The music video will premiere on Wednesday on dedicated Web site (www.BlackoutBall.com) at 6:30 p.m. EDT and accompanies her latest single “Break The Ice” — the third from her 2007 album “Blackout.”

The release of the video, along with an upcoming acting role on U.S. television comedy “How I Met Your Mother,” marks something of a comeback for Spears, 26, whose career has been sidelined by psychiatric problems and months of bitter child custody battles.

Spears’ Jive record company said the video was made in South Korea in Japanese anime style. Spears last year released two singles from the “Blackout” album which has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide but whose commercial success pales in comparison to the singer’s heyday six years ago.

In the past year, Spears has been in rehab, lost custody of her sons to ex-husband Kevin Federline and been hospitalized twice for psychiatric evaluation.

Television executives said on Monday that Spears had been cast in an episode of “How I Met Your Mother.” The episode is expected to air on March 24 and according to insiders Spears will play a receptionist in a doctor’s office.

Spears got her first role in a prime-time U.S. television series in March 2006 when she played a Christian conservative talk show host in a guest appearance on “Will & Grace.”

Beyonce, who starred in “Dreamgirls,” is headed back to
the big screen for her next big role. She has been cast to play famed singer
Etta James on the film, “Cadillac Records.” The story is about Leonard Chess,
the legendary founder of the South Side Chicago blues label Chess Records. The
period piece follows the rise and fall of Chess Records, which launched the
careers of such R&B greats as Muddy Waters, Etta James and Chuck Berry. Chess,
who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, scoured the South,
checking out the various blues scenes and selling records from the back of his
Cadillac. Cedric the Entertainer will play Willie Dixon, who wrote most of the
hits records and was part of the famous company. One of his most famous songs
was “Hoochie Coochie Man.” Oscar winner Adrien Brody has also joined the cast to
replace Matt Dillon as Leonard Chess, the founder of Chess Records. Dillon had
to drop out of the project due to a scheduling conflict. As previously reported,
Jeffrey Wright will portray Muddy Waters in the film set in 1950s Chicago. Also
new to the cast are Emmanuelle Chriqui, Columbus Short and Tammy Blanchard.

Andre 3000 of OutKast will make his mark on the
fashion world with his own line of clothing. The collection, named Benjamin
Bixby, was designed and funded solely by Andre and features 70 items of prep
style clothing, including fedora hats, assorted waistcoats and pink sweatshirts.
Describing his style as “rebel gentleman,” the rapper told New York magazine:
“There has to be something inventive about it. But not so inventive that it’s a
turnoff. So that some of the greats, like Beau Brummell or the Duke of Windsor,
would nod and say, ‘Well done.’”

Anthony Anderson, 37, who pulled a few shifts with Law &
Order: SVU’s Christopher Meloni when Mariska Hargitay was on maternity leave (aka
doing undercover work for the FBI) in 2006, will step in to partner with recent
L&O addition Jeremy Sisto.… Oscar winner Forest Whitaker stars with a bevy of
talent (Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Sigourney Weaver and William Hurt) in
Columbia Pictures’ action-packed thriller “Vantage Point.” Eight strangers with
eight different points of view try to unlock the one truth behind an
assassination attempt on the president of the U.S. Thomas Barnes (Quaid) and
Kent Taylor (Fox) are two Secret Service agents assigned to protect President
Ashton (Hurt) at a landmark summit on the global war on terror. When President
Ashton is shot moments after his arrival in Spain, chaos ensues.

Al Jarreau is in the midst of working on the holiday album
and plans to have it finished by May or June. It will feature standards such as
“White Christmas,” “Joy to the World” and “The Christmas Song,” as well as an
original called “Tree Wishes” that he said is “interesting and right in the
spirit of things.” He’s also excited about the arrangement of “The Christmas
Song.”

.

Kid Rock caused another scene at a Waffle House – this time for charity. The entertainer came to sign autographs for hundreds of fans during a fundraiser for homeless families at the suburban Atlanta restaurant. The event came just a week after Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, pleaded not guilty to a charge of battery from a fight last fall at another Waffle House. A spokeswoman for Waffle House, Kelly Thrasher, said the company wanted to “take a negative situation and turn it into a positive situation.” Kid Rock, 37, added: “The whole situation before was kind of silly.”

