Angelina Jolie as the “Hail Mary”?? From artist Kate Kretz‘ blog:

This painting addresses the celebrity worship cycle. The title, “Blessed Art Thou”, is taken from a line in the Catholic prayer “Hail Mary”: “…blessed art thou among women”. Our culture is deifying celebrities, but in the bible, it is the meek who are blessed, so the title presents a question for the viewer to ponder.

I chose a setting where the cycle begins: psychologically oppressive environments like this one are one of the feeding sources for the consumer, hungry for “information” about the celebrity’s private life. I am interested in the psychological ramifications of celebrity worship, particularly as they relate to class.

Angelina Jolie was chosen as the subject because of her unavoidable presence in the media, the world-wide anticipation of her child, her “unattainable” beauty and the good that she is doing in the world through her example, which adds another layer to the already complicated questions surrounding her status.

The “Virgin” and Zahara figures are loosely based on a Van Dyck Virgin painting, and the Maddox figure’s pose is borrowed from a Raphael painting.

All I have to say is… eh.

Angelina Jolie insists the key to a successful relationship is honesty.

‘The Good Shepherd’ actress, whose lover is Brad Pitt, is adamant if you want your love to last you have to be yourself and be completely open with your partner.

When asked if a little deception was necessary in a relationship, she told Britain’s OK! magazine: “No, I think the opposite is the only thing that works.

“I don’t want to have to spend my life having to pretend to be someone else, and I don’t want the person next to me to have to pretend because we have a long life ahead of us. So you just want to be able to be who you are in every moment, and that is the only way that you’ll ever be truly happy.”

Angelina met Brad on the set of their action film ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ and the pair began dating shortly after Brad split from his wife Jennifer Aniston in 2005.

They have three children together adopted son Maddox, adopted daughter Zahara and biological daughter Shiloh.

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Hit 2005 movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which starred Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, is to be turned into a TV series by US TV network ABC. The series will reunite director Doug Liman and writer Simon Kinberg, but there are no details as to who will take the starring roles. The action will pick up six months after events in the film, with the Smiths dealing with marital issues in a new house in a new suburb while trying to re-establish their careers. Kinberg says, “In a way, the show is all about the marriage. It is a show about any married couple trying to balance professional and home life.” US TV network CBS launched a version of Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 1996, featuring a similar plot, but it was scrapped after just two months.

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Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have spent their year helping others, and they didn’t take a break on Christmas Day. The couple spent Monday handing out gifts to refugee children in the Costa Rican capital San Jose.

“We had a wonderful Christmas both with the Costa Rican people and the Colombian refugee families we met,” Jolie said in a statement. Her visit was part of her work as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

About 11,500 refugees have come to Costa Rica, most of them from Colombia, where an armed conflict between leftist guerrillas, soldiers and paramilitary forces has forced them to flee, says the UNHCR. All told, an estimated 3 million Colombians have been forced from their homes.

“The conflict in Colombia is the greatest humanitarian tragedy in the Western Hemisphere, but it receives very little international attention,” Jolie said after her arrival in San Jose. “My Christmas message to Colombian refugees and to the millions of displaced people in Colombia is that the world has not totally forgotten them.”

In San Jose, Jolie and Pitt dropped in on several small businesses established by refugees thanks to UNHCR economic initiatives. They also talked with young refugees, learning about the problems they and their families have faced.

“It’s been sad for me to hear so many negative stories that show confusion between refugees, who are the victims of the conflict, and some criminal elements,” Jolie said.

The UNHCR said this was Jolie’s second trip to the region in her five years as a goodwill ambassador. She also went to Ecuador in 2002 and later wrote a personal journal of her meetings with Colombian refugees there.

Holiday visits with the underprivileged has become something of a tradition for Pitt and Jolie. In 2005, they spent their first Thanksgiving together aiding earthquake victims in Pakistan.

That same holiday this year, before visiting Ho Chi Minh City, Jolie paid an unannounced visit to son Maddox’s birth country, Cambodia, where she pledged to aid conservation efforts.

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Actress Angelina Jolie has hinted that she and partner Brad Pitt could be planning to give up their movie careers. Jolie, who has two adopted children, Maddox, five, and Zahara, 22 months, plus a biological baby with Pitt, six-month-old Shiloh, talked of her plans on US TV. The star, 31, said: ‘I’m hoping that as we get older, maybe we’ll do less films.’ Jolie, who recently filmed A Mighty Heart with Pitt in India, said she wants her children to have a normal upbringing. She added: ‘We don’t raise our kids in Hollywood. They don’t go to sets everyday. They travel the world and we do many, many other things.’ She also spoke of the six-year battle against ovarian cancer of her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, 56. Jolie said: ‘She’s a remarkable woman. She’s very strong. Her spirit is unbroken.’

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Like – what’s it like to kiss Matt Damon AND Brad Pitt.

Angelina – ever the diplomat – said that the difference is simple.

“You know, one’s a friend, and one’s my love,” she said. (Nicely played, Ang.)

Sawyer then wondered if the love scenes were awkward for Damon (who’s totes BFF with Pitt). “How do you do a love scene with the girlfriend of your good friend, especially if they’re Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt?”

“It’s weird…We all know each other…” Damon said.

Jolie added: “In reality both the people we’re involved with couldn’t have cared less about that because they know us. You know, it’s one of those things where it’s like the least threatening person…You know, ‘Good luck to you guys, I hope it’s not too awkward.’”

In the film, Damon plays one of the first CIA spies and Jolie plays his wife who is crushed by her husband’s secrets.

“I think early on when we realized this was going to be the film where I am the weak victim and he is the cruel, cruel, terrifying scary man,” Jolie said.

Damon, 36, said that all the famously independent actress had to do was play her polar opposite. In one scene, Damon said, Jolie has to act “so apologetic and just so unlike Angie.”

Jolie, 31, has two adopted children – one from Cambodia and one from Ethiopia. Sawyer asked why she hasn’t adopted a needy American child.

“Well, I don’t see borders in the world,” Jolie explained. “I mean I work with programs here for all children.”

But Jolie says when she has adopted in the past, she has based her decisions on her emotions. “Well, to be honest, it’s just been, I’ve been led by something emotional…I’ve been moved by the countries.”

Another question following Jolie is when — or whether — she and Pitt will wed. Damon got married while making The Good Shepherd.

Damon, who married live-in girlfriend Luciana Bozan while making the film, said he was surprised how marriage changed their relationship.

“It had more of an impact on me than I thought it would,” Damon said. “We already had the house in Florida and everything, and so I didn’t. … I didn’t think it was going to really change anything necessarily, but it actually did.”

So will Pitt and Jolie ever take the plunge? In the October issue of Esquire, Pitt stood up for gay rights and proclaimed, “Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able.”

“I think he was … he was commenting just on the state of [what] we all wish for,” Jolie explained. “That’s not really a comment on whether or not we would or if we plan to.”

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