TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Diggs Joins Carolers To Help Lift Katrina Victims' Spirits

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 19, 2007

Taye Diggs spent his downtime from the writers' strike caroling Monday night in a place where the Christmas spirit is coming back: St. Bernard Parish, La., hit hard by Hurricane Katrina.

Diggs joined a gospel choir and New Orleans singer Irma Thomas in Violet, where many people are still living in trailers more than two years after Katrina flooded the town with water up to the roofs of homes.

"It's quite eye-opening. As much as you hear on the news, it's completely different when you see it firsthand," Diggs said about the destruction caused by Katrina.

Bilbo Lives! 'Hobbit' Films Will Be Made

After publicly feuding for more than a year, "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema have reached agreement to make J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," a planned two-film prequel to the blockbuster trilogy.

Jackson, who directed "Rings," will serve as executive producer for two "Hobbit" pictures. They will tell the story of how the young hobbit Bilbo Baggins originally came to possess the nefarious One Ring that Frodo, his adopted heir, needed three films to dispose of.

A director for the films has yet to be named. Production is tentatively set to begin in 2009 with a release planned for 2010, and the sequel following in 2011.

Relations between Jackson and New Line soured after "Rings" despite a collective worldwide box office gross of nearly $3 billion. Jackson shepherded Tolkien's Middle-Earth saga to a combined 17 Academy Awards including best picture for 2003's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."

Britney's Young Sister In Family Way

Jamie Lynn Spears, the 16-year-old "Zoey 101" star and sister of Britney Spears, told OK! magazine that she's pregnant and that the father is her boyfriend, Casey Aldridge.

"It was a shock for both of us, so unexpected," she said. "I was in complete and total shock and so was he."

Spears is 12 weeks along and initially kept the news to herself when she learned of the pregnancy from an at-home test and subsequent doctor visit, she told the celebrity magazine, which hits stands in New York today.

What message does she want to send to other teens about premarital sex? "I definitely don't think it's something you should do; it's better to wait," she told the magazine. "But I can't be judgmental because it's a position I put myself in."

Winehouse Arrested At Police Station

Amy Winehouse was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of attempting to interfere with a court case involving her husband, according to several British media reports.

Authorities said a 24-year-old was arrested during an appointment at a police station as part of an investigation into "perverting the course of justice," an offense similar in American law to contempt of court or obstruction.

Several British media outlets - including Sky News, Times Online and the Press Association news agency - reported that the woman was Winehouse. Police would not confirm the reports.

Winehouse's husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, was ordered held in custody in London last month on charges of perverting the course of justice stemming from a case in which he is accused of assaulting a male bartender in June.

Today's Birthdays

Actress Cicely Tyson is 74. Actress Jennifer Beals is 44.

Source: The Associated Press

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT