Oh, Poor Fashion WeekFewer Hollywood stars than usual are expected at Fashion Week when it starts September 5, because the Emmys and the MTV Video Music Awards are the same week. Dan Rather was confused by the “Thriller” dance stunt performed by Katie Couric’s staff last week, though he thinks her job is safe. Arianna Huffington may be dating Newark mayor Cory Booker. Cuba Gooding Jr., who is married with three kids, recently made out with five girls in one night at Tenjune. Jeremy Piven got into a heated argument with his mother at Nobu Malibu, though it’s unclear about what. Gwyneth Paltrow has been trekking around Spain with Mario Batali for a PBS cooking show (and hubby Chris Martin almost didn’t get into the premiere of her brother’s new movie). Cameron Diaz had a romantic dinner with John Mayer at Mai House in Tribeca. Residents of Martha’s Vineyard are happy that Larry David and Laurie are broken up and that Larry is dating again.
new york fugging city
Whoopi, Paris Win Fug Girls’ Real-Life Daytime Emmys
Friday’s Daytime Emmy Awards telecast will honor soap-opera actors for so artfully telling tales of babynapping, tainted face cream, faked deaths, and secret cancer. As a tribute to those invaluable contributions, we’d like to acknowledge some of their real-world counterparts, the hard-luck celebs starring in their own melodramas.
party town
If There’s a Party, There’s Mariska HargitayTonight’s boldfaced parties:
• Gotham Awards. Pier 60, West Side Hwy. nr. 23rd St., 6 p.m. David Cross hosts; honorees and expected guests include Tim Robbins, Kate Winslet, Ed Norton, and Mark Cuban. Despite the fact that the Gotham Awards’ own Website proclaims that its mission is to “celebrate the authentic voices in the year’s best American films,” the Mexican directorial all-star team of Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo del Toro, and Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu will also be honored. Someone tell Lou Dobbs!
intel
Lawyers’ Group Seeks Inquiry Into Brooklyn’s Anti-Immigrant Author-JudgeWhen we saw yesterday that Brooklyn judge John Wilson wrote a children’s book, Hot House Flowers, that reads as a not-so subtle dis on immigrants — “dandelions,” in his telling, barge into a happy hothouse and proceed to spawn legions of weedlike children who take up all the soil and drink all the water — we thought, Well, that’s not going to sell in New York, like, at all. But poor sales may be the least of “Border in the Court” Wilson’s problems. The Legal Aid Society of New York just told its staff that it is requesting an inquiry by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct into whether His Honor can be trusted to rule impartially in cases involving immigrants. Perhaps Wilson will soon have more time to tend his own garden?
— Jon Steinberg
Judge Is in Immig Groups’ Bad Books [NYDN]
intel
McNally Robinson Reading Keeps Al Goldstein From Suicide
And in our continuing coverage of noteworthy occurrences at last night’s social events, here’s the quote of the day, from Al Goldstein’s I, Goldstein: My Screwed Life reading at Soho’s McNally Robinson bookstore. He had been asked whether he was surprised his memoir received major, and favorable, coverage in Sunday’s Times Book Review:
“I was shocked. When every piece of furniture and your underwear are taken by the bank, when you lose your house in Florida, in New York, in Amsterdam and L.A., when your wife is dying and your son abandons you, you don’t feel very good. I’m not very optimistic. I mean, do you want me to be like Pangloss and say that this is the best of all possible worlds? I gave up the lithium and I’m trying to stay alive, but I have enough Ambien to kill myself.”
He did allow, however, that he was pleased with the evening’s turnout and the crowd’s enthusiastic response. “That makes me not want to kill myself,” he said.
— Mary Reinholz
intel
Canoodling Cuomo?And speaking of somewhat unexpected goings-on at last night’s boldfaced parties, it’s worth noting that the UNICEF Snowflake Ball, hosted by Bryant Gumbel and filled with movers and shakers, marked the first time AG-elect Andrew Cuomo was seen in public with Sandra Lee since reports surfaced that the two have become a serious couple. Notice how they’re not actually touching each other? That’s ‘cause they spent the night explaining to people, as they’d explained to “Page Six” last week, that they’re just good friends.
