NAMES & FACES

Time cover boys Anderson Cooper and Jon Stewart. (John Smock -- AP)

Ben? Jen? Again?

Just when we thought we'd never have to see the word "Bennifer" again, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are engaged, reports People and Star mag. Reps for the two aren't commenting. But, in other Hollywood news, Paris Hilton is commenting -- about her tiff with ex-best-friend-for-life Nicole Richie. "It's no big secret that Nicole and I are no longer friends," Hilton says in a statement. (Yes, in a statement.) "Nicole knows what she did, and that's all I'm ever going to say about it." Though Fox is dodging, Hilton also claims that Richie will be replaced on their reality show "The Simple Life" by her other good bud, Kimberly Stewart, daughter of aging rocker Rod.

Dishing on Arctic Drilling

Now here's a scoop: As part of its "Lick Global Warming" campaign, the gang at Ben & Jerry's is protesting drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by whipping up the world's largest Baked Alaska to plop down in front of the U.S. Capitol today. The lovely dessert is anticipated to weigh 1,140 pounds and measure 4 feet tall and 4 feet around, with the help of 3,600 four-ounce scoops of Ben & Jerry's Fossil Fuel ice cream, 90 pounds of cake and 150 pounds of marshmallow cream. (Our stomach hurts just thinking about it.) Don't believe us -- hey, it is hard to believe -- check it out for yourself at the corner of First Street and Independence Avenue SW from 10 to 10:30 a.m. before it gets served, or melts. Whichever comes first.

Edwards's Plan B, as in Book

Childhood homes are on the mind of John Edwards these days. Partly, anyway. The former senator and failed veep candidate is going to write a book tentatively called "Blueprints: The Architecture of Our Lives," says D.C. power lawyer Robert Barnett, who's repping Edwards. "It will tell the story of people's first homes. There will be stories from political figures, sports figures, business people, people in the entertainment industry and just regular people who have great stories to tell about what their first home meant to them," Barnett explains.

Jon Stewart's Time Line

Jon Stewart wowed 'em at the Time shindig celebrating the mag's 100 most influential people Tuesday night in Manhattan.

Chosen as the entertainer for the evening, the acerbic wit charmed the crowd -- which included Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Martha Stewart, Barbara Walters, Jerry Bruckheimer, Tom Wolfe and Melissa Etheridge -- by pointing out this small detail: "To be named as one of the Time 100, it must have made us all feel pretty good, pretty proud of ourselves, and then to see Time magazine the very next week put Ann Coulter on the cover, um, it kind of knocked us back down to Earth a little bit, didn't it?"

Noted . . .

Tenor Salvatore Licitra has a fan in Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ginsburg, who has a passion for opera, invited the young tenor to the Supreme Court yesterday, where he sang a preview of his upcoming performance in the Washington National Opera's production of "Tosca." We laymen can catch his vocals on the NPR replay . . . Designer Carolina Herrera was in town hobnobbing last night at -- where else? -- Saks Fifth Avenue in Chevy Chase. We hear that more than 100 of the area's fashionistas were expected to line up in the store's designer salon to buy her latest creation, the coffee-table book "Carolina Herrera: Portrait of a Fashion Icon," and check out her fall 2005 trunk show . . . So, just how did Ellen Barkin even begin to renovate Revlon billionaire hubby Ron Perelman's five-story Manhattan manse that was covered in gold? Or, in her words: "gold furniture and gold walls and gold floors." Not to mention the dining room "all done in navy blue cashmere." "It was easy," she told the New Yorker. "I had $8 billion to spend."

. . . and Quoted

"If I spend three hours with my 3-year-old, I feel like I should get a medal."

-- Ben Stiller, explaining to the New York Daily News why he cannot use teaching children as a fallback career.

-- Compiled by Anne Schroeder

from staff and wire reports