Pakistan is in the midst of one of the greatest humanitarian crises the country has ever faced, and that’s saying something, because Pakistan has a horrible history with humanitarian crises. The latest crisis began with the devastating flooding that left large, populated areas on Pakistan uninhabitable, and destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes. So far, 1,700 people have lost their lives, and hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis have been displaced. Angelina Jolie addressed the Pakistani flooding several weeks ago, when she was on the European promotional tour for Salt, and the UNHCR announced that she had donated $100,000, directed to the UNHCR mission in Pakistan. Jolie also made a PSA last week to encourage others to donate to the UNHCR mission. Yesterday, Angelina flew to Pakistan via Heathrow, and now she’s on the ground trying to bring attention to the refugee camps and the lack of funding:

JALOZAI, Pakistan — American movie star Angelina Jolie met flood victims in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday and appealed to the international community to provide aid needed to help the country recover from its worst natural disaster.

The flow of aid money has stalled in recent days, and officials expressed hope the two-day visit by Jolie – who serves as a “goodwill ambassador” for the U.N.’s refugee agency – will convince foreign countries and individuals to open their wallets.

The 35-year-old actress said she met with many people whose lives have been devastated by the floods, including mothers who lost their children and an elderly Pakistani couple who feared they would never be able to rebuild the home they lost.

“I am very moved by them and I hope that I am able to, today and tomorrow, be able to do something to help bring attention to the situation for all of the people in need in Pakistan,” Jolie told reporters after visiting a refugee camp in the Jalozai area.

She toured the area wearing a long black robe and a black headscarf adorned with a thin red stripe – the kind of conservative clothing worn by many Muslim women in Pakistan.

The floods began in the northwest at the end of July after extremely heavy monsoon rains and slowly surged south along the Indus River, swallowing up hundreds of villages and towns and killing more than 1,700 people. Another 17 million have been affected by the floods, and many will need emergency assistance to survive.

The United Nations issued an appeal for $460 million in emergency funds on Aug. 11, but only $294 million, or 64 percent, has been received so far, and donations have more or less dried up in recent days.

Ajay Chhibber, a U.N. assistant secretary general, said he hopes Jolie’s visit will have “a very big impact” on the inflow of aid money and will keep people focused on the crisis.

“We need more … well-known figures who can keep the spotlight and focus because people tend to forget internationally,” said Chhibber, who is also the U.N. development agency’s regional director for Asia. He spoke to reporters during a visit to Islamabad.

[From The Huffington Post]

Just pulling from my own memory, I think this is Angelina’s fourth UNHCR trip to Pakistan through her decade of service to the UNHCR. When she first went, the refugee crisis was about the hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees who had fled their country to avoid Russian, and then Taliban rule. Then it was the devastating earthquake in 2005. And now the flooding. These poor people.

Here’s the UNHCR donation page – this is for general donations, but if you want to direcct your money specifically to the UNHCR’s mission in Pakistan, go here.

Header: Angelina Jolie in Pakistan on Sept. 7, 2010. Photo courtesy of the UNHCR.

Below is a new PSA from Angelina Jolie that she did on behalf of the UNHCR’s efforts in Pakistan. Pakistan has sustained substantial flooding that has killed thousands and left millions homeless. While Angelina was on the European tour for Salt, it was announced that she had donated $100,000 to the UNHCR’s efforts in Pakistan, and now she is making an international plea for money and attention directed towards Pakistan. In the PSA, Jolie says, “This is not just a humanitarian crisis. It is an economic and social catastrophe. The more support we can give, the greater number of tents, food, clean water and medicine will get to the people in need.”

Once you get past the bangs trauma (just me?) and the low-budget style that makes the video seem like it’s a tape made by someone being held hostage in a dank basement, the message is solid.

If you would like to donate to the UNHCR’s mission in Pakistan, GO HERE.

If you would like to donate to the International Red Cross’s operations, GO HERE.

There’s more information here about the flooding and about charities and NGOs doing good works in-country HERE.

