People talk 12/24/02

Turning 30 doesn't bother Alyssa Milano

RADNOR, Pa. -- Alyssa Milano says she's dealing just fine with having turned 30 earlier this month, and isn't planning to mark the milestone with any big changes in her personal life.

The actress, speaking of her new relationship with 'N Sync's Justin Timberlake -- Britney Spears' former boyfriend -- said things on the romance front are still brand new.

"I'm not getting married," said Milano. "Our relationship is so new we don't even really know what it is yet."

Known to many for her role in the hit 1980s sitcom "Who's the Boss," Milano now co-stars in "Charmed," a long-running series on the WB.

She said she feels comfortable with what she's accomplished in her career so far and optimistic about her future.

"I think people freak out about (turning 30) when they don't feel like they've accomplished what they need to by then," Milano told Reader's Digest for its Saturday issue. "I wasn't freaked out at all. Just excited."

Queen injures herself during visit to Suffolk

LONDON -- Queen Elizabeth II strained a ligament in her knee and is using a cane to walk, Buckingham Palace said Monday.

The palace said the monarch injured herself Friday during a visit to Newmarket, in Suffolk, eastern England.

"She is making a quick recovery with the occasional use of a stick," a palace spokeswoman said on customary condition of anonymity. She declined to say how the queen injured her knee, or which knee it was.

The queen was keeping all her official engagements and planned to attend church on Christmas with her family near the royal estate at Sandringham in eastern England, said the spokeswoman.

Television broadcasters showed a brief preview Monday of Elizabeth's Christmas Day address to the nation, the first time Buckingham Palace has released details of the prerecorded annual speech in advance.

"As I look back over these past 12 months, I know that it has been about as full a year as I can remember," the clip showed the queen saying.

Elizabeth's mother and sister died in 2002, and the queen reveled in the phenomenally successful celebrations of her 50 years on the throne.

The unprecedented promotion of the address appeared to be an attempt to boost the speech's declining ratings.

Watching the queen's address used to be a holiday fixture for many British families, but the British Broadcasting Corp. said that while about 30 million people had watched in decades past, only about a third as many tuned in last year.

The preview showed the 76-year-old sitting in a powder blue dress in front of a table with framed photographs of her sister, Princess Margaret, who died in February, and her mother, the Queen Mother Elizabeth, who died in March.

Marsalis gives concert to benefit senior centers

NEW YORK -- Wynton Marsalis had senior citizens dancing until the early morning hours as he and his jazz quartet gave a rousing performance at a center for the elderly.

The sold-out event was held at Fort Greene Senior Citizens Center in Brooklyn on Friday night to save certain centers from closing because of budget constraints. Though the setting wasn't as swanky as Lincoln Center, where Marsalis is artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the audience was far more animated, hooting and hollering and even shouting out requests.

Marsalis took note of the song suggestions, then joked: "I'm gonna play whatever I want!"

At one point, audience members started dancing in a line in front of the stage.

"It's just so soulful up in here," the 41-year-old trumpeter said.

Marsalis' quartet performed until past midnight at the event, which raised $12,000. Organizers say two centers in the area are in danger of closing because of city budget constraints.

SpongeBob proves to be more popular than Santa

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. -- The line of eager children was a long one with just a few days before Christmas.

But they weren't waiting for the man with the big red suit and white beard; Santa's novelty apparently has worn off.

Kids at the Big Wheel Skate Center were waiting for a close-up look at the popular Nickelodeon cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants.

"SpongeBob's more popular than Santa," Big Wheel employee Corey Senderhauf said Sunday. "This is their first time seeing SpongeBob. They've seen Santa before."

SpongeBob made his first visit to Sheboygan through Big Wheel's ties to Charter Communications, said the skate center's owner, Daniel Green.

The show connects with children and adults alike, Green said. Parents understand the humor and children love the characters and their comical struggles, he said.

Dustin Beimel, 7, and his mom, Lisa Beimel, missed the Green Bay Packers game to meet SpongeBob.

"SpongeBob is more important than the Packers," Dustin said.

Santa greeted the crowd during SpongeBob's break.

Budweiser commercial star happy behind scenes

PHILADELPHIA -- Grown men don't drive by, stick out their tongues and yell "Whassup?" at Charles Stone III anymore. And that's fine with him.

The 36-year-old Philadelphia native is happy these days to be behind the camera. His coming-of-age movie "Drumline," about life in the marching band of a black college, earned over $13 million in its debut weekend.

"'Drumline' was originally about a scholarship student in the Midwest who does core-style marching," said Stone. "We kind of funked it up."

It was just that kind of riffing that won Stone and friends Scott Brooks, Paul Williams and Fred Thomas instant celebrity for their 1999 Budweiser beer commercial. The spot became part of an ad campaign that won a top prize at the 2000 International Advertising Festival in Cannes, France.

Stone told the Philadelphia Inquirer recently that he's looking at scripts -- his dream is to make a sci-fi film on the order of "Star Wars" -- and working on another short. The project, titled "Fast Food," is about a man in a restroom.

-- From wire reports