The pop princess was snapped in Calabasas, California smoking in public while on a date with her boyfriend, Jason Tarwick.

PHOTOS: Britney Parks in Handicapped Spot

Britney decided to light up at the local Calabasas Commons, a popular shopping center, on a public walkway.  There were kids nearby.  So what’s the big deal, you ask?

Calabasas  has the strict smoking ban in the United States: smoking anywhere a non-smoker could congregate, including public sidewalks and apartment complexes, is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of at least $250.

PHOTOS: Britney Rocks A Bikini In Sydney

Fortunately for Brit, there wasn’t a cop in sight.

Original Article: http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2010/01/photo-smokin-britney-spears-caught-breaking-law

The singer arrived at UCLA Medical Center’s Mattel Children’s hospital shortly after midday in a three-car convoy, led by a pre-planned police escort.

Sean Preston and Jayden James, Spears sons with ex-husband Kevin Federline, weren’t seen with her when she entered the clinic, prompting speculation the news wasn’t quite as serious as first reported.

The star’s publicist initially refused to respond to requests for comment, before admitting to FemaleFirst, “Everything’s fine. Britney is there for an annual physical.” No further information was available at press time.

Let’s hope she had some flowers and jewellery waiting for her at home after her budget Valentine’s lunch.  While McDonald’s may not be many people’s idea of a romantic date, Spears’ love of fast food is well documented.

When she stayed in London last year during her Circus world tour, Spears was frequently spotted bringing her sons Sean Preston and Jayden James to the Knightsbridge, London branch of McDonald’s.

With her sons staying with their father Kevin Federline, Spears was free to spend the weekend with Trawick, who she has been dating for over a year and half.

On Saturday, Spears and Trawick were spotted holding hands as they enjoyed lunch at the Marmalade Cafe in the LA suburb of Calabasas.

After completing her Circus world tour last tear, Spears is heading back to the studio to record her seventh studio album.

Among the artists she is rumoured to be collaborating with is popstar-of-the-moment Lady GaGa after they met at the Grammys last month.

A source said: ‘GaGa has made no secret of just how much of a Britney fan she is.

The printed book is going the way of the 78 record. The Kindle, The Nook, and now the Ipad — these new products with catchy names are the MP3 player-equivalents that are hastening the demise of the traditional publishing industry and the offshore printing companies in one fell swoop.

There is no denying the sales data — when Jeff Bezos tells us that even a year ago Amazon was selling 3.5 copies of the Kindle version for every ten printed copies of a book, then it’s clear that radical change is happening in book publishing.

But let’s look at all this change through a different lens. For her birthday in November, Britney Spears was given a book. (More about the book, including pictures, can be found on Britney’s website here.)

It was a clothbound, dustjacketed coffee table book filled with the tweeted birthday wishes of her fans. Of course, who wouldn’t want a book filled with the good wishes of your adoring fans? But what is interesting about this is that Britney (or rather, her entourage) took electronic content and turned it into a printed book.

While your average how-to book or trashy novel may find its life lived as electronic content, for the books that have emotional resonance nothing will ever be quite as good as words printed on actual paper. The words in Britney’s book already existed in electronic form – but were considered valuable enough to memorialize on paper.

On my bookshelf I’ve got the story of my life in books — my original copy of Macbeth with my chicken scratch ninth grade notes in the margin, my Constitutional Law textbook from my first year in law school (Marbury vs. Madison anyone?), and hundreds of novels and classics that have meant something to me over the years. None of these books could ever be replaced by an electronic version, and I’ll cart them with me from house to house wherever our family may move.

Tweets from your fans are nice, but putting them into a book gives them a power and permanence that a web page can’t provide. (Most of us aren’t lucky enough to be able to fill an entire book with birthday wishes from people we don’t know; if you happen to be one of the few who is, then put those great words in a book and keep it on your coffee table.)

Yes, traditional book publishing as an industry is in transition. But as the example of Britney’s birthday book shows us, there are all kinds of new publishing opportunities that didn’t exist before. Here are some of the winners that are going to emerge from the current industry changes:

1) Trees. No more wasting paper on the latest steamy romance with Fabio on the cover or 27th installment in the Gossip Girl series. That’s a great thing.

2) Readers. I’ve bought twice as many books since I got my Kindle. Plus rediscovered classics such as A Farewell to Arms and Mrs. Dalloway. Do you know how many books you can download for FREE on the Kindle?

3) Writers with a niche audience. In the past it’s been difficult for books with a small natural market to find their readership or even get published. Just as itunes has helped launch new bands, Kindle or Nook or ipad may begin to play an important role in connecting writers with their audiences.

4) Publishers providing added value. The publishing companies that will continue to thrive are those that bring significant added value to their stable of writers – strong editorial teams, innovative launch marketing strategies, multimedia packaging. Great book publishers do a lot more than just create a jacket design and start printing copies. The business model may be changing, but there will always be a role for those companies that can successfully launch new books and new authors.

5) Top-selling authors. Now that authors are being packaged as brands, they can command a bigger piece of the revenue pie from their sales. If there isn’t a James Patterson E-Reader in the works already, I’ll be shocked. These top-selling brand names, who represent a large share of the overall trade publishing industry’s sales, will benefit from the coming disintermediation. Of course, as reported in the January 11 issue of Publishers Weekly, bestsellers are spending less and less time at the top – as there is more competition for readers’ attention.

