BRAD PITT & ANGELINA JOLIE - One MORE Way They Make The Rest Of Us Look Bad

Thanksgiving dinner is over, and in honor of the turkey carcass we've reduced to scraps, I'm going to give the Peta posts a rest for the weekend. I watched their "Grace" ad and it was unable to kill my appetite for delicious bird, so I'm calling it a victory. So, on to Rule 5 Sunday. (Yes, I'm aware it's Saturday... but Smitty at The Other McCain has a better work ethic than I do. He'll be putting together a post tomorrow morning while I'm still trying to find the right button on the coffee machine, so I'm trying to get a jump because I love making the list.) Onward.

Do you ever get the feeling these two are laughing at the rest of us mere mortals?

Lets face it... They're more beautiful than the rest of us. They're richer than the rest of us. They're each married to one of the most beautiful people alive. They've got a family full of gorgeous kids...

And apparently, they're hell bent on saving the world.


Now, if you think of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt heading out to save the world, what might come to mind is an image like this one:


Or this one:


There. Don't you feel better? The beautiful people, locked and loaded and ready to kick global arse without messing up their hair.

But that isn't what they're doing, or how they're doing it...

I was cruising around online, looking at gossip sites and such, I mean entertainment news, with an eye toward Rule 5 Sunday. Everyone likes to look at a beautiful human being, and it do increase the traffic count! So I was interested in which beautiful people were in the news this week.


I was also trying to think of a way to be more inclusive... Beefcake along with the usual cheesecake, so to speak. See, I've been having guilty thoughts about the whole Rule 5 Sunday thing... It seems to be dominated by sexy women -- not that sexy women are a bad thing, but do I really want to draw the bulk of my hits from boobies? OK, I really don't care how you got here (although I hope I can hold your interest long enough to check out the whole blog), but there is more beauty in this world than just the kind with boobs... Plus, I'd like to draw in the occasional female reader. :)

Enter MISTER Jolie-Pitt:

Mmmmmm. See that? Already, I'm more diverse!

But the more I read and thought about these two, the more it dawns... they're more than just a couple of pretty faces... and perfect torsos...

OK... So they are pretty faces and perfect torsos. But they're more, honestly! I know this couple is on a lot of "love-to-hate-them" lists. It's easy to hate someone who makes you feel inferior, and these two seem to do that without trying. But they are beautiful, hard to deny it. And if you needed one more reason to love/hate them, here it comes.

According to 2008 tax returns, their Jolie-Pitt Foundation gave away $6.4 MILLION last year. That's right, in ONE YEAR, they donated more money than I expect to earn in a lifetime. But that's not nearly all. In 2006, their donations were $8 MILLION.

Over the last several years, the Jolie-Pitts have donated $1 million to help Iraqi children, $1 million to help Pakistani refugees, $1 million to a US hospital to help kids with cancer, and toys to orphaned children. They're also regular donors to Doctors Without Borders, and other causes.

Beyond that, Angelina Jolie is a human rights ambassador, and Brad Pitt has started the "Make It Right" foundation, to help rebuild New Orleans. (Frankly, he's been more effective than the government, thus far.)

So... they already had the rest of us beat hands down in looks, money, marriage partners. Now it turns out they donate more money to charity than most of the rest of us are worth. These two could give normal people a complex.

Rule 5 Sunday is fun to get involved in. I understand that everyone likes to look at beautiful people, and I appreciate the traffic it generates here. But this week is Thanksgiving, and we should be thinking about selflessness and giving in addition to the usual weekend searches for sexy stars. I've tried here (selfless, giving thing that I am) to make a combination Rule 5 post... Sexy people. Beefcake. Cheesecake. And an example of behavior to be thankful for and aspire to emulate.

But there must be something about these people that's just like the rest of us, right? You betcha! I was able to find pictures of them we mortals can relate to... and I think they're the sexiest photos of the bunch:



See? It looks like they're more like the rest of us than I thought. Just an everyday American family, one we can all relate to. Nothing superior about these folks! Right...? Just a regular mom (who happens to be gorgeous), a normal dad (who's, coincidentally, also gorgeous), their diverse and apparently very happy family, and enough money to literally GIVE AWAY millions and millions of dollars...

OK, I'm full of it. They're laughing at the rest of us. A lot. But they're doing a lot of good while they laugh, so I'm OK with it.