Sandra Bullock was on hand to help open the new health clinic at the Warren Easton Charter school in New Orleans on Sunday, the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Bullock is a major sponsor of the clinic and the school, an acclaimed public school with an almost 100% graduation rate. She spoke to the press that morning and joked that she was going to give a seminar in truth in journalism. Then she got serious and talked about the good that the school does. “I am personally tired of only hearing about the bad news [from] the media. When I firsthand have seen nothing but unimaginable kindness, perseverance and hope right under this roof here.” Here’s more of what Sandra said:

Despite the rain-soaked gray Sunday morning and the somber fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Sandra Bullock managed to get a laugh out of the crowd at Warren Easton Charter High School in New Orleans.

Flipping over an hourglass, the Oscar-winning actress joked, “THIS is all the time I have.”

Bullock, a part-time New Orleans resident, donated money to help rebuild the school and to open a student health clinic. She appeared at weekend events to pay tribute to those behind the hurricane recovery effort.

“I have seen nothing but unimaginable kindness, perseverance and hope right in this room here,” said Bullock. “It gives me great pleasure to be in the company of these people who have actually made the difference. They did the hard work, they are here sitting before you.”

Joking that she was beginning to sound like a politician – “No offense,” she laughed to U.S. Sens. Mary Landrieu and David Vitter – Bullock said that despite the devastation, the anniversary should be seen as day for celebration.

“These young adults have seen the very worst, and they are committed to the very best,” said Bullock. ” They are our future leaders. I would like to thank the students who step up to the plate and do the hardest work. I didn’t do it in high school, and it makes me so incredibly proud.”

Wearing a V-neck dark blue knee-length dress, black belt and heels, Bullock stood with school nurse Cassondra Ferrand and principal Alexina Medley and other officials to cut the gold ribbon on the new health facility behind the school.

“It was more than her money,” says Easton Foundation board member Arthur Hardy. “She is like our spiritual leader. She is our angel.”

“What do you say about a human being who just pours out their heart and soul, who puts their money where their mouth is, walks the walk, talks the talk,” adds Mayor Mitch Landrieu. “And even if is was just in a movie, she married a New Orleans boy.”

[From WWLTV.com]

Sandra first interview post-scandal interview will be from New Orleans with Matt Lauer and will air on Tuesday. You can be sure that she’ll talk about her work with the school along with the efforts to rebuild the community post-Katrina. I love that she’s so involved in local causes, and that she adopted her son from New Orleans. She seems like such a caring person who is glad to help make a difference. She seemed to really acknowledge the unsung heroes in her speech, too, the people who give of themselves and don’t get the recognition that we give celebrities and politicians for their charity work. I’m anxious to hear what she has to say on Tuesday.

Photos are from Fame Pictures, which points us to the little “L” pendant Sandra is wearing for her son, Louis.

Last night, Brian “My Dong Is Large” Williams interviewed Brad Pitt for the NBC Nightly News, all for the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I hadn’t heard about this – I knew Sandra Bullock was doing a Matt Lauer interview, but I didn’t know Brad was getting all up in the Nightly News. Can I just say something about how handsome he is for a second? Brad looks lovely here. This is the prettiest he’s looked in, like, two years. And goddamn he can wear some denim.

Anyway, the interview:

Some quotes:

On NOLA, immediately post-Katrina: “Complete devastation. It was unfathomable. I mean, just– you had no idea that there were families and here. It was just wiped clean. Except for the occasional pile up of homes and– on top of homes.”

Why Make It Right? “I mean, people’s– people build their lives here. And– and– I mean, New Orleans is a unique place to begin with. And I say– a cultural treasure trove for– for America to begin with. But the thing that struck me was that these people were trying to– you know, these people were trying to get home. And– and were having a very difficult time doing so. And as I got into and started studying it, I found out that levy walls were built improperly.”

Et cetera. Brian calls NOLA Brad’s “empire” and says he’s “not so naïve now” because Brad repeats his claim that he started all of this out of naiveté, which he also said in his Douglas Brinkley interview. I think it was a good interview, and I like Brad brings the conversation back to the people of New Orleans and the progress that’s being made.

By the way, Angelina Jolie was also in New Orleans, channeling her inner goth chick:

Angelina and Brad in New Orleans on August 27, 2010 courtesy of Fame.