6) Self-publishing companies. Anyone with an elegant, easy-to-use technology for self-publishing, who can combine it with an effective distribution channel, is going to do well over the next decade. In 2008, according to Publishers Weekly, sales of self-published books exceeded those of traditional publishers for the first time. If I were a large bookstore chain I would be looking to make this kind of acquisition in the short-term. If I mention blurb.com here it’s in part because I really like their technology and in part because I want the CEO to return my messages.

7) Agents. I don’t know why in particular agents will benefit, but agents always find a way to make money, right?
I’m a book publisher, and I come from a family of book publishers (and agents and novelists and journalists). At the end of the day, the democratization of book publishing is a good thing for all of us.

Follow Anna Barber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/atscribblepress

Original Article taken from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-barber/britney-spears-and-the-fu_b_455880.html

Now the two pop stars might be set for collaboration after Gaga’s old man Joseph told Britney she’s one of her biggest fans.

It all happened at the Grammys when the Poker Face singer took her father along as a guest, and when she nipped to the loo, Joseph went up to Britney and introduced himself, The Sun reported.

When Lady Gaga retuned to find her dad in conversation with Ms Spears, they exchanged numbers and organised to meet in the studio to work on some music.

Taken from:

http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/music/812599-lady-gaga-to-duet-with-britney-spears

He demanded to be moved, fuming that it was just to make a scene for the cameras – and play up rumours he had split for good from his on-off love Jessica Biel. Which he hasn’t!

Our spy says: “Organisers agreed to move Britney across the aisle from Justin – there was no way they wanted to upset him.

It’s hard to keep everyone happy.”

As a teenager young Brit sang: “My loneliness is killin me, and I, I must confess I still believe, still believe, when I’m not with you I lose my mind, Give me a sign, Hit me baby one more time!”

It’s amazing how prophetic those song lyrics were. After dating Justin Timberlake it seemed that Britney dated a variety of men, but still could not find that “connection” until she met and hooked up with “Gold-digging” back up dancer: Kevin Federline. After their coming together, rushed romance, cancelling of tours, brief reality TV series documenting their young “love,” and back to back pregnancies; their relationship ended with visitation limitations, divorce, and a huge sum of money awarded to attempted rapper: K-fed.

It was after that crazy debacle when the: “when I’m not with you I lose my mind” started to play out in the tabloids. For instance the infamous shaving her head, attacking paparazzi with an umbrella, and the less than great MTV VMA performance displayed just how she had indeed, lost her mind.

So it seems just when Britney thought she was completely rid of the now overweight, money grubbing K-Fed the tax man call them back in to play. Although in this case it is not necessarily a bad thing. Apparently both Britney, Pop music’s world renown star, and Kevin Federline, former backup dancer and baby daddy are being awarded a very generous tax refund.

Hopefully the sign that Britney Spears finally sees is that after this tax refund business the sign is for her to stay the hell away from Kevin Federline. He does not need to “Hit [her] baby one more time,” she is way better without the likes of him. She did make the best dance/pop albums in the midst of her breakdown with: “Blackout” and “Circus.”

The singer and back up dancer are free to claim their cash reward at their convenience (According to Department of Revenue in Louisiana). The refund stems back to either an old tax file or Louisiana property that they owned together (as said on TMZ.com). The total sum of their cash refund is said to be around $50,000 or more. The only problem they have now is how to divvy up the money. Hopefully they will reach a mutual agreement without having to resort to mental breakdowns, lawsuits, kidnapping, or any type hostage situations.

The kiss took place between to the two superstars during a joint performance of “Like a Virgin.”

“Madonna performing with both Britney and Christina [Aguilera] was a big enough event in itself, but nobody – even the MTV people – expected what happened. It is one of the most memorable moments ever,” said a source quoted by Contactmusic.com.

Ironically, Sacha Baron Cohen’s (Brüno) and Will Ferrell’s re-enactment of Madonna and Britney’s kiss at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards also made the top 10.

The top 10 most famous kisses of the last decade appear below.

1. Britney Spears and Madonna, MTV Video Music Awards, 2003

2. Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, Spider-Man, 2002

3. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, Brokeback Mountain, 2005

4. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, Twilight, 2008

5. Scarlett Johansson and Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, 2008

6. Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson, Mercer Hotel NYC, 2008

7. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, 2005

8. Freida Pinto and Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire, 2009

9. Sasha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell, MTV Movie Awards, 2007

10. Jennifer Aniston and Winona Ryder, Friend, 2001

At the young age of 11, Britney became a part of the 1990 version of The Mickey Mouse Club TV show; it wasn’t long after that when Jive records signed her. In between then and now, Britney has faced many dramas and ridicule from the rest of the world- but has always managed to remain on top, continuing to impress her fans with hit songs.

When her album “In The Zone” was released in stores it became one of the top selling records in the United States selling 609,000 copies in just one week. Spears scored the largest first week sales of any female artist in 2003 and “In the Zone” debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

Britney’s musical intensity and her evolution from a young renegade into a mature woman are undeniable throughout “In The Zone.”  Working with writers and producers, the brand new sound Britney fans were blasting in their cars had substantial quality. The albums following “In The Zone,” definitely remain to have that one of a kind sound.