Quotes of the Day

He's So Afflectionate
The hot story on the set of the Kevin Smith movie Jersey Girl was the budding romance of two of its stars — BEN AFFLECK and J. Lo. But thankfully for all who saw the couple's first cinematic pairing, Gigli, J. Lo's character in this March 2004 film exits early. The rest of the onscreen sparks belong to Affleck and LIV TYLER, who plays a video-store clerk. The two recorded a song together for the movie. Did the daughter of Aerosmith vocalist Steven Tyler enlist Dad's help? "I sing in a Cockney accent," she says. Apparently Dad doesn't do one. "I had to wing it."

Celebrity Panty Lines
Singer KYLIE MINOGUE started selling her lingerie line outside Australia this year. But lots of stars are putting a twist on knickers:

Queen Latifah
Gig: Spokeswoman for Curvation, a line at Wal-Mart for full-figured women

Credentials: Even after a breast reduction, she knows the hassle of a cup that runneth over

Michael Jordan
Gig: Hawker for Hanes. M.J. reprises his old role in a campaign launching this week for shorts with comfy waistbands

Credentials: Years of slam dunks in trunks

J. Lo
Gig: Selling signature skivvies with Warnaco. A new deal will put her undies in stores next fall

Credentials: Often dresses the world's best-known booty

A Sumo Star Seeks New Kicks
All-night rice binges, clingy loincloths, a positively feudalistic promotion system — it's easy to see how sumo wrestling could get to be a grind. But when AKEBONO, the first foreign-born wrestler to achieve sumo's highest rank, retired from the ring in 2001, it was huge news. The 517-lb. Hawaiian, born Chad Rowan, brought glitter and cosmopolitanism to the ancient and solemn Japanese sport. Now Akebono, 34, is stunning the sumo world again with the announcement that he'll join Japan's brutal K-1 kickboxing league — a career move tantamount to Mikhail Baryshnikov's joining WWE SmackDown. "My zeal for combative sports never cooled down," Akebono says. Plus, he wants shapelier calves.

• Rebecca Winters