People talk 1/6/04

Oops -- Spear's quickie marriage annulled

LAS VEGAS -- After 55 hours of marital madness and publicity gone wild, Britney Spears and temporary husband Jason Allan Alexander, a junior at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, La., decided Monday to scrap it. Clark County Family Court Judge Lisa M. Brown signed the annulment order at 12:24 p.m. It took the judge about two hours to act on the "complaint for annulment" filed in Family Court shortly after 10 a.m. Spears married Alexander -- who hails from Spears' hometown of Kentwood, La. -- about 5:30 a.m. Saturday at a Las Vegas wedding chapel. An annulment makes a marriage go away as if it never happened, while a divorce recognizes that it did occur.

Seinfeld to make guest appearance on HBO

NEW YORK -- Jerry Seinfeld will do a "pop-in" on his old friend, Larry David, this season on "Curb Your Enthusiasm." David told Newsweek magazine for its Jan. 12 issue the comedian, with whom he created "Seinfeld," showed up on the set during an episode set in Manhattan and makes a brief cameo, but wouldn't elaborate. The fourth season of the HBO comedy, which began Sunday night, stars David as himself: a cranky comedy writer.

Humorist praised for discussing depression

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Humorist Art Buchwald is being honored for talking openly about depression. Buchwald, 78, will be feted Jan. 12 by the National Association for Research on Depression and Schizophrenia at a gala in Sarasota. Buchwald, who writes a column for the Washington Post, revealed his depression on CNN's "Larry King Live" nearly eight years ago. At the time, he said he had two "bad periods" that required hospitalization, in 1963 and in 1987.

Willie Nelson happily pens protest song

AUSTIN, Texas -- Willie Nelson brought down the house when he debuted his new anti-war ballad at a fund-raiser over the weekend for Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich. Nelson has said he wrote "What Ever Happened to Peace on Earth" on Christmas Day at his in-laws' California home. "There was nothing but bad news, and here it was Christmas Day," Nelson told the Austin American-Statesman last month. Asked if his new song might cause a backlash with conservative country music fans, Nelson said, "I sure hope so."-- From wire reports