"The Hobbit"

J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" has stepped down after two years on the project amid studio delays and schedule conflicts. In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming "The Hobbit," I am faced with the hardest decision of my life," del Toro wrote in a statement on "Lord of the Rings" fansite TheOneRing.net.

"After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien's Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures."

He said he would continue to co-write the screenplays with "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillippa Boyens.The director, whose filmmaking credits include "Pan's Labyrinth" and "Hellboy," moved his wife and children to New Zealand for the shoot and the first movie was aiming for a December 2012 release. The second was due out a year later. "The blessings have been plenty, but the mounting pressures of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated for the project," said del Toro."Both as a co-writer and as a director, I wish the production nothing but the very best of luck and I will be first in line to see the finished product. I remain an ally to it and its makers, present and future, and fully support a smooth transition to a new director."

source by-abcnews.go.com

Farewell to Dio

Mr. Dio, who sang in the band that bore his name, as well as in groups like Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Heaven and Hell, was 67 when he died of stomach cancer on May 16. More than 1,200 fans gathered at a service inside the Hall of Liberty at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles, while hundreds more watched on monitors outside. Among the musicians who performed at the service were the keyboardist Scott Warren, who played a piano arrangement of Dio’s “This Is Your Life”; John Payne of Asia, who sang Black Sabbath’s “Heaven and Hell”; and Joey Belladonna of Anthrax, who sang Rainbow’s “Man on the Silver Mountain.” Willie Fyfe, Mr. Dio’s personal assistant, said: “Once he had a crowd in his hands, that’s where they stayed until it was time to go, then he’d give them back, and walk off and do his thing. Bless him. He’s still doing that now, and the guy is in a coffin.”

source by-nytimes.com

pregnancy is exhausting:Dion

Céline Dion says her journey to conceive was “physically and emotionally exhausting'.Dion and husband René Angelil announced this week they are expecting twins after having undergone fertility treatment. The couple have a nine-year-old son, René-Charles.“I feel like I've been pregnant more than a year,” the songstress revealed in an interview with Le Journal de Montreal.'There are no accomplishments bigger than,' Dion declared. 'The trophies and the money, that doesn't give meaning to life and that doesn't give you true happiness.'


source by-monstersandcritics.com

"American Idol"

Goldfrapp Alive

'Alive'

Katherine Heig

"Her heart is 100 percent fine now. She has a scar, so she won't be wearing bikinis, which is fine by us," the Killers actress, 31, tells Harper's Bazaar in their June cover story.

"A lot of children don't find forever homes because they're on that special-needs list, even if it's because of something as simple as her mother smoked cigarettes for a month, not knowing she was pregnant. That's not so huge that you couldn't handle it."

On a lighter note, the former "Grey's Anatomy" star says that something as simple as dressing her now 18-month-old baby girl can be daunting.

"Dude, I try, but I'm not nailing the baby fashion. It's intimidating," she laughs.

'American Idol'

During Wednesday night's results show, Crystal Bowersox talked about how exciting it is for her to see how her run on "American Idol" has brought some hope to her struggling hometown of Toledo, Ohio. She got emotional when reliving her trip home last week and the joy she saw in the eyes of her northwest Ohio fans. On Thursday (May 20), that pride was peaking after the single mom made it to next week's finale.

"I feel incredible about her making it all the way," said good friend Nate Woodward, who was in the audience for both shows this week in Los Angeles. "I'm not surprised, because I certainly think she has the ability, but it's still kind of weird. We come from this little town, and to see her do it — even though we know she has the talent — is pretty awe-inspiring."

Just like Bowersox, Woodward hesitated for a second on Wednesday night when host Ryan Seacrest announced her finale bid, because he said it's a bit hard to hear the audio from the stage in the "Idol" studio.

"It was confusing," he said of the moment when Seacrest told Crystal she'd be joining Lee DeWyze in the finale, to which she said "I'm safe? I'm safe?"

"We felt the same way Crystal did, and the crowd was all asking, 'What did he say?' But once we figured it out, it was kind of emotional," Woodward recalled. "I was with her boyfriend, Tony, and his two sisters, and we just all jumped up and down and clapped and got pretty emotional."

Woodward said he also got emotional when watching the footage of the hometown visit, because he knows what a huge impact her success has had on people back home and how genuine her feelings are about the trip back. "It really does give us something to feel good about right now," he said. "People have something to smile about. But more than anything else, it comes down to the fact that she does actually have a gift and talent."

Shafin Ahmed ‘My Love Songs’

Popular band star Shafin Ahmed will launch his latest solo album titled ‘My Love Songs’, today a month after the announcement of his departure from the band, Miles.

The album, a collection of seven popular English songs will be launched at a musical programme on the private television channel NTV at 11:40 tonight. Production house Deadline Music has brought out the album.

The album includes an array of popular songs by the world’s music icons. Bread’s ‘Baby I’m A Want You’, John Denver’s ‘Annie’s Song’, Stevie Wonder’s ‘Another Star’, Eric Clapton’s ‘Wonderful Tonight’, Police’s ‘Every Breath You Take’, Andy Williams’s ‘Love Story’ and a duet ‘Endless Love’ by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie will be in the album. Singer Armeen Musa has lent her voice to the duet song with Shafin Ahmed.