Oooh, a new Brad Pitt interview! He’s promoting Make It Right NOLA, and he’s likely doing press for it because the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is upon us. Brad spoke to Douglas Brinkley, noted historian and author of one of the seminal works on Katrina, The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. This was all for The Times-Picayune, but the NOLA site has the full piece. Thanks to Ecorazzi for the heads up! Here’s how Brinkley introduces Pitt (the full interview is here):

Whenever actor Brad Pitt is in New Orleans, he gets on his old thrift-store bicycle and tools around the city enjoying the architecture and ambiance. It’s his way of staying in shape. His favorite destination is pedaling across the retractable North Claiborne Avenue Bridge to the Lower 9th Ward to inspect his Make It Right Foundation houses.

The entire Make It Right saga is a “Hail Mary” pass that worked.

Starting in 2006, Pitt’s foundation commissioned 13 architecture firms to design affordable, eco-friendly houses. Pitt decided to build these houses — nearly 50 at last count — on the exact spot where the Industrial Canal levee breached on Aug. 29, 2005.

Pitt is in New Orleans this week to attend Katrina anniversary events. A true Hollywood workhorse, seldom getting a day off, Pitt spoke to me following a brutal 50-hour-a-week production schedule on a Hollywood set.

[From NOLA.com]

Since this piece is so lengthy, I’m really going to try to edit it down to the bare essentials. Hint: I’m taking out all of the crap about sports, because I just don’t care. But Brad did have nice stuff to say about the Saints and Reggie Bush. Whatever. Here you go:

Tell me about your love affair with New Orleans. You’ve become perhaps the city’s most effective booster. How did that happen?
I came to New Orleans back in 1994 doing the “Interview with the Vampire” movie, based on the Anne Rice novel, and fell in love with the city. It got under my skin. Everything was sexy and sultry. I’d ride my bike all over the place, amazed by the architecture. I’d return to New Orleans every chance I could. What can I say; it’s got the best people, the best everything. It’s the most interesting city in America.

Where were you when Hurricane Katrina hit on Aug. 29, 2005?
In Calgary, up in Canada, making the movie “The Assassination of Jesse James.” I couldn’t get my eyes off the TV. It was frustrating seeing all those people on rooftops screaming for help. It was abhorrent. I was gutted. I remember thinking we can do better in America. Everybody seemed to make mistakes at a federal, local and state level. I used to ride my bike around the Lower 9th — usually going to the Holy Cross area to look around. My instinct said that we have to find a way for those people to find a road home. New homes were clearly going to be needed.

When did the idea of Make It Right houses come into focus?
I got involved with Global Green and various Bill Clinton initiatives. I met a lot of smart people. But nobody was doing what I thought needed to be done. Look, I’m an architecture junkie. And the holy grail of architecture is finding ways to design sustainable urban communities. The Lower 9th had become a clean slate. Everything had been washed away. So quite naively — and I know I’m naive — I said let’s start at ground zero, the very historic neighborhood that got devastated by Katrina. We brought architect William McDonough into the picture and things took off. We started building prototypes. The Lower 9th is the iconic spot of Katrina. It’s where the levees breached. It represents a marginalized people stuck in a man-made disaster. I met Katrina victims who had been given FEMA trailers and had nothing to hook them up to. Others had formaldehyde problems. What was the message? We were telling people to come home and yet when they got back to New Orleans they were treated in a substandard way. I just thought it was atrocious.

How do you feel seeing those Lower 9th families living today, on the fifth anniversary of the storm, in beautiful Make It Right houses?
Great! I was in the Lower 9th for Memorial Day. Families were barbecuing and swimming in the little, you know, pop-up swimming pools. And families were coming together and saying hi. You know, the simple acts of kindness. A lot of residents no longer have only a cynical view of Katrina, they have a brighter perspective about life. And when I say kindness I mean Make It Right was built on the donations of people. Americans donated. That has a deep effect on the people living in these homes. We have solar panels providing the energy, and it works and fellow Americans paid for it. Not the government.

