Ah yes, here we have America’s most annoying couple doing what they can to stay as far away from each other during a Midtown Manhattan errand run. Brad Pitt, yes that’s the man that looks like Jesus there, is running ahead of the scary skinny lady that is hiding behind fly shades in the background. But one little picture like this doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve finally decided they annoy each other as well, as this kind of exit from a public place is very common for celebrity couples that don’t want to be seen together. Actually, this kind of exit is common for celebrities that don’t want “new couple” rumors to begin (circa John and Jen back in the day), but rarely occurs in well established couples with six children together. So maybe our most annoying couple have finally irritated each other enough to stay at arms length or farther. I gotta say, this hideous goatee that Brad boy is sporting would be enough to keep me a distance. At any rate, no, one little picture is not going to seal the deal with these guys….no, no…it’s all the OTHER stuff that people, and People magazine are saying that is pretty much confirming what we all thought was inevitable. Splitsville for Brangelina. Could it BE? Yes, despite the fact that Brad and Angelina were out for dinner together when the split rumours started, the rumors HAVE started and they don’t seem to be slowing down. Brad Pitt! Angelina! Please just stand beside each other! The speculation over whether the celebrity alpha couple have split or not is only getting more intense now that the covers of this week’s celeb magazines have been posted online. And while In Touch says Jennifer Aniston broke them up, a claim that has slightly more credibility this week than the dozen times they’ve previously reported it, People magazine, a publication that will no more lie to you about Brangelina than they will over how delicious a fat-free chocolate cake recipe is, says not to panic.

“Angie and Brad were actually out to dinner together in Los Angeles when the rumour broke. That’s how ridiculous [the story] is.”

The hotly followed famous ones are currently in Los Angeles with their kids Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh and the invisible twins, Viv and Knox. So just when I was going to go back to sleeping through the night, Howard Stern had to go and shatter my sense of security. He randomly called into Rosie O’Donnell’s Rosie Radio on Tuesday and, when talked turned to Brangelina, he said he knew they weren’t together anymore, ONTD reports. And while Howard may be many things, including a man who can leave you permanently traumatized with a sexual remark about Barbara Bush, he isn’t really known as a big gossip mongerer. He cryptically said he “knows people” and “he can pretty much say for sure that they are no longer together,” ONTD reported. It sure didn’t help that Angelina was snapped out in L.A. with not Brad, but her brother James Haven on Tuesday. Or that a rep for the couple are now saying they have no plans to attend the Oscars this year. But for those who want to believe, Angelina’s dad Jon Voight says he’s still the only one kicked out of Angelina’s life. “It’s all made up stuff,” he said, via Metro. That would be reassuring if I thought for one second that Howard Stern didn’t play a larger role in Angelina’s life than Jon Voight does.

Photograph: PacificCoastNews.com

Brad Pitt is seen here looking every so..um…inglorious…at the New York premiere of The Time Travelers Wife held last week at the Ziegfield Theater in New York City. An interesting film of sorts, as Brad’s always tend to be, and is is a romantic drama about a Chicago librarian with a gene that causes him to involuntarily time travel, and the complications it creates for his marriage. And though he looks a little rough around the edges, don’t let this bad boy image fool you, as he is working very hard to clean up his act. How so you say? He’s decided that his pot smoking days are over. Yes, while our boy Brad Pitt played a pot smoker in 1993′s True Romance and admits life imitated art for him until just recently.”I certainly had my day,” Pitt, 45, told HBO’s Bill Maher in an interview Friday after the Real Time host called the actor’s role “one of the best stoner performances.” Maher — who was grilling the actor on his upcoming flick Inglorious Basterds — also recounted a New Year’s Eve party at which he says he witnessed Pitt rolling “the most perfect” joints he had ever seen. Brad’s cheeky response? “I’m an artist.” And though the thought of Brad rolling a joint may dismay you, he admits he kicked the habit for his six kids — Maddox, 7, Pax, 5, Zahara, 4, Shiloh, 3, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 1 — whom he has with partner Angelina Jolie.

“I’m a dad now. You want to be alert and my eyes used to glaze over when I did that,” he told Maher, saying that pot would get in the way of his work. “I liked to smoke a bit of grass at the time, and I became very sheltered. Then I got bored. I was turning into a damn doughnut, really. So I moved as far away from that as I could. I was done.”

He has a woman in his life, but not a wife, and says that there are more important things to think about. And though he is getting a lot of flack for not slipping a ring on her finger, he still stands by the fact that she is the love of his life, his soulmate even he says. While they’re still hot for each other after four years of dating — he calls their backyard pool “a great place for sex” — he says they still have no plans to wed. Yes, yes, that is definitely far too much information for some, but this is not a couple that is shy about…well….anything really. Having a family together is a bigger commitment than marriage, he says.

“It’s certainly more than the ball-and-chain that country songs sing about. Our family is the base that gives Angie and me the long tether to go out and do all these other things. It’s a big step we’ve taken. We’ve put down roots together. As Angie and I carve out our time as a couple, we carve out our lives as individuals.”

And so when he is not making blockbusters, he is enjoying spending his time between his homes in New Orleans and the South of France, where his youngest children were born. He says these two areas have the greatest value in terms of quality of life, and he is going to continue being a movie maker, and a family man for as long as he can. Without pot.

Photo: Darla Khazei, PacificCoastNews.com

Ah yes, it is the Cannes Film Festival time once again where all of the beautiful people come out to play in France. And here is one star that never seems to miss the spotlight at all when it comes to making the appropriate appearances at the film festivals. Brad Pitt is seen here arriving for the premiere of Inglourious Basterds at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival that was held at the Palais des Festivals on the Croisette in Cannes. And this is only a year after last year’s appearance where he appeared with his Jolie girl, who was on the brink of delivering their twins. My how time flies, are the twins almost one already?

At any rate, though Mr. Pitt is all smiles here, these may be hiding some disgruntled appearances as work on his latest movie ‘Moneyball’ has recently come to a screeching halt. The movie was working on a $50 million dollar budget through Columbia Pictures, when all of a sudden, Columbia pulled the plug according to the Hollywood Reporter. The trade paper says that studio head Amy Pascal switched on the red light after several changes had been made to the script since it was first approved. The movie itself is based on Michael Lewis’s nonfiction book about the Oakland Athletics and their general manager Billy Beane – who put together a star Major League team despite a lack of a major bank account – the script was by Ocean’s series director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Steven Zaillian.

The latest Moneyball script draft wasn’t even a week old, and Columbia went and pulled the plug. Pascal permitted Soderbergh to shop the script around to other studios this weekend. Meanwhile, the film’s crew was already assembled – meaning that if another movie company is to bite, it would have to act fast to get going. Variety suggests that Columbia even might take another look, possibly replacing Soderbergh but then hoping that Pitt doesn’t abandon the project.

As viewers, we all know there simply MUST be a solid chemistry between Soderbergh and Brad Pitt as they have worked on many MANY projects together, so this will be a great disappointment to lose either one OR the other in a possible flick. We shall see how this one pans out, because it may be time that Brad Pitt fans are getting a little withdrawal over his talent. Stay tuned!

Photo: Alex Bastille, PacificCoastNews.com

Photograph: Darla Khazei, PacificCoastNews.com

Doncha just wanna say at this point that Jennifer, when the horse is dead, the horse is dead. Stop kicking it. Stop beating it. Stop touching it. Stop calling it. Stop thinking about it. Dead horse. Dead. This is the only word that I can come up with as far as the never ending saga between Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer is concerned, and yet we keep hearing about it. Is this a couplehood destined to work and this is why we keep hearing about it? Or is this just another case of two people who don’t know how to move on? Who knows. At any rate, here we have Jennifer Aniston looking particularly contemplative on the set of her latest film “The Baster”. In this film Jennifer plays an unmarried 40 year old woman, ironically enough. This woman is so desperate to have a child that she turns to a turkey baster. Yes, you read that right. Is it just me or is it *possible* that Jennifer has been on a downhill slide since the break with Player Mayer? A turkey baster, Jennifer??? Seriously?? As Jennifer’s latest hit “He’s Not That Into You” hits the DVD shelves this week, she is of course back in the headlines proving maybe just how appropriate it really was for her to work this film. Because now the word is that Jennifer may be needing some rehab to detox herself from John John. Or at least, some rehab to detox herself period to ensure she doesn’t pick up the phone. Because the drink and dial seems to be prevalent on her To Do list these days. Ah yes, a rumour claims she’s drunk dialing–sigh—the aforementioned John Mayer. And as you can imagine, this is leading to the predictable slew of BranJenniston Triangles and rumors. Because some are saying that her ex husband Brad Pitt is just as guilty of the Drink ‘N Dial. After a few tawdry titles claimed Brad is in the habit of having a few drinks and then one thing leads to another and suddenly he’s babbling on to Jennifer’s voicemail about how much he cried in Marley & Me, the National Enquirer has come back with an equally gripping story that Jen has been drunkenly contacting her ex-boyfriend Beelzebub, aka Player Mayer.

