IT pays to be homeless if you bump into Colin Farrell - or at least it did for one luckless man who met the Irish star in Toronto last week, and was promptly treated to a shopping excursion and a wad of cash stuffed into his hand. Farrell, in Toronto to promote his role in the new Woody Allen film Cassandra's Dream, is well-acquainted with the homeless dude, who goes by the name of Stress. According to a report in the Toronto Sun newspaper, they struck up some sort of friendship while Farrell was in the city four years ago on location. At that time, Farrell brought Stress to a local radio show, and the homeless man earned $2,000 for his troubles.

This time around, Farrell treated his buddy to a shopping trip at the store Europe Bound Travel Outfitters, where he loaded up on goodies like a coat, underwear, boots, socks and a new sleeping bag. Then Farrell went to an ATM and gave Stress a bunch of notes. Ka-ching!

"I'm all set up," Stress, a well-known homeless figure in Toronto, told his buddies. "This is my chance to get off the street." And perfect timing too, as it's undoubtedly no fun to be homeless in those freezing Canadian winter temperatures!

Farrell received high marks from the employees at the store. "He was a cool guy. He doesn't act like a movie star," said one.

"It was like they were best buddies. The homeless guy was going around, grabbing stuff. Everything was top line."

Meanwhile, in the garbage always finds garbage department, Mr. Britney Spears, a/k/a Kevin Federline, was spotted whooping it up in LA last week with the notorious stripper Nicole Narain, who ensnared Farrell in a sex tape scandal a couple of years back.

"They were dancing, she had her arms on his shoulder, she was clearly making advances," according to a report in People magazine. Ugh.