The rise of China as an economic power has sparked interest in English-language fiction about the country, bringing success to several bilingual authors. But only a few authors will be remembered once the novelty wears off, said writers speaking at the annual Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival. Writers like Yan Geling and Li Yiyun are part of a new group of mainland Chinese who have enjoyed success writing fiction about their home countries in English after moving to the United States. Once readers “get over that China is so exotic, it's so mysterious,” said Li, “I think that's where real literature comes in.”

If John Cho has a cult following now as Harold in the “Harold & Kumar” movies, wait until “Star Trek” comes out. Cho will co-star as Sulu in J.J. Abrams's film, due out next summer. He's shooting his last scenes as the Starship Enterprise's helmsman this week, and is promoting “Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay,” which had its premiere last weekend at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas. Cho, 35, is aware of the pressure he and the rest of the cast and crew are under to please “Star Trek” fans.

“It is daunting, it's scary,” he said. “Frankly, I'm not used to this kind of heat.”

Britney Spears will guest star in a March 24 episode of the television series “How I Met Your Mother,” a CBS spokeswoman said. The troubled pop singer will portray a receptionist in a dermatologist's office who becomes “smitten” with Ted, the character played by Josh Radnor. Craig Thomas, the show's creator, told Usmagazine.com that representatives for Spears approached CBS because “she was looking for a small part on a funny show.”

Chris Levine, the artist who in 2004 created an acclaimed holographic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, is back with a set of pictures selected from among the 8,000 or so he took at the original sittings. But this time Levine has manipulated them in an effort to do for the British monarch what Andy Warhol did for Marilyn Monroe. “I am putting the Queen into the pop culture,” Levine said. Among the images – which go on show to the public on Friday at the StolenSpace art gallery in London – are one with the queen's face erased, one showing just the back of her head and another with her eyes closed. “There is no disrespect intended here,” Levine said, adding: “She has seen some of the images and was enthusiastic. I intend to send her a boxed set.”

One day after his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Canadian singer and songwriter Leonard Cohen, 73, announced plans for his first tour in 15 years, Reuters reported. The tour, beginning in Toronto on June 6, will include an appearance at the Glastonbury Festival in Britain on June 29. The final announced date is Aug. 29 in Vienna, but organizers said more performances were expected.

.

Madonna, John Mellencamp, Philly soul producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, literate songwriter Leonard Cohen, British rockers the Dave Clark Five, and surf instrumentalists the Ventures were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Monday night in New York.

Among all the recollections and praise, it was Justin Timberlake’s induction speech for Madonna that had tongues wagging.

He recalled feeling ill one day while working on Madonna’s new album and she asked whether he wanted a vitamin B-12 shot. He said sure, expecting a doctor to show up, but Madonna pulled out a syringe and said, “drop ‘em.”

After he pulled his pants back up, “she looked at me and said, ‘That’s top shelf,’ and that was one of the greatest days of my life,” he said.

Ten actors from the HBO series The Wire watched the series finale with one of its biggest fans – Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

The mayor hosted a screening of the final episode at City Hall on Sunday that was attended by about 100 people.

The story told in the Baltimore-based drama is much the same in Philadelphia.

Nutter praised the series for showing big-city problems realistically.

“I’ve learned a great deal,” Nutter said. “It gives a lot of insight into a lot of different people.”

HBO has picked up a television series based on Alexander McCall Smith’s book The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and its popular sequels, which relate the adventures of Precious Ramotswe, a no-nonsense investigator who runs a detective agency in Botswana.

A two-hour pilot, starring Jill Scott (Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married?), recently was filmed on location in Botswana, directed by Anthony Minghella, who co-wrote the script with Richard Curtis. HBO, in partnership with the Weinstein Co. and the BBC, ordered 13 additional one-hour episodes of the series, which will begin filming this summer.

.

The ruling followed arguments from lawyers, acting on behalf of Spears’ estate, who claim the pop superstar couldn’t have hired Eardley to represent her because she’s unable to do so under the terms of the conservatorship.Spears’ father Jamie was recently appointed conservator of his daughter’s estate – he has temporary control over the singer’s legal and financial affairs until March 10..

In what may be the beginning of a long-promised crackdown on stalkerazzi, who often take outrageous, if not dangerous, measures to snap the money shots of Hollywood's party girls, Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies arrested a quartet of cameramen at two separate locations in West Hollywood late Tuesday and early Wednesday. The lensmen were rung up on charges of blocking the sidewalks while awaiting the departures of Spears and Lohan, respectively.

First up Tuesday night was the bust of Spears-chasing photographers. They were nabbed while loitering outside the B2V Salon just before 8 p.m. while waiting for the pop star to emerge from the shop, where she was getting a color touch-up.

Of the roughly 50 photogs congregated outside the salon, two—David Tonnessen, 31, and Christian Shostele, 37—were arrested. The men were cited after ignoring repeated requests by deputies, made via loudspeaker, to clear a path on the sidewalk.

Tonnessen was booked at the West Hollywood station on a misdemeanor of blocking an entrance and was released on $250 bail. Shostele, meanwhile, was ticketed outside the salon and released after forking over $500 bail at the scene.

Just a few hours later and a few blocks over, two photographers working the club beat for TMZ were busted outside the West Hollywood hot spot Villa.

Deputies again issued warnings to disperse via loudspeaker just before midnight, and at roughly 1:30 a.m., when wannabe clubgoers and other night-owl passersby were unable to forge a path through the paparazzi scrum, they were called back to the scene.

Out of roughly 24 photographers stationed outside the club, waiting for Lohan's grand exit, two lensmen, both working for TMZ, were arrested.

Christopher Gonzalez, 21, and Vagn Rauch, 23, were both taken to the West Hollywood station and booked on misdemeanor charges. Both were released on $500 bail.

TMZ, never shy about injecting itself into a story, wrote about the incident Wednesday, claiming that only one of the cameramen made it to the station and was kept behind bars for six hours. The other, the site claimed, was kept in the back of a squad car for an hour, before being released.

Time will tell if the paparazzi learned their sidewalk-clearing lesson. Both they and Spears were back out in full force Wednesday night, when the pop star popped in to the Beverly Center and tested the mettle of the mall cops. No arrests were made.

.

Superior Court Judge T.K. Herman continued the misdemeanor case until March 20 after hearing from Spears’ lawyer J. Michael Flanagan that her conservatorship attorneys “do not think she is qualified or capable of entering into a binding agreement” at this time. The attorneys also don’t believe Spears is capable of giving a deposition or signed declaration, Flanagan said.

Earlier this month a judge placed Spears under the conservatorship of her father and an attorney after more than a year of increasingly bizarre behavior.The driving-without-a-license charge stems from an Aug. 6, 2007, accident in which Spears hit a parked car and left without notifying the owner. The pop star was originally cited for hit and run and driving without a license but the hit-and-run charge was dropped..

Lutfi had been Spears’ constant companion over the last few months as she repeatedly displayed bizarre behaviour and was twice admitted to hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

In court papers requesting the restraining order three weeks ago, Spears’ mother Lynne said Lutfi had drugged the former teen pop star, cut her home phone line, yelled at her and controlled her life.

Lynne Spears said Lutfi told her and a friend that he gave Britney pills ground up in her food to keep her quiet and at one point he told Britney she had to take 10 pills a day if she wanted to see her two young children.

Spears, 26, has not seen her children since January 3 when she became agitated and was taken to hospital at the end of a court-monitored visit with them.

Spears spent six days in a psychiatric unit earlier this month. She asked the court several times to reinstate her visitation rights, but her requests were rejected.

Her life in the past year has gone into a tailspin with spells in rehab, a head-shaving incident and a ridiculed comeback performance all captured by paparazzi photographers who track her 24 hours a day.

Share this article.

Associated Press – February 22, 2008 2:23 AM ET

LOS ANGELES (AP) – A federal judge in Los Angeles has extended a restraining order against Britney Spears’ pal Sam Lutfi by nearly a month.

The judge Thursday ordered a March 17th hearing on the matter and extended the restraining order until then.

The action came on the same day Lutfi was served with the restraining order issued earlier this month.

An attorney for Spears’ father says Lutfi was served with the order outside his Los Angeles apartment after apparently evading it for three weeks.

The order requires him to stay at least 250 yards away from Spears and her house.

It was set to expire Friday.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

.

Britney Spears’ estranged manager Sam Lutfi was served with a temporary restraining order on Thursday, ordering him to keep away from the troubled star and her family.

Under the terms of the order, Lutfi is forbidden from being within 250 yards of the Toxic singer, her properties or any of her family’s properties.

As conservator of Spears’ estate, her father Jamie sought the restraining order and claimed Lutfi had avoided being served for three weeks.

Lutfi was finally served with the legal papers at 11am on Thursday as he left his Los Angeles apartment.

According to People.

com, the order claims: “Mr. Lutfi has drugged Britney. He has cut Britney’s home phone line and removed her cell phone chargers. He claims to control everything.”

.