When you came down from Calgary to see the Lower 9th in person back in 2005, were you shocked?
Yeah. It was, like I said, a blank canvas. It was obliterationville. It was a blank, blank, blank canvas. A house sitting on top of a house on top of a house sitting on top of a station wagon with a boat jammed through it. It was, you know, shocking devastation. The place looked like a giant eraser had come in and just erased away those homes. You know, these weren’t just houses. These were people’s lives shattered. Families in pain, memories washed away, just obliterated.

A lot of people saw the devastation in the Lower 9th. But only you acted on rebuilding it?
OK, I was naive, totally naive. I credit naivete with our success. I was also an opportunist. I saw this land, it was available, and I thought we could make a difference. Starting from scratch has its benefits. Too often we give disaster victims cheap building products, slipshod materials, and then put on top of them the burden of energy bills and medical bills. You know it’s the badly built levees that destroyed these people’s lives. We needed, as a country, to do something right for them. A new paradigm was needed. The technology was available. So I thought, ‘Let’s build houses that answer all the problems.’ We needed to make amends for over 1,500 deaths. We had to fix the grave injustice the best we could. Let’s face the facts: Shoddy Army Corps levee work was the culprit behind the 2005 flooding of New Orleans. People in pre-Katrina had been sold cement slabs in the Lower 9th next to the levee. These folks were told it’s all right to build homes, for example, on Tennessee Avenue. They were set up. I mean not necessarily intentionally, but through the negligence of levee maintenance. But, lo and behold, the Lower 9th is now the greenest — I don’t even like the word green — it’s the most high-performing clean neighborhood in the world, according to the Green Building council.

Are you hoping this can be a pilot project or prototype community to develop elsewhere? Do you have a global vision?
That was the plan. That was the plan all along. This thing could become a template for other communities to follow. And we’ve trained New Orleans contractors on how to build these homes.

When did you decide to be a New Orleans homeowner?
I’ve always wanted to have something there. I had looked into some properties in the late ’90s and almost bought a home. But my personal life didn’t make it possible then. After Katrina, in 2006, it just became a need. I needed to be down in the Lower 9th and I wanted to make films in New Orleans because I love being in the city so much.

Can you still get around New Orleans on your bike? Do you put a sweatshirt hood over your head? Or does your facial hair serve as a disguise?
In New Orleans, the people are great. They leave Angie and me alone. Unfortunately, we drag paparazzi with us from other places in the world. They become a bit of a hindrance. We try to go out and all the locals are so great, and then these paparazzi ruin it. But otherwise, man, we can just live and breathe and ride bikes. We can take our kids on bike rides, and local people just give us a shout out—and let us move on. It’s very free for us in New Orleans, very nice for us. It’s like Venice or Rome; an essential world city. So we feel honored to be involved with the community. Everybody treats us like neighbors.

How do you feel about the grass-roots movement of Brad Pitt for U.S. senator or mayor of New Orleans?
Yeah, with my past? (Laughs). It isn’t going to happen. Oh, my, the skeletons that would come out of my closet. That’s a losing venture.

Did something in your Missouri upbringing connect you emotionally to New Orleans?
Yeah, there is a strain of that. New Orleans holds a southern mentality but also an East Coast mentality regarding the importance of art and culture in life. Somehow Springfield, Mo. — in the southern part of the state — seemed more connected down the interstate to New Orleans than St. Louis or Kansas City. It’s a Southern thing in me.

When you’re working in L.A. or Europe, do you listen to New Orleans music?
Truthfully, my favorite sound in the entire world is opening up the balcony doors in the French Quarter and hearing four different sounds playing at once from the apartments across the way or down the street. Or, you know, behind our house. And it’s a balmy night, twilight, and I’m drinking a beer and this feeling just falls over me, of contentment. It gives me goose bumps to talk about it.

