Leitch: Now Let Us Remember Zach RandolphFrom the get-go, Randolph was a disastrous fit in New York. For the fun of it, let’s hop in the not-so-way-back machine and take a look at Zach’s season of fun.
Big Urban-Planning Issues: How Do We Get LeBron?It’s been a bad week for massive urban-planning projects. First came news that Madison Square Garden would be renovating instead of moving into the Moynihan Station megadevelopment across Eighth Avenue.
It Happened This Week: Striking BackHillary Clinton hit Barack Obama on Reverend Jeremiah Wright even as critics slammed her for fibbing about Bosnian sniper fire, Sean Combs smacked down rumors that he was involved with Tupac’s shooting, and other events of the week that was.
in other news
James Dolan and Mort Zuckerman Join Murdoch in Scramble for ‘Newsday’Turns out it’s not just Rupert Murdoch who’s interested in buying Newsday; Mort Zuckerman, the real-estate magnate who owns the Daily News, and James Dolan, whose family owns Cablevision, Madison Square Garden, and the Knicks, are making bids as well.
the sports section
Isiah Thomas: Nearly Half As Popular As George Bush!Isiah Thomas was already having a pretty bad week, what with the Knicks courting his replacement before they’ve even fired him. But today comes news that his approval rating in New York State is a meager 16 percent.
gossipmonger
Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon Set a Bad ExampleJake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon texted on their BlackBerrys during the matinee show of August: Osage County before sneaking out at intermission. Criminal! Judith Regan is now suing the lawyers who are suing her for alleged unpaid fees. Anna Wintour sat courtside at the Knicks-Cavs game last night courtesy of LeBron James (she’s putting him on the cover of Vogue’s shape issue with Gisele in April). Jeremy Piven texted two separate models he met in New York to come meet him at the Mercer Hotel, though he didn’t know at the time that they knew each other. The Champagne Marilyn Monroe drank during her famous 1962 shoot was spiked with either drugs or vodka.
the sports section
Stephon Marbury Is Back, and PrayingStephon Marbury was back in Madison Square Garden last night after a week of absence forced by Isiah Thomas. (Marbury is on the injured list because of ankle surgery, but last week we learned that Thomas had banned the Knicks point guard from home games, and even went so far as to leave his name off a list of backcourt players when talking about the 2008–2009 season.) Marbury said that some of Thomas’s comments this week “bothered” him a lot, but that he “prayed to God” he would return full-time next season. From the Daily News:
“Whatever [Thomas] is saying he is going to do I can’t change his mind. I can tell you how I feel about the organization and how I feel about Mr. Dolan. He didn’t have to sign the bill for me to come here. I respect him a lot despite all of what is going on.”
Things have gotten so bad in Knicksville that now announcers rush through reading off Thomas’s name so the crowd won’t have time to boo. Marbury himself calls it a “circus.” Since it’s become clear that the feuding duo probably won’t both be back next season, but maybe one or the other will, the game of sucking up to Jimmy Dolan has begun.
STEPH: I WANNA STAY [NYP]
Stephon Marbury back in ‘circus’ [NYDN]
gossipmonger
Eric Nederlander Just Can’t WinBroadway scion Eric Nederlander is divorcing his second wife just seven weeks after having a daughter with her. Theodora Richards is now vice-president of creative direction at some jeans company. Maxim gave Nas’s new album two and a half stars despite the fact that it’s not even done yet. (They did the same thing to the new Black Crowes record.) Grey’s Anatomy star Sara Ramirez flipped out at a midtown bar after a female fan chatted up her boyfriend. Lorne Michaels is in talks with a major Vegas casino to create a live SNL revue starring former popular cast members.