“She started reaching out to him, sometimes very late at night,” a crew crony from her currently in-production movie The Baster reports. “And sometimes after a few too many glasses of wine.”

Yes, the crew stories are always so believable. I’m sure those conversations have been the height of poise and elegance. I think we can all see where this is heading. The next episode in this saga will be Angelina performing the Drink N Dial to Jennifer, screaming “stay away from my man you tramp!” Angelina calls Jennifer Aniston to warn her to never contact Brad again, under penalty of grappling hook. And then maybe they can all have a drunk conference call and get this situation sorted out once and for all. One can only hope.

Edward Opinaldo, PacificCoastNews.com

Well you have to know that once you get the coveted “Sexiest Man Alive” title that life in the public eye is going to get a little complicated for you. And as it turns out there seems to be a little bit of Pitt Effect and Clooney Effect making waves over the New York part of our world. Here is the Pitt Effect in full force as he shoots a commercial for a Japanese cell phone company in Manhattan. The ad was a cute little spot featuring the Softbank company with Brad “holding up” a Sumo wrestler. Well, that will be a fun one to see when that finally comes out. But as far as coming out, Brad seems to be creating a little stir at his current hometown of Long Island, and all the ladies are in waiting as they’ve been hit by the Pitt virus for those whose children attend the same school that the Pittlet clan does. In Oyster Bay, the folks there are posh but casual, driving their customized Beamers full of snooty children to school in their alligator shirts and Gucci loafers. Ever since the Pitt kids have been attending the same school, the playground mommies seemed to have spruced themselves up a little bit, hoping to catch an eye of this sexiest man alive. Gone are the days of sweat pants and flats seen on the school yard playground at drop off time, and instead the Oyster Bay mommies are showing up at school in high heels, designer jeans, and full blown beauty regimes. EVERYONE is dolled up says an insider at the school as every day the moms rush to their car pool duties hoping to catch a glimpse of this sexy man. And, this is all so comical to me, because I just don’t see either Brad or Angelina doing the school drop off thing, or is it just me? But word is that yes, Brad boy is playing Mr. Mom while Angelina works on her newest work “Salt” in Long Island. He is even reported to coming into Shiloh’s class and reading stories to the children. My my, I have to say even I would put on a pair of heels for that one. It’s all a part of the Pitt family trying to make life as normal as possible for their kids, and I think the effort is very sweet actually. But how normal is it for a child when all of their friends parents are trying to catch a glimpse of the Sexiest Man Alive? In other Ocean’s news, seems like George Clooney is undergoing a little bit of the same hysteria. He’s trying to keep things low pro in Bayville, NY and was meeting at a place called the Breakers restaurant to have lunch with a friend. The scene got a little high pitched when some women spotted him, and all he remembers of the experience is “women screaming”. Poor George, and poor Brad. Gotta wonder though how much sympathy they really need, huh? Such is the life when you are granted the coveted title of Sexiest Man Alive at one point in your career, that just never seems to go away. And I kind of have a hunch that if you asked Brad or George, they wouldn’t really want it to anyway.

pacificcoastnews.com

Yep, Angelina is back to work and is seen here waving handcuffs on the set of Salt where she is playing a fugitive CIA assassin. But even though life has returned to normal for her, she hasn’t stopped thinking about how much she wants to save the world and expand her gaggle of children until she out beats Octo Mom I guess. And since these are turbulent times in our country and for the Pitt family, and by that I mean Jennifer Aniston has shocked us with a new look yet again, then it is comforting to know that if nothing else changes, the growing Pittlet gang will never change but in numbers. And now that Madonna has made the leap to adopt another, Angelina can’t let that headline sit unrivalled. So there is some talk now about a seventh, and yes even an eighth Pittlet. As its stands now, Angelina is currently renting a home in Long Island while she is filming “Salt” but has full intentions to fly to some third world country some where and find themselves another baby. And then, because I guess their 12 homes aren’t enough, she is going to find another place to live for all of them as well. I have lost track, but do they own more houses or have more children in that family? The events seem to coincide don’t they? At any rate, Africa seems to be the locale of choice for this couple’s next family member given that their daughter Zahara who is four was born in Ethiopia. No clue if this will transpire or not, or if this is just something to talk about themselves because Madonna just came out with the SAME announcement. But one thing will never change, if you need a source to uncover any surprising news from the Jolie-Pitts, just ask Jack Black, he’s infamous for spilling all of the Angelina baby beans.