Thought we would join in the Thursday Thirteen fun this week - with a Diva Twist. Instead of 13 things directly about Me - I have thirteen celebrity facts I’ve run across this week and found to be interesting:

1. Former N’Sync singer, Lance Bass, has come out of the closet and a public confession of his gayness. Well, duh. Like we didn’t see that coming from a mile away.. like 5 years ago. Now, what I want to see is some People Magazine covers of celebrities who are straight with cover headlines that say “I’m NOT Gay” or “Hey, I like having sex with people of the opposite sex!” or soemthing.. just to even out the waters here.
2. Britney Spears is having a difficult second pregnancy
3. Heath Ledger to start as the joker in the new Batman franchise. I can totally envision this!
4. The Anti-Napster, RIAA honeys, Metallica, has sold out to iTunes
5. Is Nicole Kidman pregnant? Or is it just another Hollywood pregnancy rumor?
6. Tori Spelling is being cut out. “Despite reports that Tori Spelling would inherit millions from her father’s $500 million estate, Us has learned exclusively that the actress, 33, will get just 0.16 % of the Spelling fortune. Tori’s share - a cash inheritance payment of $200,000, combined with approximately $600,000 in private investments her dad set up for her - is a brush-off Aaron Spelling would never have intended for his only daughter, says a family source. “I believe Candy had a lot to do with what was left for Tori,” the source says of Tori’s mother, who is sole managing executor of the estate. (Candy’s rep had no comment.)
   “
7. Justin Timberlake has a new sexy vidoe out called SexyBack Click here to watch
8. More pregnancy rumors: it’s rumored that Ashanti is pregnant with Nelly’s baby.
9. Kevin Federline’s official site is coming soon Though you’d all want to know.
10. The Marshall family vows to keep fighting Anna Nicole for her dead husband’s money.
11. Let the biological overshadowing of Maddox and Zahara begin. Madame Tussauds New York has created a wax figure of only Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt to be added to the Brangelina display.
12. Pamela Anderson re-married rocker Kid Rock in St-Tropez.
13. Happy Birthday to: TV producer Norman Lear is 84, Actor Jerry Van Dyke (Coach ) is 75, Actress Roxanne Hart (Chicago Hope ) is 54, Singer Juliana Hatfield is 39, Actor Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck ) is 38, Singer Pete Yorn is 32

The Last Days of Dead Celebrities - Despite his book’s coarse title, journalist Fink (Never Forget: An Oral History of September 11, 2001) treats his subjects with considerable grace in this intriguing collection accounting for a handful of celebrities’ final days. Fink covers his subjects chronologically-beginning with the 1980 death of John Lennon-and occasionally references how the death of one personality affected another (as in the case of a mournful Yoko Ono). A veteran journalist for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, People magazine and the New York Daily News, Fink avoids the tabloid treatment and goes out of his way to attribute his quotes and gather background information from those who were there. The diversity of his choices gives weight to the book as well; larger-than-life personalities such as John Lennon and John Belushi commingle with football player Lyle Alzado, news correspondent David Bloom and musician Warren Zevon. Some, like legendary acting coach Lee Strasberg, had premonitions of their deaths, while others, like Belushi, were taken by surprise and all too soon. The result is a thoughtful and sobering account of how our culture views and treats celebrities, as well as a poignant look at some very public people’s most private moments.

Morbid. But fantastic.

This month’s issue of Harper’s Bazaar was distributed today with the semi-controversial photo layout of a very pregnant Britney Spears. I say semi-controversial because hasn’t Demi Moore been there, done that…like in 1991? Britney’s photoshoot has less of a scandalous impact.

But! I think she’ looks fabulous in these photos! She almost looks like the Britney we used to know and love (well.. except for the bump, but still!). She even thinks so - in her interview she states: “It made me want to cry a little bit, doing these photos. I started feeling like myself again. I was a little held back at first. I didn’t know if I wanted to go there, because … you know. But when I put it on, I thought, God, this is beautiful”

Here’s hoping that Britney starts feeling like herself more and more!

It’s a rare (maybe this is a first?) thing that Diva Dish touches on politics here. Seriously, celebrities are well known for spouting off their 1, 2, 3, 4… cents on topics ranging from the environment, war, foreign policy, guns - you name it, Hollywood has a platform for everything - most of it nonsense and of no greater value than the political commentary of your next door neighbor (unless your neighbor happens to be a Bush or a Kennedy, then well.. ya know).

But, this quote from Brad Pitt regarding Angelina’s new movie project really just shows how sheltered and isolated some of Hollywood really is in their ‘make love, not war’ completely politically correct way of irritatingly tolerating absolutely every thing.

Here’s the quote:

“We hope the film can increase understanding between people of all faiths and portray the story and the people involved as honestly as possible without anger or judgment.”

- [source]

The movie? A Mighty Heart by Marianne Pearl, the widow of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

Now, forget the fact that a movie has already been made about Daniel Pearl. Oh yes, it has! It was distributed across the internet just as fast as the little data lines could carry it. The movie was made by the terrorists.

To summarize: Daniel Pearl was a reporter who was lured into an interview, kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists (read: terrorists) and brutally killed by beheading in front of rolling video cameras. Before chopping off his head - the terrorists asked Pearl to identify himself. Not by name. Not by country. Not by occupation. But by religion. Identify himself as a Jew - once he did, off went his head! He was killed because he was a Jew.

This is the concept that Brad Pitt wants us to be so understanding about - without anger and without judgement.

Can we all just get along? Kumbaya, Puff the Magic Dragon and flower power, man. All those terrorists need is a little love and understanding.

But hey, at the end of the day? Brad Pitt is still cute as hell, right?