it happened this week
Blown AwayAs the first arctic blast of January weather whipped through town last week, the city was chilled by news that Iowans had frozen out New York’s candidates for the White House. Hillary Clinton’s last-minute plea on the first post-hibernation Letterman show —starring Dave’s new reindeer-wrangler beard—failed to help her, and she finished behind Barack Obama and John Edwards. Rudy Giuliani finished sixth behind Mike Huckabee but had left Iowa five days before the caucus anyway. Dark horse Michael Bloomberg denied that there was any significance in his attendance at a caucus of potential third-party candidates, though he took pokes at the front-runners’ lack of ideas. Fourth-place finisher Fred Thompson, who’s probably wishing he’d never quit as New York’s fictional D.A., lost his old Law & Order job to Sam Waterston.
gossipmonger
Underwear Model Hits the FloorA publicist for model Annabel Vartanian claims that the model fainted at a La Perla party because “she wore herself out,” not because she has an eating disorder. Kim Cattrall is donating all the furs she wore in the Sex and the City movie to PETA, which in turn will give them to charity. Cindy Adams is taking credit for breaking Enquirer’s John Edwards–is–having–an–affair story. East Village landmark dive bars Sophie’s and Mona’s are both going up for sale after the holidays. Police commish Ray Kelly says he won’t make a decision about running for mayor until after the presidential scrum plays out. Donald Trump will be David Letterman’s first guest back when he goes live on January 2. Model Selita Ebanks, who may have been dating James Blake, was at a Knicks game with Giants lineman Osi Umenyira.
gossipmonger
Spike Lee to Knicks Fans: ‘Don’t Die’Spike Lee advised a fellow Knicks fan, “Don’t commit suicide.” Chace Crawford and Carrie Underwood danced together at Marquee, but not well. Jules Nasso, who may or may not be an associate of the Gambino family, will chair the 2008 Staten Island Film Festival. 30 Rock’s Katrina Bowden exchanged her ravioli for a salad at the dinner at the Four Seasons for Juno. LeBron James sang and danced with Oompa Loompas at Marquee.
the sports section
Isiah Thomas Finds a New Team Member to Hate OnDuring last night’s game against the Mavericks, Knicks coach Isiah Thomas went from just letting down his fans, as per usual, to downright turning against them. As Madison Square Garden (including fellow NYC athletes Oliver Perez and John Maine, who both pitch for the Mets) booed away, Isiah turned to a section of season-ticket holders and began accusing them of causing the Knicks’ poor play. We love the coverage of this for two reasons. One, because it seems like it was just one embittered fan who sparked not just the News and Post stories, but also an AP article that was picked up all over the country. All of the pieces on Isiah turning against fans contain quotes from Mara Altschuler, who Google tells us is a television producer who has worked for CBS and Martha Stewart. Altschuler, one of those white season-ticket holders Isiah doesn’t care about, was apparently so mad that contacting three major news outlets was the only thing that would make her feel better. The other awesome thing about this coverage is that Isiah allegedly called the fans in the Garden “the sixth player,” claiming that they had just as big an effect on play as the men on the court. Which is something we completely understand. It’s like how Manhattan was the fifth lady on Sex and the City, people! Except if the fifth lady somehow cockblocked the other ladies. And the other ladies couldn’t get a goddamned rebound to save their lives.
The Garden of Hate [NYP]
Isiah Thomas’ Appeal Lost on Fans [NYDN]
company town
Howard Stern Thinks Imus Will Make You HurlMEDIA
• Carson Daly is going scab! Good thing he doesn’t have any viewers, and unlike Ellen isn’t actually a member of the Writers Guild. [NYT]
• Howard Stern gets all collegiate about Don Imus’s return: “At this point, I don’t think he’s very relevant. People will tune out within a week. I defy you to listen. See how long you can keep listening. Time it. You’ll throw up. You’ll get sick. You’ll die.” [AP via Mixed Media/Portfolio]
• Knicks reporters — even bigger whiners than regular reporters. Daily News vet Frank Isola: “It used to be fun here. Now, there are some nights when you’re trying to talk your boss out of sending you here and maybe lie and tell him you’re sick or something.” [NYO]
the sports section
The Knicks Have Us All in a TizzyThe Knicks are in such a puzzling downward spiral that Daily News reporters can’t even agree on what’s up with their favorite team. After coach Isiah Thomas kicked the whole team off the court during practice yesterday for lack of “hustle,” the paper’s main article claims that there is “increasing speculation that Thomas is on the verge of being fired.” “It is a three-ring circus” among the players and staff, said a source. “It’s getting worse.” But Mike Lupica, the paper’s legendary sports columnist, says “Isiah Thomas can’t get fired for anything Jimmy [Dolan, chairman of the Knicks] still believes in Isiah, and there is no reason to believe that he’s going to stop any time soon.” Lupica suggests Dolan and Thomas stand in the middle of the Garden have a town-hall-style meeting, listening to what their paying fans have to say about the way they are destroying New York’s team. They’d never do it, but we’re desperately hoping that when fans start speaking with their wallets and stop buying tickets to watch team’s debacles, the pair will start listening up. That or Jimmy’s dad, Charles, will finally pull off his belt and whup the team (and his son) back into shape.
