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Rings, Spider-Man get most MTV nominations

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Spider-Man lead the crop of nominees for the 2003 MTV Movie Awards with five nods apiece. The 12th annual awards ceremony will be taped May 31 at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium for broadcast June 5, according to a network spokesperson.

The second installment in J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy trilogy picked up nominations for best action sequence (The Battle for Helms Deep) and best on-screen team (Elijah Wood, Sean Astin and Gollum); while the superhero flick's Kirsten Dunst (Mary Jane Watson) is up for best female performance and William Dafoe (Green Goblin) is contending for best villain. Both films received props for best male performance (Tobey Maguire for Spider-Man and Viggo Mortensen for The Lord of the Rings), as well as best movie. 8 Mile, Barbershop and The Ring round out the films vying for the prestigious, all-encompassing honor.

8 Mile, Austin Powers in Goldmember, Barbershop, Daredevil, Jackass: The Movie and Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones trail the leaders with three nominations each.

Recognizing the dazzling strides being made in the special-effects arena, this year's show has added the category of best virtual performance to honor the roles of the saber-swinging Yoda in Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones, the Brooklyn-loving marsupial Kangaroo Jack, a "precious"-metal-obsessed Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the trouble-making elf Dobby in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and mush-mouthed mutt Scooby-Doo. All the nominees for the 2003 MTV Movie Awards were chosen by MTV and MTV2 viewers via a national poll. The winners will be chosen by votes by phone (900-407-4MTV), online at mtv.com and through cellular service provided by Virgin Mobile beginning today.

Tallahassee baritone wins Opera Guild competition

Baritone Scott MacLeod of Tallahassee was the first-place winner ($3,000) in the 34th annual Florida Suncoast Opera Guild competition, which drew 28 college students and young professional singers Saturday in St. Petersburg. The second-place winner ($2,000) was soprano Brunilda Soto, Coral Gables, and soprano Jeanai Ratcliffe, Clearwater, was third ($1,000).

'Goodbye' script not good news for 'Practice' fans

David Kelley went onto the set of The Practice to explain to the cast and crew that the script titled "Goodbye" might be the show's last episode, the New York Post reports. Ratings have plunged since ABC moved the drama from Sunday to Monday night, and network brass might ask Kelley to accept a reduction at upcoming contract talks in how much it pays for the show. "David Kelley wrote a script that could serve as both a season and series finale -- if needed," his spokeswoman, Stacey Luchs, said. "While it is true that David did in fact visit the set of The Practice once the script was distributed, he did so to 'pre-empt' any concerns that the cast and crew members might have, given the script's title, 'Goodbye.' " Sources said the script has Bobby, the main character played by Dylan McDermott, quitting the firm and leaving his wife.

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