Scene in the Tropics

Alex Rodriguez sells Miami Beach manse to a mystery Palm Beach celeb for $30M

TMZ reports that ARod has left the building--that is, his 9 bedroom, 11 bathroom Miami Beach manse, which he just sold for $30 million. Though the Yankee slugger took an $8 million pay cut in the price of the home, originally listed at $38 mil, he bought it in 2010 for $7.4 million, raking in a pretty impressive profit nonetheless. The buyer, TMZ says, is a Palm Beach celeb. Rush Limbaugh? Rod Stewart? G-d forbid Donald Trump? The home is not so far from Matt Damon's, which is currently on the market for the bargain basement price of $20 million.

Sir Richard Branson's unlikely South Beach pad thisclose to NYC cop shooting

While some say there's definitely something shady about the NYC police officer shooting at 12th and Collins on South Beach, imagine how you'd feel if you lived in that neighborhood? We'd love to ask Sir Richard Branson, because, well, he lives right there. We just discovered that, contrary to images of a grandiose beach pad, the bazillionaire actually owns the penthouse at The Islander, located at 1255 Collins Ave. Registered under his wife Joan's name, the apartment was bought back in 2009 for a bargain (for Branson, anyway) $399k.

The building, whose residents are mostly elderly, is far from a place you'd expect a mogul to call home, with a non-functioning pool on the rooftop among other amenities, or lack thereof. When he bought the place, Branson told a fellow resident that he dislikes buildings with doormen, valet parking, concierges, etc., and that he doesn't want people to know his comings-and-goings. Oops.

But, really, with the recent shooting and the fatal Memorial Day weekend shooting a block away at 13th Street, will it be long before the Virgin emperor packs up and high tails it to a safer part of town? We couldn't tell you, but one resident did have some advice for him, saying, "He and his family members might be safer in those high-rises south of 5th or the two high-rises at the end of north Ocean Drive." And get this: Branson's not the first rich guy to live there. Rumor has it that hotelier Ian South Beach Wine & Food Festival founder Lee Schrager was the penthouse's previous owner.

Justin Bieber Rolls down Ocean Drive with Sean Kingston

While the country is steeped in deep financial fertilizer, 17-year-old Justin Bieber is busy cruising down Ocean Drive in recently recovered pal Sean Kingston's Rolls Royce, says TMZ. Although he looked like he stole daddy's car for a joy ride, Bieber was showing off his recently acquired driver's ed skills and  laughing at his peers busting their you know whats to try to make a buck at Starbucks so they can go to college causing a commotion outside TGI Friday's of all places early Friday night. Bieber's girlfriend Selena Gomez was in So Flo for a concert last night at Mizner Park in Boca, where we overheard her telling her tweeny fans, "We're going to go back, waaaay back. " Which, in Gomez's frame of reference must have meant 2009 or at least 2010, when her beloved Weebly beau Bieber first obtained his learner's permit.

Cameron Diaz + Alex Rodriguez working it out at Equinox South Beach

 
Ten minutes after injured Yankee Alex Rodriguez walked into Equinox South Beach yesterday, an "extremely bubbly and friendly" Cameron Diaz showed up in black leggings, tank top and, noted our spy, "no makeup." Diaz hopped on the Stairmaster next to her man, smiling at him before putting on her iPod and "getting serious about her workout." After about an hour, Diaz hopped off, said goodbye and left A-Rod to his "intense stretch."  No stretch, however, is as intense as our failed attempt to make this sighting more interesting. Stars, they're just like us. Yawn.

Stop the presses! Jennifer Lopez dines at The Forge

Not since the Bennifer days has the whereabouts of Jennifer Lopez been so crucial as it was yesterday when the newly single multi-hyphenate arrived in Miami from Atlanta, where she is filming a movie, for a little R&R, post-breakup publicity and a few birthday celebrations. Lopez turns 42 tomorrow and we should all look so good. Reports of People Magazine's most beautiful person laying out yesterday at the pool at the Icon Brickell, where she has a free condo, had bloggers and stalkers all hot and bothered, but our GPS had her definitively dining The Forge last night, where she had a low key dinner party with her sister, mother, manager Benny Medina, male hairstylist and a few other gal pals. That's it, really. She ate at the Forge, where, much to everyone's dismay, her rumored and denied (but fun to imagine) paramour William Levy was nowhere to be found. The end. For now.

Rock of Ages "midway" party at Lucky Strike, + sneaky on set Tom Cruise footage!