Can we say “whup”? Does that make us sound too butch?
Thomas Kicks Knicks Out Of Practice [NYDN]
Jim Dolan Still Listening to Isiah Thomas [NYDN]
in other news
Stephon Has an Alibi, and It’s a Good OneOkay, remember yesterday when everyone made such a big deal out of Stephon Marbury’s fleeing the Knicks in Phoenix and returning to New York all of a sudden? Nobody knew quite what was going on, not even Isiah Thomas, who had gotten in a nasty fight with Marbury on the team plane when he told the point guard he wouldn’t be starting in the night’s game. This spurred a lot of anti-Marbury sentiment, with columnists and pundits and us grumpily speculating as to what he might have been up to. Today, the Times figured at least part of it out. If you haven’t read about his activities during his two-day break, pick the most likely-sounding scenario from the below list:
A) He was plotting revenge on Thomas and spending his time figuring out how, as he put it, to “fuck him first.”
B) He was having sex with an intern in a truck.
C) He was at a Coney Island housing project grieving with the family of a deceased basketball coach who had mentored hundreds of talented players in the tough neighborhood, including Marbury (who once gave the coach a white Cadillac with vanity plates).
Ding Ding Ding! The Times says it’s C. Who’s the jerk now?
A Mentor of Street Ball Dies, and a Missing Knick Appears [NYT]
Earlier: Marbury Stephs on All Our Dreams
the sports section
Marbury Stephs on All Our DreamsA day after Stephon Marbury fled Phoenix after a major blowout with Knicks coach Isiah Thomas, and two days after the Daily News came out with a report that the point guard’s future with the team is in doubt, everybody is still clutching for information. ESPN.com has started a “Marbury Watch,” which is of course what any Website should do on such an occasion, and the Times called the whole thing “a startling sign of how badly his once-promising career has eroded.” The News asked, “When does Thomas officially get put on notice? Why should Thomas, after all he’s done to build nothing more than a mediocre team for years to come, be allowed to make what would be another radical, franchise-changing move?” And the Post, of course, put Marbury’s face on a milk carton and called him a “Basket Case.” But nearly everybody, including us, is obsessed with what Marbury shrieked to his team after hearing he wouldn’t start anymore: “Isiah has to start me,” he reportedly ranted. “I’ve got so much [stuff] on Isiah and he knows it. He thinks he can [get] me. But I’ll [get] him first. You have no idea what I know.” First of all, it’s awesome how they translate Marbury’s swears for us, as though we wouldn’t understand what he meant if they said “s—, f—, f—.” And second, OH YES.
Stephon Marbury threatens to dish info about Isiah Thomas [NYDN]
Traveling Marbury [NYP]
Unhappy Marbury Leaves Knicks Trip [ESPN]
Marbury Leaves Knicks In Dispute [NYT]
it just happened
Stephon Marbury Pouts, Whines, Goes MissingAfter a difficult summer and amid rumors he’s leaving the team permanently, Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury stomped out of the team’s shootaround in Phoenix this morning, reportedly because Knicks coach Isiah Thomas declined to put him in tonight’s starting lineup after his lackluster defense in Miami this past weekend. According to the Post, Marbury has told friends “he feels he’s best playing 40 minutes a night and would struggle in a non-starting role.” Thomas, sounding like any parent with a runaway teenager, appealed for the return of the 30-year-old player through the press. “We hope he’s at the game,” he told the Post. “If not, make no mistake about it, we do want him as a member of this basketball team.”