If you had a magic wand, what would you want to see happen in New Orleans during the fifth anniversary commemorations?
I’d like to see more people still be able to get back. More specifically, for our Make It Right project, I would like to expand our template to St. Bernard Parish. You know, out of all the Lower 9th homes we built, all are producing more energy than they are spending, than they are consuming. They’re all pollution-free. This is an amazing story to me. Many of our homeowners don’t owe anything for energy use. We can prove that low-income and high-performance houses work. No more antiquated building practices are needed in New Orleans; let’s put that one behind us. We’re on track to build more homes in the Lower 9th and perhaps in St. Bernard Parish. We are getting the prices down. All our safety measures are intact. I hope house experts will come look. I can back up what I’m saying. Our homes are affordable, high-performance, and safe. And there is an aesthetic to them all. Now I want to drive the price down. OK, that is fair to say, the price needs to come down. But any other criticism you hear doesn’t hold up.

What do you say to people who don’t think the Lower 9th is safe because the levees are still weak? How do you know the wall won’t collapse again in a Category 3 or 4 or 5 hurricane?
Sure, I have concerns. I mean it was the first question we had to ask: Are we putting people back into the danger zone? Well, there is a Road Home program. Nobody is giving them enough money to return safely. In our eyes, you’re setting people up for another catastrophe. Our houses are built high enough from the ground to endure flooding if the levees don’t hold up. As for the iconic Industrial Canal breach spot? It’s been dealt with by engineers to a large degree, dealt with better than the other walls. You know what my worry is? My worry is not the Lower 9th, it’s the upper 9th. Because that protection wall wasn’t dealt with. It’s a foot or two lower than the levee in our neighborhood. If the Army Corps would just have spent a little bit more time, put in a little more focus and a little bit more money and done it right the first time, New Orleans would be a far safer place. And it wouldn’t have cost the billions of dollars to fix what was wrong. And I find that inexcusable. So our Make It Right homes are built right. And that’s where the title came from: Make It Right. Just make it right for everybody. Make things fair to the people of New Orleans. Make it right.

[From NOLA.com]

Look, I know Brad it probably going to get bashed for this interview, just because he gets bashed for breathing at this point, but I personally think on this point, on this issue, he is 100% authentic, passionate, dedicated and awesome. We can bitch and moan about the costs or the architecture or the timing or all of it, but the truth of the matter is that Brad puts his time and money where his mouth is, and that’s always something I respect. Make It Right NOLA is one of his greatest passions, and he’s stuck with it, and I believe he’ll continue to stick with it, no matter how complicated things get. For this, I have nothing but admiration and applause for him.

Header: Brad in D.C. discussing Make It Right NOLA in March 2009. Credit: WENN.

There is a wealth of new Angelina Jolie interviews from her Berlin press tour – which was whirlwind – I think she was in town for 24 hours. Long enough for two costume changes, one an angel-tear-stained jewel tone sweater dress, and the other a baggy black halter sack by BCBG Max Azaria. While in Berlin, Angelina allegedly stayed in a 4,000-square-foot suite at the Adlon Hotel with Pax and Maddox, which is weird because I thought she was traveling with the twins. But – there were some reports that Brad was in France, so maybe she dropped the twins off in France when she was in Paris, and then took the boys to Berlin? Eh. Most of this information comes from German sites and shows, and has been translated by CB’s husband. Let’s run down the highlights:

When asked about Brad, Angelina said: “I have a strong partner. He is a great dad. He is my best friend. As long he loves me everything is perfect.”

Angelina also confirmed that she and Brad do not own property in Berlin, as previously reported, but said that she could “see herself” living in Berlin at some point, and that she and Brad have “friends” in Berlin. Christoph Waltz? Some architect? Sure. The RBB interview is here, but the video seems a little wonky for American viewers, so just be prepared.

Angelina also had a lot to say about the flooding in Pakistan. Apparently, Angelina announced that she had donated $100,000 to the UNHCR operations in Pakistan (considering hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis are homeless, the UNHCR operation is extensive). She also said she would like to go back to Pakistan to see the disaster-related refugee crisis first-hand, but that she was on standby because she did not want to get in the way and pull any resources. Here’s a little bit more:

Angelina Jolie says it’s vital that people help Pakistan’s flood victims and not surrender to compassion fatigue.

The floods have displaced 20 million people, but donations are below those for catastrophes like the Haitian earthquake or the Asian tsunami.

