DIDDY DEPARTURE: P. Diddy announcing that his upcoming album, PD5, will probably be his last. After the album comes out next fall, he plans to retire as a solo artist, MTV reports.
GETTING IN GEAR: Universal revving up development on a third installment of The Fast and the Furious franchise and is in talks to put the original film's star, Vin Diesel, back in the driver's seat.
FACE THE MUSIC: Prosecutors on Monday filing an additional misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct against Courtney Love, accusing her of endangering people in a public place while on drugs. The charge stems from her Oct. 2 arrest outside the home of her ex-boyfriend.
MORE LOVE: Love's new lawyer, Michael Rosenstein, won an additional extension on Monday. Love hired Rosenstein last month after firing her former attorney at the last minute. The next hearing in the case is set for April 5.
ARE YOU THERE, DISNEY? Judy Blume has signed a deal with Walt Disney to turn some of her best-selling children's books into movies. The first book to make the jump to the big screen will be Deenie, about a young girl's struggle to follow her dreams.
ELEPHANT IN COURT: White Stripes singer and guitarist Jack White pleading guilty today to misdemeanor assault charges for beating up Jason Stollseimer, frontman for Detroit act the Von Bondies, last December. Under the plea deal, White must pay a $500 fine, $250 in court costs, and attend anger management classes.
GALACTIC SHOPPING: Starting Wednesday, Stars Wars fans will be able to shop for exclusive collectibles and memorabilia at www.StarWarsShop.com. Items on sale include a $15,000 bronze statue of Yoda and a cold-cast porcelain Darth Vader figure that has not been available to the public for almost 10 years.
ROSEBUD: A U.S. District Court judge ruling that Orson Welles' Oscar statuette for writing Citizen Kane, valued between $500,000 and $1 million, belongs to his daughter Beatrice Welles, who wants to auction it off to fund her animal-rescue operations. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences opposes the sale and is appealing.
REMEMBERED: Paul Winfield, an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy winner actor known for roles in the Martin Luther King Jr. miniseries King, the films Sounder and The Terminator and the TV series Picket Fences, died of a heart attack on Sunday. He was 62.
RECOVERED: Spalding Gray's body has been pulled out of New York's East River according to the city's medical examiner. The actor-writer, best known for his filmed monologue Swimming to Cambodia, had been missing for almost two months.
R.I.P. The body of Robert Pastorelli, the actor who played Eldin the housepainter on TV's Murphy Brown, found in his Hollywood Hills home yesterday afternoon. Drugs may have played a role in Pastorelli's death. He was 49.
MOURNED: Frances Dee, a screen star of the '30s and '40s whose credits included Little Women with Katharine Hepburn, has died at 94.
PASSING: Tichi Wilkerson Kassel, longtime editor and publisher of the Hollywood Reporter and founder of Women in Film, died Monday in Los Angeles after complications from intestinal surgery. She was 77.
GILLIGAN'S RADIO: Gilligan's Island star Bob Denver launching a radio station in his home in Princeton, West Virginia, broadcasting oldies music and radio dramas.
SOME LIKE IT STOLEN: Police in Barstow, California, arresting two women for making purchases with money and account numbers found in the wallet of actor Tony Curtis, which he lost last August. No word how much they spent.
STORK NEWS: Curb Your Enthusiasm star Cheryl Hines giving birth on Monday to baby girl Catherine Rose.
LOOKING FINE! Oprah Winfrey, Cate Blanchett, Sofia Coppola and Kate Moss among the women topping Vanity Fair's 2004 International Best-Dressed List out Wednesday.
EASY RIDER: Dennis Hopper set to play an ex-con in The Last Ride, a USA Network action film about a tough con who gets out of prison after 30 years.
OFF THE AIR: Satellite company EchoStar Communications on Tuesday yanking Viacom-owned stations, including CBS and MTV, after the companies failed to agree on contract terms and prices.
OVERBOARD? Thanks to the backlash caused by Janet Jackson's Super Bowl exposure, UPN ordering the producers of Game Over, prime time's first computer-generated animated series, to nix two seconds of nudity and coarse language from the pilot episode airing Wednesday.
SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THESE: Sting and Oscar winner Annie Lennox teaming up to hit the road for the Sacred Love tour, which kicks off June 27 in Philadelphia and ends in Canada on Oct. 12.
HUNG LIKE AN IDOL: American Idol contestant William Hung, who became a fan favorite thanks to his ridiculously spirited version of Ricky Martin's "She Bangs," signing a deal with Fuse Music Network and Koch Records. His debut album, The True Idol hits stores on April 6.
PLAYING THE FIELD: Angelina Jolie telling the New York Post that she's currently sleeping with men with whom she's close friends and is not seeking a serious relationship. "As crazy as it sounds, meeting a man in a hotel room for a few hours and then going back and putting my son to bed and not seeing that man again for a few months is about what I can handle now," she said.
KUDOS! South African President Thabo Mbeki congratulating Charlize Theron on her recent Oscar win in Pretoria Monday. He awarded the South African actress with an ounce of gold ingrained in the rock in which it was formed.
CSI NEWS: 24 costar Vanessa Ferlito snagging the lead role in the CBS spinoff CSI: New York for which Gary Sinise is in talks to head the cast.
PASSION PERSISTS: Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ remaining the top movie with $53 million in ticket sales this weekend--that puts the religious flick's take at over $200 million in just 12 days.
COUNTRY ROAD: Country star Randy Travis, his wife and his tour manager involved in a tour bus accident in Pennsylvania Sunday; all three emerged with only "bumps and bruises."