Marbury Bolts From Knicks [NYP]
Related:
Stephon Marbury’s Days With the Knicks May Be Numbered [NYDN]
it happened this week
Who Do You Like?As Indian summer continued its extended run last week, some of the most popular kids in town found themselves getting the cold shoulder. A federal lawsuit charged Bloomberg LP discriminates against pregnant women, and BMOC Mike Bloomberg promptly reminded us that he no longer runs his namesake company. (Later in the week, a little red in the face, he admitted he regularly talks to senior executives there.) Onetime Most Likely to Succeed Barack Obama fell 33 points behind Hillary Clinton in the latest presidential poll.
it just happened
Isiah Thomas, MSG, Found Guilty of Sexual HarassmentSurprising nobody but Madison Square Garden officials themselves, a jury just found Isiah Thomas and the Knicks organization (part of MSG) guilty of the sexual harassment of Anucha Brown Sanders. After weeks of embarrassing revelations and accusations, the jury decided that Thomas should not have to pay punitive damages, but that MSG and its head honcho, Jimmy Dolan, should. No numbers have been announced just yet, but after just about everyone from Dolan down revealed stunningly archaic attitudes about race and gender in the workplace, we’re guessing Browne Sanders’s compensation will be pricey enough to shock them into the new century. Or, at the very least, it’ll prevent them from wasting any more money on expensive players who don’t win titles. It’s a victory for everyone!
Sexual Harassment at the Garden [NYT]
Earlier: Our Knicks Coverage
intel
Dolan’s Faith in Thomas as Delusional in Court as on CourtJust when you thought their sexual-harassment trial couldn’t get any more damaging for the Knicks, they shoot themselves in the foot. In a taped deposition by Madison Square Garden head honcho Jimmy Dolan, shown yesterday in court, the burly boss explained that plaintiff Anucha Browne Sanders was fired because she made sexual-harassment charges. And incidentally, at the Garden, it’s not harassment to use the N-word to describe a black person (this was revealed by aging exec Rusty McCormack. Andrea Peyser, back on her game since yesterday, describes McCormack as having “the complexion the approximate shade of ripe cheese.”) Of course, the question blaring from every news outlet is “Why are they still in this trial? Settle already!” The answer is simpler than you think.
in other news
In Knicks Drama, Peyser and Ridley Enter the Tabloid RingHas anyone noticed that the Daily News is turning senior features writer Jane Ridley into a more reasoned version of Andrea Peyser? Today, the pair take on Isiah Thomas’s weird double standard of debasement (it’s not okay for a white man to call a black woman a “bitch,” but if it’s a black man, it’s not so bad, goes the logic). “He should have shut up,” Ridley writes of Isiah’s videotaped deposition. “But his mouth, which matches his outsize ego – if not his brain – just kept on moving.” Zing! “A gazillion dollar salary might get you designer suits and the best table in the restaurant, but it can’t buy class and judgment,” she adds. Pow! “What we saw for ourselves of Thomas yesterday was not only ugly, but pathetic.” Splat! We eagerly flipped to Andrea to see her splenetic spin but were vastly disappointed. “Hang in there, Anucha,” is all Peyser musters. “They fired the wrong person.” Well, well, well. We’re sure it was an off day, as Peyser is by far the best in the bile business. But Ridley appears to be gaining – and if she’d just replace her cute, smiley columnist photo with something more ghoulish, we might have a real battle here!
