Despite recent snaps of Jennifer Lopez showing off her taut tummy in a striped bikini, baby talk is once again burbling in earnest, thanks to her recent decision to ditch "Dallas." While Mrs. Marc Anthony has said that procreating with her wispy, chart-topping hubby "would be nice," her rep says (via Star) that she's not on the stork's delivery route. So why did she bail out on playing boozy Sue Ellen Ewing in the big screen version of the series, besides concern over crickets chirping in theaters on opening weekend? A spy snipes to the New York Post that she exited because of the script and the casting of John Travolta as big-hatted oilman J.R. Ewing instead of a "man's man" such as "Ed Harris or Tommy Lee Jones."

Speaking of Travolta, he marked Tony Bennett's 80th birthday with a gift only slightly better than an autographed copy of the director's cut of "Battlefield Earth." The Scientology-boosting star tells the New York Daily News that he and wife Kelly Preston presented the legendary crooner with an art book by L. Ron Hubbard.

Penélope Cruz is done gushing about the still unseen but purportedly genetically perfect offspring of her ex, Tom Cruise. "I'm not going to talk about that anymore," the actress tells TMZ.com of laying eyes on Suri, whom Katie Holmes silently brought forth 111 long days ago. " ... I'm not going to talk about it in detail because I really protect the people that I love." Last Thursday, Cruz described the Yeti-like ankle-biter as "really beautiful -- she's one of the most beautiful babies I've ever seen," echoing previous superlatives from Cruise pal Jada Pinkett Smith, who called her "beautiful" and "one of the sweetest babies I've ever met in my life," and fellow Scientologist Leah Remini, who enthused that she's "just beautiful." No word yet from Katie's friends and family on the seemingly transcendent Suri.

Is Jack Nicholson going to honor the memory of Marlon Brando by taking a bulldozer to his longtime home? That's the word from the Sunday Times of London, which says Jack, who lived next door to Brando for 25 years and reportedly bought his Mulholland drive house for about $6.5 million shortly before his death in 2004, plans to knock it down and plant flowers on the land. Not just any flowers, mind you, but frangipanis, cream and yellow tropical buds often used in leis. Seems Frangipani was what Brando dubbed the pad, which the paper says is now "derelict" and "beset by mold" (it's also where the late icon's son, Christian, shot and killed his half-sister's boyfriend during an argument). "It's more likely that we will take the house down," says Nicholson.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are doing their darndest to make sure their buddy status extends to the next generation. The Boston Herald reports the new dads met up last month in their hometown for a tot tête-à-tête with Violet, 8 months, and Isabella, 2 months (moms Jennifer Garner and Luciana Bozan were presumably in tow). "I don't know how much they know that they did meet," Affleck told reporters Saturday in Boston, where he just wrapped his directorial debut, "Gone, Baby, Gone." "But they are really close in age -- closer than Matt and I are. So it was nice." Affleck reportedly skipped the film's wrap party and hopped a plane back to L.A. to rejoin Jen and Violet.

And finally, Nick Lachey was swarmed by fans as he landed in Melbourne over the weekend to stump for his album, but it turns out the crowd was expecting someone a bit burlier. The AAP reports the four dozen or so people seeking autographs and pictures of Jessica Simpson's ex had actually been waiting at the airport for several muscle-bound WWE stars. "He seems OK," said a fighting fan of the "What's Left of Me" warbler. "But we're not here to see Nick Lachey -- we really want to see the wrestlers."