpet was trod by celebrities dressed in yellow and black, as instructed by the invitation to the premiere.  The studio staffers ferrying everyone around were also dressed in theme, and they handed out (and some wore) bee antenna headpieces. Even the press releases were printed on yellow paper. 

No detail was over looked: the security guards wore yellow and black neckties, as did Jerry Seinfeld.  Renee Zellweger was last to arrive, and she couldn’t resist hugging an antenna-wearing toddler, who had been driven from a pre-screening party in (what else?) a yellow school bus.

Los Angeles, October 25, 2007 – Lisa Rinna made a surprise appearance at the Choose Your Cause benefit on Thursday evening, and we thought perhaps she had stopped at Fred Segal Fun for some shopping and found the party in full swing.  But Rinna was there for pal Holly Robinson Peete.  “I’m just here to support my girl”, she said.  Indeed, that is all - Rinna greeted Peete, posed for photos and then left immediately.

Peete was given a ring during the proceedings, and she wasn’t sure what to do with it; we saw her take off her wedding band and drop it in her purse, and slide on the new ring.

Jenny McCarthy said she's concerned about smoke from this week’s California wildfires, and is thinking of taking her son to a place with cleaner air for a while.  If McCarthy’s hair looked perfect, that’s because she brought her hair stylist as her date.  A newly slim Ricki Lake attended, as did Rosanna Arquette.

New York, October 24, 2007 – Sean “Diddy” Combs really loves bottle service now!  The hip-hop entrepreneur signed a deal to “develop” the Ciroc vodka brand – for 50% of the profits.  Remember that the next time you order an expensive bottle at a club – certainly Diddy will remember your good will when he buys his next Rolls Royce. 

Even though Combs and Ciroc parent Diageo PLC announced the deal at a bar, the Stone Rose in the Time Warner Center, they did not celebrate by downing shots.  (Nor did they offer vodka drinks to those of us attending the press conference.) 

For the first time, Diddy publicly denied having punched a nightclub patron on October 13.  He claimed that the story got blown out of proportion, and noted that he is not in custody.  “I don’t fight over girls”, Combs added. 

Los Angeles, October 22, 2007 – Fires burning all around southern California didn’t stop the famous and fabulous from putting on their best duds and walking the red carpet for the Hollywood Film Festival awards ceremony on Monday.  Thankfully, the arrivals were inside the Beverly Hilton Hotel, so the star weren’t covered with ash, like the cars out in the parking lot. 

Kirstie Alley, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Brad Pitt all slipped in a side door, but Janet Jackson, who used to shy away from the press, has taken full advantage of her role in Tyler Perry’s new flick Why Did I Get Married with mucho camera time. 

Both Affleck brothers received awards; Casey for acting, Ben for his directorial debut effort, Gone Baby Gone.  Wife Jennifer Garner didn’t stay in New York just to avoid the wildfires – she’s currently appearing on Broadway opposite Kevin Kline in Cyrano de Bergerac.

John Travolta took a supporting “actor” award for his turn as Emma Turnblad, and a big contingent of his Hairspray costars turned out, including Nikki Blonski, Zac Efron, Brittany Snow, Amanda Bynes and Elijah Kelly.  (Michelle Pfeiffer was slated to be there but didn’t show; we hope she’s not affected by the fires.)

There was a lot of French-accented cheering for the very chic Marion Cotillard, who was named best actress for her role as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose.

New York, October 18, 2007 – Isaac Mizrahi dresses the masses from head to toe in fabulous, affordable fashions with his designs for Target stores, and yet he couldn’t find a pair of shoes to match the suit he wore to the National Design Awards on Thursday, and opted for plastic shower sandals instead.  Maybe the fashion designer didn’t want to upstage TOMS shoes creator Blake Mycoskie, to whom he presented the People’s Choice award at the dinner. 

TOMS shoes has become a phenomenon, so we asked Mycoskie, a former Amazing Race contestant, what he thinks of that other footwear juggernaut, Crocs.  “It’s not my style, but I hear they’re very comfortable”, he said, laughing.  “I mean, they made a ton of money and everyone and their dog wears a pair of Crocs”, he added. 

Graphic designer Chip Kidd designed Paul Simon’s latest album cover, and the musician gave a funny, heartfelt tribute speech at the gala.  Simon was shy when we caught up with him later in the evening at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum.  “I have nothing to say, other than how much I admire Chip Kidd”, he told us. 

Sadly, we didn’t get to complain rave about all of our gadgets to Apple SVP of industrial design Jonathan Ive, who received the product design award.  However Extreme Makeover: Home Edition star Eduardo Xol, who hosted the event, said what everyone was thinking after Ive had left the stage.  “I’m one of those people who ran out and bought the iPhone on the first day", Xol announced. "I just wanted to say that."