Isiah Shows His True Colors – in Black and White [NYDN]
The Twisted Racial Logic of a Knicko Sicko [NYP]
in other news
Anucha Browne Sanders Continues Knicks Full Court Press
In a bizarre twist (as though there have been any twists that weren’t bizarre) in the Isiah Thomas sexual harassment trial, the Post reports that a Knicks intern who succumbed to Stephon Marbury in the back of a car has agreed to testify for the defense. In other words, she’s going to clear Marbury of any wrongdoing or inappropriate behavior (except, you know, cheating on his wife). This is an effort to clear up the impression that lawyers for plaintiff Anucha Browne Sanders are trying to create, which is that the Knicks enterprise is macho and sexist. But just as they try to staunch that wound, another one has sprung open. The Daily News reveals that Browne Sanders unearthed a Burn Book written by Madison Square Garden officials describing what they’d like to do to the comely Rangers ice dancers. And we’re not talking about assisting with a double-hand lift. It boggles the mind why the Knicks haven’t settled yet. This circus of sleaze is only going to get worse, and knowing this city’s tabloids, it’s only a matter of time before the team gets rechristened “The New York Dickerbockers.”
Stephon’s Hoop Skirt to Testify [NYP]
Ice-Skate Shocker Has ‘Em Shivering [NYDN]
in other news
Isiah Thomas Accused of Harassment, HeartacheAfter the first day of Isiah Thomas’s sexual-harassment trial, we’ve learned that the Knicks coach is accused of calling a female vice-president a “bitch” and a “ho” in private conversations. Also, the VP, Anucha Browne Sanders, says he professed his love to her after a friendly game of horse. Sound confusing? How about this: When discussing season ticket sales with Thomas, she says he told her, “I don’t give a fuck about these white people!” (Apparently, having Woody Allen in your audience makes everybody white.) Already, sports fans are murmuring that Thomas and the Knicks should settle the suit. Stephon Marbury and a slew of other high-profile witnesses are set to testify, which is bound to make the team’s infrastructure look bad no matter the result of the trial. As for us, we’re just glad we found a reason to care about the Knicks again.
Browne-Sanders Slams Isiah Thomas in Sex-Harass Lawsuit [NYDN]
gossipmonger
Guv Love?The “tall and attractive” 25-year-old aide whom Jon Corzine may have been sitting next to at the time of his car crash was reassigned last month because she and the governor were allegedly getting too close. Larry and Laurie David may have split because Laurie had an affair with a married man on Martha’s Vineyard. Some Columbia Records staffers are worried that producer Rick Rubin has been named co-head of the label, given that he has no executive experience. Richie Sambora dumped Denise Richards during a Hawaii vacation a few months ago; she’d been expecting him to propose. Michael Jackson placed a number of odd, ill-timed room-service orders at an inn in Maryland, but he did bless the manager. Oliver Platt is an ardent supporter of the business tactics of George Steinbrenner, whom he plays in The Bronx Is Burning. Lindsay Lohan is dropping booze for bottled water.
intel
NBA Draft Tix Go Fast, Sportscaster to Be Left Un-HeckledThere’s a group of Knick fans, all graduates of Regis High School on the Upper East Side, who call themselves “The Stephen A. Smith Heckling Society of Gentlemen.” They grew famous — or at least became YouTube sensations — with their hilarious mockery of hyperbolic ESPN “analyst” Stephen A. Smith during the second round of last year’s NBA draft. But there is sad news to report about the society: The gentlemen have attended the last six NBA drafts, but, barring a miracle, they won’t be at the Madison Square Garden Theater for this year’s picks tonight. Tickets went on sale at 11 a.m. this morning, and the boys were there two hours early. But there were about 200 people in front of them, and maybe 400 behind, and, according to one security guard, only the first 110 people on line were able to purchase tickets before supplies ran out. They’d started lining up at 6 a.m.
it just happened
Dolans Finally Take Their Cable Company (and Their Garden, and Their Knicks, and So Forth) and Go HomeIf taking public companies private is the hot new thing in megabusiness, the Dolans just became the most fashionable billionaires out there: After three years and three failed attempts to privatize Cablevision, Chuck and Jim have just worked out a deal with their company’s board that will restore the family’s total control over their lumbering brainchild. Cablevision, which comes complete with holdings like the Knicks and the Rangers, Radio City Music Hall, and over $12 billion in debt, will change hands for $10.5 billion in cash. With the liabilities worked in, that adds up to almost $23 billion. The Dolans pledge to cash out the current shareholders at $36.26 a share, which is their highest offer yet — a hearty 11 percent over the stock’s actual value as of yesterday. We learn all this from the Times, of course, where the Sulzbergers are no doubt paying attention. One hopes.