Jolie said she understood that “it is getting hard for people — they see Haiti, they see these other events … and they get exhausted by the time another big one rolls around.”
But she said Pakistanis face “mass death, mass displacement, and this situation is going to get worse.”

“I’m planning a trip, we’re contacting people on the ground and we’re speaking to people in the US government everyday.”

Jolie and partner Brad Pitt spent Thanksgiving in Pakistan in 2005 visiting victims of the earthquake which claimed the lives of over 73 thousand people.

“It’s such a catastrophe that it’s hard to know what to do but everyone should do something,” the Hollywood star added.

Jolie has visited Haiti, Iraq and other countries as a U.N. goodwill ambassador. The star says she might visit Pakistan once “the cameras go away.”

[From The AP & ITN]

Other quotes, via Berliner Morganpost print edition, regarding the tabloids: “I love my life, I do my job, I ignore them.” How she manages her life: “I have the means and opportunities, I have Brad, he is a great Dad, I just had a lot of luck. And I try to get the best out of every day.”

Here are some donation sites if you want to contribute:
The International Red Cross Donation page
The United Nations High Commission on Refugees – Pakistan Flood donation page
CARE donation page

Matt Damon is advocating for clean water and plumbing throughout the world as part of the charity he co-founded, Water.org. He appeared in a video for CNN (shown above) to show how difficult it is for people in rural northern Ethiopia to collect water for themselves and their families. People, including schoolchildren, walk hours and carry heavy jugs in order to get dirty water from a hand dug well. The risk of water-borne diseases, like dysentery and cholera, from the visibly muddy water is high. Water.org strives to bring awareness to the need for clean, potable water throughout the world as well as build safe community wells and toilets. They built a well in Adenifas, Ethiopia, and you can see the building site and celebration in the first video below. (It’s a longer version of the CNN video and the well-building starts at about 3:00 minutes in.)

Damon is expecting his fourth child with wife Luciana, which will be his third biological child. (He also has a step daughter from Luciana’s first marriage.) He’s credited Luciana with holding their family together around his varied work schedule and said that they’re now preparing for their next little tornado.” The couple was spotted at John Krasinski and Emily Blunt’s wedding at George Clooney’s estate in Italy last month and were later seen on a family vacation in Hawaii. Damon is certainly keeping busy this summer.

I’m a sucker for anything Damon does and it works out particularly well when he makes great movies and advocates for such worthy causes.

Update: This post has been up for like an hour and has one comment. I just wanted to note that the only reason I know about this video is because I get Water.org’s newsletter. It’s not like the charity is issuing press releases to the celebrity news outlets, although maybe they should be. Also, I just read this really good article on Pajiba reviewing a new documentary the reveals how bottled water is a rip off that hurts communities and the environment. It’s only moderately related, but it’s worth considering when you realize the lengths that people in remote areas go though to get water.

Video: Water.org co-founders Gary White and Matt Damon project sites in Ethiopia. (longer version of CNN video above)

Video: About Water.org

Nicole Kidman went to Haiti over the weekend, acting in her role as goodwill ambassador to the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). She met with people from the UN Mission in Haiti, and with Haitian women in-country. She also did press for her trip too, which I can understand. If this were Angelina Jolie, I’m sure everyone would be all “OF COURSE SHE DID PRESS, FAMEWHORE” – but that’s part of the job description as a goodwill ambassador, to generate press for your mission or organization. What I don’t think the UN expects, however, if for the interview in-country to be about what films you’ve got coming out:

It’s not easy parting Nicole Kidman from her 2-year-old daughter, Sunday Rose.

“I’ve spent two nights away from her in two years. I’m just so into her. I’m crazy about her. She’s a good little traveler. She flies everywhere and she brings her little toys. It’s not a big deal, traveling with them — but not to Haiti,” says Kidman, calling Thursday from Port-au-Prince after spending a day touring a women’s shelter. “Safetywise, I couldn’t bring her (here), but otherwise, she goes everywhere with me. We were walking through the tent cities today, and it’s just rubble and tents.”