Serious ‘Buds’ [NYP]
neighborhood watch
Let’s Just Call Every Land Deal ‘Atlantic Yards’ From Now OnBoerum Hill: There are twelve units left in the Smith; expect a fancy grocery store in the retail space. Will that make up for jailhouse views? [Brownstoner]
Carroll Gardens: Schnack heard the screams for highly processed flour and answered: White buns are back. [A Brooklyn Life]
Chelsea: A Jaguar ad plastered to the old McBurney Y makes us yearn for the days when the neighborhood’s billboards were all PSAs. [BlogChelsea]
Coney Island: With the sell-off of Astroland, New York’s favorite crappy beach might be the new Atlantic Yards. [Gowanus Lounge]
Midtown: When you see Christopher Meloni at the gym, do you think SVU or Oz? [Tales From the City]
Sunset Park: Neighborhood tree lighting conveniently scheduled for a time when no one can go. [Sunset Parker]
in other news
MTA Won’t Raise Fares, Thanks, Somehow, to Stuy TownThe benevolent overlords of MTA are now promising no fare hikes for 2007, honestly. For real. Not for subways, not for LIRR, not for Metro-North or bridge-and-tunnel tolls — not even for lightning-fast, camera-equipped Space Age ultrabuses. The news comes as a backtracking, after Peter Kalikow & Co. had already put a $240 million hike on the books, not to mention scared the bejesus out of everyone by floating a bizarre service-cut proposal. Now Kalikow says enough money has appeared to make that hike unnecessary, which raises the question: Where did the money come from all of the sudden, and who’s the secret Santa?
It comes from, says Kalikow, the city’s booming economy — and particularly its real-estate market. “The agency gets revenues from real estate transactions,” the News says, adding later that “it will get some assistance from the megasale of Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town.” All of which is well and good, if it keeps our subway fares down. But also: Huh? Is there a MTA tax on real-estate transfers? Is Tishman Speyer throwing a few MetroCards at Stuy Town residents to keep them happy? We don’t quite get this bit and would appreciate anyone who could explain.
On the other hand, it’s not like it so much matters. The MTA is predicting “huge deficits” for 2008.
MTA Plays Fare and Holds It for ‘07 [NYDN]
How Many Lawyers Does It Take to Make You Sick?Plaintiff: Amy Seiler
Defendants: Harry J. Mulry Jr.; Gregory G. Shaub, doing business under the firm name Mulry & Shaub L.L.P.
Accusation: A paralegal toils for a small law firm and gets bouts of “stomach distress, headaches and disagreeable fits of temper.” Oh, and don’t forget those “digestive upsets.”
In a lawsuit filed last week in Brooklyn Federal Court, Amy Seiler says her bosses at Mulry & Shaub in Port Washington negligently dragged their feet in hiring a replacement for an outgoing receptionist. And so for the next two months, Seiler was forced to work two jobs for the price of one.
But instead of quitting, Seiler stuck around for a “nightmare” at work that boiled over into “heated exchanges and accusations concerning baseless allegations of errors.” The bosses, Seiler claims, wanted to force her out instead of hiring more staff.
in other news
The ‘New York’ Guide to Where Not to Get Sick
So the big Pataki-pushed plan to overhaul the New York State health-care system is out, and the first order of business is to close nine hospitals statewide — five of them in the city. The doomed hospitals are St. Vincent’s Midtown and Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan, Victory Memorial in Brooklyn, Parkway Hospital in Queens, and Westchester Square Medical Center in the Bronx. They’re all plotted on the (somewhat squished) subway map above, so if you live near any of those red Xs, you might want to start taking your vitamins. (Those two Xs in midtown, we must say, make us pleased the company provided flu shots. Thanks, Bruce!)
Code Blue for Hosps [NYDN]
Best Hospitals 2006 [NYM]
party town
Barbara Bush Stops By Cipriani En Route to OblivionTonight’s boldfaced parties:
• UNICEF Snowflake Ball. Cipriani, 110 E. 42nd St., nr. Vanderbilt Ave., 6:30 p.m. Al Roker, Téa Leoni, Barbara Bush the Younger, Jeff Zucker, and Oprah pal Gayle King are slated to attend. One of our friends once turned down the chance to hang out with Barbara Bush, thus depriving us of an opportunity to obnoxiously name-drop his secondhand story about hanging out with Barbara Bush whenever her name is mentioned. How selfish.