Cablevision Agrees to Sell Itself to the Dolans [NYT]
in the magazine
Halberstam in ‘New York’: On Book Tour With the KnicksDavid Halberstam, who died yesterday, is one of the very few reporters — you can count them on your fingers — who shifted the history of the United States. It was his field reporting for the Times, very early in the Vietnam War, that first sent the message home that this war was not going to be like the others, that Americans were heading into something deeper and murkier than they expected, something that they couldn’t wrap up tidily. That sort of legacy suggests a fierce and even dour sort of man, and in fact Halberstam was a very serious person. But when he brought his seriousness to bear on nominally more frivolous subjects, his depth gave them extra dimensions. (Even his odd, elliptical, semi-repetitive prose grew on you after a while.) In the seventies, he wrote occasional pieces for New York, and the most charming of them managed to touch on both his rising authorial fame and his love of pro basketball. It’s a diary of a month in 1973, kept during the book tour for The Best and the Brightest, detailing the extraordinary measures he’s taking to watch the Knicks-Bullets playoffs in a variety of hotel rooms and friends’ houses. You can read it here. “I am worried about our entire front line,” he says at one point, “which seems old and without rhythm.” It may have been true of the Knicks, or for that matter of the American generals then prosecuting an unwinnable war. But never of him. —Christopher Bonanos
A Fan’s Notes: There Were Other Obsessions Besides Watergate and Biaggi [NYM, 5/14/73]
gossipmonger
Al for Hill?Al Sharpton claims he is not backing Hillary Clinton for president, despite a rumor that he and Bill smoked cigars in Harlem two weeks ago. Rupert Murdoch would back Michael Bloomberg for president, if Bloomberg were to run. A $1.5 million lawsuit against Beyoncé, regarding her House of Dereon clothing line, was thrown out. Michael Jackson was reported to have been hospitalized for pneumonia, but his flack says he’s just fine. Bravo is shooting a reality show about photog Patrick McMullan. Jenna Jameson hasn’t been attending meetings with mainstream producers regarding the film adaptation of her book How to Make Love Like a Porn Star because she’s allegedly unhappy with her vaginoplasty.
the sports section
The Knicks Have Made Progress, EvidentlyCablevision honcho and Madison Square Garden chief Jim Dolan announced today that he’s giving Knicks coach and president Isiah Thomas a multiyear contract extension based on the team’s “evident progress” — a term that seems destined to join “mission accomplished” in the Optimist’s Hall of Fame. Let’s review what’s evident, shall we? On the positive side, the Knicks have won 46 percent of their games this season (compared to just 28 percent last year) and are fighting for a playoff spot. On the negative, they’re still the highest-paid team in the NBA (for which Isiah is largely to blame), winning even 46 percent of their games still means the Knicks are losing more than half, and they’re playing mediocre ball against historically weak competition. In other words, the team’s progress seems roughly on pace with that of the Second Avenue subway or the Freedom Tower. So while it’s true they haven’t measurably regressed, Dolan’s use of the prefix “pro” strikes us as a bit much. If we were him, we might have played it safe and gone with “evident gress.” There are definitely clear signs of gress. —Sam Anderson
the sports section
Isiah’s Knicks Follow Tradition, Lose to NetsIf you thought the Academy Awards had the market cornered last night on empty theatrics, predictable results, and lukewarm competition among pampered, overpaid, washed-up stars, then you weren’t watching the Nets’ ritual flogging of the Knicks, now a quadrannual affair. The iron law of this ceremony, at least over the past five years, is that the Knicks lose and, because their record is already so bad, it means absolutely nothing. True to form, last night they efficiently converted a nine-point halftime lead into a nine-point loss. But there was also a surprise: This time, if you really lowered your standards, and squinted, and maybe watched your TV through sunglasses, it almost seemed for a minute like it sort of meant something.
in other news
The Missing SuperstarA tragedy told in Craigslist ads.