Forget about going bowling tomorrow Saturday night because Rock of Ages has bought out Lucky Strike for its big wrap "midway" party. Expected to be There in all their celebrity glory are were Tom Cruise, Paul Giamatti, Bryan Cranston, Malin Akerman, Russell Brand, Mary J. Blige, Alec Baldwin, Catherine Zeta Jones and Julianne Hough with chaperone boyfriend Ryan Seacrest.

No word on whether or not any of some of their more famous significant others will be in attendance, though we did hear from our on set snitch that Brand, fighting rumors of a trial separation, really does miss his wife, Katy Perry. After seeing a pic of Perry, Brand "got sad," and said, "I miss her so much and hope to see her soon." When Cruise asked Brand if the Mrs. enjoyed her hectic traveling schedule, Brand replied, "No, not really."

Well we will miss all these folks (yes, even Brand, as annoying as he may be) and thank them for turning some of Miami into the Sunset Strip and, more importantly, for reminding us what a bona fide A-lister looks like (it's been sooo long, don't go! We hardly knew ye). Update: They're not going anywhere yet! The party was celebrating the halfway point of filming, so we may still have some more QT with our famous Scientologist friends. The movie won't be out until at least next summer, so in the meantime, check out this exclusive video snippet of Tom Cruise channeling his inner Siegfried & Roy rocker, Stacee Jaxx (starts at 25 seconds on both, have patience), mullet and all with a nice cameo by Brand's equally offensive mullet. Seems that the Warner Bros. folk didn't want anyone to see the video so they blocked it. It's ok, you're not missing much except, well, TC channeling his inner Siegfried & Roy rocker. Oh well.

 

Rock of Ages recon: topless Tom Cruise, dallying Diego & Debbie Gibson!

 

Mexican soap star/singer/Rock of Ages star Diego Boneta's having a fine time in between his shoots in the grueling South Florida heat, from flirting with female fans on the beach to partying last night at SET with "a few models from fashion week." Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes aren't having such a bad time either, from salsa dancing at Larios on Ocean Drive to frolicking on the beach. Our set snitch tells us that while those filming next to Cruise mustn't wear high heels, he's pretty cool---especially when he's topless, as is Russell Brand--topless and in tighty whities--who we're told, "provides comic relief on the set." Not so cool--literally--is Catherine Zeta-Jones, a bit of a diva, with people "fanning"--and fawning all over her, though she did laugh through a scene that then had to be re-shot, so she's not so uptight. As for Alec Baldwin, well, don't look too hard for him as he's no fan of Miami's and thus has become an unofficial Tweeter for the Greater Fort Lauderdale Visitor and Convention Bureau, professing his love for the 954. Plus, he's back in NY now anyway. Keep your Cruises, Baldwins and Zeta-Joneses, because the original 80s pop tart Debbie--er, Deborah Gibson is also in the flick. But for many the real star is the set itself, which has transformed a bleak stretch of downtown Miami into an 80s era Sunset Strip. Welcome to the jungle, Hollywood, stay cool.

Octomom To Prove She's a Fit Mother--in a So Flo Boxing Ring

 
As hangers-on and reality show rejects eagerly anticipate the possible arrival of Casey Anthony, who, in a jailhouse letter once wrote that she was thinking of moving to South Florida "when" she got out (how prescient of her), the woman guilty of the antithesis of infanticide, Nadya "Octomom" Suleman, is planning a trip to Fort Lauderdale where she will step into a boxing ring in an attempt to ridicule feed her ego accessories meal tickets 14 hungry children. Suleman will be at The Ocean Manor in Fort Lauderdale  at 6 p.m. August 20 where she will battle an as yet unknown. In fact, if you're really desperate for attention, you can sign up to fight her by sending an email to celebrityboxing@live.com. We're sure that will make your own mothers proud.

Twitter sex symbol Anthony Weiner & wife celebrate 1st anniversary at Prime 112

So where do the famous--and infamous--go when they want to be seen, even if it's under the spotlight of shame? Why, Prime 112, that's where. And that's exactly where ex NY congressman Anthony "I'm a Sex Symbol on Twitter" Weiner and pregnant wife Huma were seen Saturday night celebrating, or so it seemed, their one year wedding anniversary. But it wasn't so romantic. The Weiners were joined by another couple. Mrs. Weiner, says our snitch, "looked very happy" and it wasn't just the pregnancy glow. Following their dinner behind closed curtains in the private wine room, the Weiners parted from their friends, said hello to stalkers those who still don't think Weiner's a total tool   recognized them, and walked "hand in hand down Ocean Drive." The night would have been even more staged gross unsettling  quintessential South Beach had the Weiners walked by a recenly acquitted Casey Anthony en route to her release party at LIV.