This week, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt entered New York's orbit at the same time as Britney Spears, setting off everybody's e-meter and forcing the Catholic church to issue a statement that, no, the apocalypse was not before us. But what Ms. Jolie did allow, for the first time in many weeks, is to walk a red carpet (at the Changeling premiere) and have every tabloid pounce. Indeed, the five weeklies that hit newsstands every Wednesday all feature Jolie in some manner. But two in particular took wildly different approaches to the actress' lack of post-twins baby weight.

Interestingly, it was Janice Min's Us Weekly who went the positive path, attributing Jolie's stunning figure to "European diet secrets" and "No workouts!"

But Candace Trunzo's Star — and not even the Jolie-hating Bauer tabs — went the rabid route, claiming Jolie got a secret tummy tuck before making her first scheduled public appearance after spitting out Vivi and Knox. Hateful!

To be sure, neither of the magazines' treatment is a response to their access to Jolie. In fact, neither magazine has an official relationship with the Jolie-Pitt camp; only People enjoys that luxury, thanks to its regular cheque signing. So based on Jolie's shutting out of all magazines, it would make sense all of them would feel free to go on the attack, ripping the too-good-for-the-tabs actress to shreds any chance they got.

But rather than act on spite, here Us is betting American readers are looking for something positive in their lives (you know, to offset nightmares of their retirement plans being worth $0). And while we'll need a few days for scan data to arrive to figure out who made the right choice, we're placing our money on Min this week.

[covers via CoverAwards.com]