January 29, 11:42 a.m.:
Courtside Knicks/Lakers Tickets Behind Basket - $700
January 29, 3:36 p.m.:
I need Knicks Lakers tickets please!!!! - $1000
January 30, 12:42 p.m.:
KOBE SUSPENDED FOR TONIGHTS GAME
January 30, 2:37 p.m.:
Two Knick vs. Lakers tix for face value
—Ben Mathis-Lilley
Kobe Suspended for Knicks Game [Newsday]
gossipmonger
Amy Sacco Is Still Probably Not Selling BungalowLindsay Lohan wrote a long and incoherent e-mail, which for some reason referenced Al Gore and Bill Clinton. Amy Sacco says she’s actually not selling Bungalow 8, the Observer’s reporting to the contrary notwithstanding. (Daily Intel readers already knew that.) Mary-Louise Parker may be dating her Weeds co-star Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Pataki consigliere Charles Gargano says he’ll keep his seat on the Port Authority board, even with his man gone from Albany. Frustrated Knicks fans, here’s your chance to vent: Garden chief Jim Dolan is performing with his band tonight at B.B. King’s. (It is, however, a cancer benefit, so don’t be too mean.) Paramount/Dreamworks execs are pushing Beyoncé over Jennifer Hudson for a Best Actress Oscar nod, and Jennifer Hudson is okay with it. Lenny Kravitz went to the dermatologist. Anna Wintour found The Devil Wears Prada “entertaining” and has had the same haircut since she was 15, she tells Barbara Walters during her “10 Most Fascinating People” interview (in which Wintour actually does wear Prada). TomKat didn’t invite Oprah to their wedding, and they didn’t invite her to their post-honeymoon bash, either. Kevin Federline showed up at a book reading for the free booze. Jordan’s Queen Rania and King Abdullah are on the rocks. Damon Wayans was fined $320 for dropping the n-word sixteen times at L.A.’s Laugh Factory. Jessica Alba and the Duff sisters are hosting a New Year’s Eve party at a club in Miami and are doing it for free. Ellen Pompeo wants to gain five to ten pounds, because they’d go straight to her boobs, she told Playboy. Robert Evans is suing the electrical company that installed a screening room in his home that mysteriously burned down. Liz Smith cried at the end of Dakota Fanning’s Charlotte’s Web.
the morning line
It’s Springtime for Hitler Kid
• You’ve got to hand it to the Hitler Kid: After getting ejected from school for donning the costume on Halloween, yesterday he wore it again — this time for the media, and purely in protest. This is quickly turning into the lamest ACLU case ever. [NYP]
• You do not cross American Girl Place. The Mattel-owned dainty emporium has filed a complaint against Actors’ Equity that says AEA has been goading its employees to unionize. This is going to be like On the Waterfront, except with Barbies. [NYDN]
• ExamGate! Staten Island high-school administrators may have tampered with grades on Regents exams and directed teachers to do it as well. A whopping seventeen science teachers came forward with the accusations. Better late than never, we suppose (the exams were administered in June). On a lighter note, but on the same theme, a Brooklyn high-school principal has distributed a pie chart explaining her new grading system — with the slices totaling more than 100 percent. [NYT, NYDN]
• A Bronx man is DOA at St. Barnabas after a police shootout. According to the cops, two plainclothes officers clearly saw the gunman armed and assaulting another man; the DOA fired first. [WNBC]
• And, it’s beginners’ luck for the Knicks, who eked out their first win (against Memphis, 118-117) under coach Isiah Thomas. In a more disturbing portent, it took them three OTs to do so. [amNY]