Kidman, 43, spends most of her time living a quiet, suburban life in Nashville with husband Keith Urban and their toddler. But she’s in the Haitian capital as part of her work with United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM); she’s been a goodwill ambassador since January 2006. Her focus? Women’s rights around the world, with this particular outing spotlighting the plight of women in Haiti, which was devastated by a January earthquake.

“It’s not what I get out of it. I feel like I can never put enough into it. The greatest thing my parents did was give me a social conscience,” says Kidman of her UNIFEM work. “For someone like Sunday, for her to be able to be molded, I suppose, to have a very strong social conscience — I would be so proud. I would hope for that. Keith and I are both very committed to that.”

In the Kidman-Urban household, charity is a family business. “Keith has done benefit concerts for us. He’s been so supportive. I’m always like, ‘Hey, I think I might be able to get hold of a musician.’ He’s so lovely,” says his wife.

Kidman, who won an Oscar for 2002′s The Hours, says philanthropy is a big part of her life. “I’m just constantly trying to give a voice to the women around the world, women everywhere, who are in need of help. If there’s anything to be had from having worked for 23 to 25 years of my life, I’m so glad to now be able to do this. I don’t mind being used like that,” she says.

Next up, Kidman goes back to her day job. “I haven’t done a movie for a while. I spent a couple of weeks on the Adam Sandler movie, but that was a tiny role,” she says, referring to Just Go With It, out next year. Later this summer, she’s starting production on Trespass, opposite Nicolas Cage, in nearby Shreveport, La.; she plays a mother protecting her daughter. “That speaks to me,” she says. “I finish filming in September and then hang out with Keith and Sunday” — with a brief outing to promote the intimate drama Rabbit Hole at the Toronto Film Festival.

“It’s a passion project about a grieving couple, and how you get through trauma and loss together and how it affects a marriage,” says Kidman.

[From USA Today]

See, I understand why she talked about her daughter, because I’ll buy that giving birth to Sunday (“giving birth”) changed her as a woman and made her think differently about women’s issues internationally, politically and financially (no mention of Bella, but whatever). But Nicole really shouldn’t be talking about her films, for real. Just a polite, “That’s not why I’m in Haiti, I’m in Haiti to…[mission statement]” etc.

Oh well, at least she looks pretty good, right? Not quite as frozen, although once again, when she’s trying to move her forehead, she looks like she’s about to bust something. Enough with the ‘tox, Nicole.

Nicole in Haiti on July 31, 2010. Credit: Fame.

Ed Norton has co-founded a new social networking charity site, Crowdrise.com, that allows members to recruit friends to donate their money and time to worthy causes. It’s an easy to use and compelling site with a great purpose. I found myself fascinated while browsing the causes, which include Gulf Coast Oil Spill cleanup and raising money to buy a truck for Maasai villagers. Norton started the project for the website about nine months ago, explaining he wanted to create an easy tool for people to fundraise. Celebrities with memberships include Will Ferrell and Seth Rogan. Will Ferrell is helping cancer survivors afford college, and is even giving away novelty sun tan lotion featuring photos of himself “nude” for every $17 donation. Here’s more from USA Today:

Crowdrise.com is not your typical charity site.
Its slogan is “If you don’t give back, no one will like you.” Dollars raised earn donors such titles as Doctor, Tsar, Sir and Dame.

And donating $17 toward scholarships for cancer survivors earns you a bottle of Will Ferrell’s “Sexy Hot Tan” sunscreen, emblazoned with the likeness of his Speedo-clad body.

Created by actor and activist Edward Norton, producer Shauna Robertson (Superbad, Knocked Up) and Robert and Jeffrey Wolfe (founders of the quirky online retailer Moosejaw), Crowdrise is harnessing the appeal of social networking to make giving go viral.

It’s “about getting people who are not sure their little bit makes a difference to feel persuaded that they can make a difference,” Norton says, and this “micro-giving” is the backbone of Crowdrise. The charity, which has been operating unpublicized since February, officially launched in May.

Users build a profile (called a “Charitable Life”), create project pages linked to their favorite registered non-profit organizations, encourage their social networks to donate and get other users to join them and raise money of their own, amplifying small amounts into bigger checks that Crowdrise cuts to the charities each month.

