Sideshow: Take that, Mr. Pitt and Ms. Jolie

In a bid to stay

fresh!

current!

and

with-it!

in today's rapidly changing entertainment & flesh market,

Jennifer Aniston

, 39, has staged a PR coup, appearing on the January cover of GQ mag in a necktie - and nothing else . . .

It's a gutsy move, designed, no doubt, to prove that Jen is still a hot sexual commodity not yet ready for Hollywood's refuse pile of aging-middle-aged-women.

In an interview, Jen shares her ignorance about her younger beau, troubadour John Mayer, 31. "Honestly, [I] did not know much about him before I met him. I'd heard . . . you know, uh, 'Your Body' - that song," she says, fumbling to name "Your Body Is a Wonderland." She says she's amazed at what an "extraordinary musician he is. . . . It's kind of like, whoa!"

Jen says she's currently shooting Pumas, a sex comedy about two "aspiring cougars" (older, sexually charged, desperate chicks). Jen, who obviously agreed to the movie (and its paycheck), trots out her inner Simone de Beauvoir, telling GQ the film, is, like, "so a comment on the sexual double standard." She is veritably revolutionary: "I think all women on some level just want to rage against the machine."

Dude, like, talk about double standards . . .

Nominations were announced yesterday for the 66th Golden Globe Awards with five nods each going to

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

,

Ron Howard

's

Frost/Nixon

, and

Doubt

.

Angelina Jolie

got a best-actress nom for

Changeling

, while her man

Brad Pitt

got a nod for

Button

. As anticipated,

Heath Ledger

was nominated for supporting actor for

The Dark Knight

. In a statement, Heath's family - dad

Kim

, mum

Sally Ledger

, and sis

Kate

- thank the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for recognizing the late actor. "We are so proud that our boy's work is being recognized in this way," the statement read. See the full list at

» READ MORE: www.goldenglobes.org

.

Ricky Martin

pimps out his 4-month-old twin boys,

Valentino

and

Matteo

, in the latest issue of People mag for a pictorial and interview. The 36-year-old pop star says he decided to have the babes via a surrogate.

"Surrogacy was an intriguing and faster option" than adopting, he says. Martin says he's a hands-on pop: "I don't have a nanny. I'm doing this on my own because I don't want to miss a moment." And he vows to give the boys, who have given him untold joy, untold amounts of love: "I want to give them information and raise them with honesty and love, and give them self-esteem and a lot of acceptance."

Tom Cruise

also graces People with a set of his family photos. (

Ripped straight out of the family album!

) He says he is a sweet, cuddly dude who's been misunderstood by the world.

Tom dismisses his image as a control freak who freaks out whenever he is challenged. (Say, by Matt Lauer, who might question his Scientologist-inspired stance on psychiatry.)

"I'm not a person who sits in judgment of people," says The Cruise Control. "That's just not who I am." He says he's stoked that his kids with Nicole Kidman dig the life his ex-wife has built with Keith Urban: "Connor and Bella are pumped about Nic and Keith." (So stoked!)

Tom, who is plugging his new WWII flick, Valkyrie, insists he's not a controlling hubby: "Anyone with that perception doesn't know who I am - and doesn't know who Kate [Holmes] is at all." (Sometimes, when I'm alone, I dream that some day I get to know Tom. I know I would grow to love him.)

Harry Potter fanatics will no doubt line up for "Harry Potter: The Exhibition," a traveling show that will open at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry on April 30. The exhibit will stay in Chicago until Sept. 7 before going on a worldwide tour.

Info: www.harrypotterexhibition.com.

Local philanthropist

Jon Bon Jovi

and his band

Bon Jovi

have been named 2008's top touring band by Billboard mag, which says the Jersey Boyz grossed $210 million with their Lost Highway tour.

Jon beats out those other beloved Jersey natives, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, who came in second with $204.5 million.

This means that for once Madonna doesn't rule the money roost. The Cabalistic (Like a) Vestal Virgin is at No. 3 with $162 million. Blast from the '80s past The Police are at No. 4 with $150 million, while Celine Dion made $91 million to take fifth place.

Speaking of The Police, USAToday.com says lead bloviator

Sting

- a self-professed expert in tantric sex - has been invited to perform for

Barack Obama

supporters at Creative Coalition's Inaugural Ball in Washington on Jan. 20. The

Elvis Costello

-hosted affair, which will feature

Anne Hathaway

,

Alfre Woodard

,

Ron Howard

,

Spike Lee

,

Ashley Judd

,

Giancarlo Esposito

and literally, like, 100 other A-listers, is sold out. (The cheapest tix cost

$10,000

per couple.)