The site also gives those with little money to donate the chance to get others to sponsor their volunteer work — much like marathon runners get family and friends to back them, Norton says.

“One of the things we’re suggesting is that people should totally think of the ways that volunteering can be productive,” Norton says. “You say to your friends and family: ‘I’m giving my time and my skills, and I want to raise this much for this organization. Will you sponsor my volunteering?’ ”

Meanwhile, non-profit groups can create their own pages, gain followers and then mobilize them to quickly make fundraising goals for specific projects.

“The way the site flows, it can go person, project, charity,” says Robert Wolfe. “Or it can also go the opposite way: charity, project, person.”

Wolfe and his “shorter, smarter” brother Jeffrey, began working on the concept for Crowdrise after being inspired by President Obama’s fundraising campaign. They took their ideas for a test run during the New York City Marathon in November, helping Norton and his team of runners build a website that raised $1.2 million for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust.

After the marathon, the Wolfe brothers, Norton and Robertson joined forces to create Crowdrise, which, instead of focusing on a single charity, embraces hundreds of them.

[From USA Today]

I’ve heard that Ed Norton was involved in charity, and I remember him testifying in front of congress a couple of years ago about the conservation charity his grandfather founded, Enterprise Community Partners. I never knew the extent of Norton’s commitment until I checked out his page on Crowdrise. This gives him a pass for dating Courtney Love and generally being difficult to work with.

It’s a great concept and a very well executed site and it will surely attract more celebrities and members as awareness grows. You can learn more and help do your part at Crowdrise.com.

I just love Cate Blanchett. I love everything she does, I love when she speaks, I love looking at photos of her, I love how amazing she is. These are photos of Cate looking fabulous, of course, in Sydney. She did an event to highlight her work to turn the Sydney theatre district “green”. A rooftop solar installation began construction on the Sydney Theatre Company this week – that the company that Cate and her husband Andrew Upton are directors of. It’s great work, and Cate has put her time and money where her mouth is – but I just can’t over how she’s able to even look fabulous in a hard hat. She’s wonderful.

Cate Blanchett donned a hard hat, commando boots and a smart grey jacket to [promote] the green credentials of the Sydney Theatre Company. Construction commenced this week for a rooftop solar installation, partially funded by the Department of Climate Change, at the theatre at Pier 4, in Sydney’s Walsh Bay.

“Perhaps this whole area stretching from Barangaroo along Hickson Road and all the way to the Opera House [could be done up],” Blanchett said. “We could be well on our way to becoming the first green arts precinct in the world.”

Seventy per cent of the theatre’s energy needs will be provided by the solar panels and Blanchett says all of the companies at The Wharf would benefit from the green power.

“It’s not just the Sydney Theatre Company benefiting from the support of the Department of Climate Change but every single cultural company down here,” she said.

The project, Greening the Wharf, has been the vision of the Sydney Theatre Company’s artistic directors – Blanchett and her husband, playwright Andrew Upton.

“It’s our hope that Greening the Wharf increases awareness of climate change and demonstrates there is a wide range of measures that can be taken to reduce our carbon footprint,” they said in a statement.

It has taken three years of planning and fundraising to get the $5.2 million project off the ground. Blanchett joined MPs at its launch on the theatre’s roof. NSW Arts Minister Virginia Judge praised Blanchett for campaigning for the project, jointly funded by the federal and state governments.

“It’s a real testament to her perseverance, a lot of people have ideas but to stick in there and make sure it happens, we are all going to be blessed because of that effort, energy and vision,” she said.

“This is also a great initiative as all levels of government and agencies working together to get the best possible outcomes for the taxpayers of NSW.”

NSW Environment Minister Frank Sartor also reaffirmed the State Government’s commitment to renewable energy projects.

“We’ve got dozens of these projects around the state and we are starting to change the culture of use of energy and water,” he said. “Hopefully, over time, we will reach a more sustainable place.”

[From ABC News]

It sounds like an excellent initiative. I didn’t even know Cate was involved in any environmental causes, honestly. But she’s been trying to make this happen for three years? Good for her.