Imaginary Eavesdropping on George Bush and Barack ObamaAt 2 p.m., George and Laura Bush will historically greet Barack and Michelle Obama and welcome them into the White House. We imagine how that will go down, away from the microphones…
Jay-Z ‘Took Rihanna Aside’ to Talk About Rumors of Their AffairRihanna said she used to feel self-conscious about the rumors that she hooked up with Jay-Z, but now just ignores them. Observer prepmaster general David Foxley will now be the person to call to get reservations at the Waverly Inn. Billion-heiress Anna Anisimova slept at her mother’s place on Tuesday, which is a good thing because a 400-pound Venetian chandelier collapsed and fell fifteen feet onto the bed at her own place. Rapper 50 Cent has to pay an undisclosed sum to a Post photographer for knocking him down after he tried to take a photo of him. MSNBC accidentally flashed a graphic of Osama bin Laden as host Chris Matthews was discussing Barack Obama. Robert John Burck, a.k.a. the Naked Cowboy, says he has high-profile investments. DJ AM has invited ex-girlfriend Mandy Moore to hear him spin at Room Service on Friday.
gossipmonger
Nicolas Cage Was Only Borrowing That ChihuahuaPlastic-surgery-happy Jocelyn Wildenstein just bought a three-bedroom apartment in the Plaza for $7.96 million. An excerpt of James Frey’s upcoming novel, Bright Shiny Morning, is being published in Sex for America, a book of “politically-inspired erotica.” Nicolas Cage is suing Kathleen Turner for claiming in her autobiography that he had been arrested twice for DUI and stealing a Chihuahua. Fergie and Josh Duhamel are moving up their wedding date because she’s so pregnant.
gossipmonger
Has Al Gore Been Touching Bono in a Bad Way?
Bono says that being with Al Gore is like “being with an Irish priest.” Mel Gibson supposedly distanced himself from Heath Ledger after Ledger chose to play a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain against Gibson’s counsel. Celebs like Sean Penn and Kevin Spacey may like Hugo Chavez because of his drugs.
gossipmonger
Hilary Swank Put Her Boob on Someone’s HeadKelly Ripa said she’s going to check out occasional Live With Regis and Kelly co-host Damien Fahey’s band tonight at the Cutting Room. Hilary Swank accidentally put her boob on P.S. I Love You co-star Bob Balaban’s head when she hugged him as he was having lunch. Robin
Quivers’s boyfriend, comic Jim Florentine, joked at Caroline’s that he’s not sure why she’s dating him because he’s “a loser.” The Olsen twins, Bob Saget, and John Stamos had a Full House reunion at the Bowery Hotel bar on Wednesday. Michael Jordan, ex-Knick Charles Oakley, and Ahmad Rashad hung out at Buddakan and then Socialista. Black Crowe Chris Robinson got six figures to play a half-hour set for a Wall Street firm at Arena.
gossipmonger
Carrie Has to Remarry for ‘Sex and the City’Sex and the City producers have to reshoot the wedding sequence between Carrie Bradshaw and Mr. Big at the New York Public Library because they rushed through it the first time. (Also, Kim Cattrall shows up to work last every day.) ABC contacted Cosmo’s hottest New York Bachelor of 2007, Patrick Clark, about staring in The Bachelor. Bonnie Evans, widow of Charles Evans (brother of producer Bob Evans), is putting up her Park Avenue triplex for sale for $30 million. Josh Hartnett claimed that “half–95%” of what is written about him is not true but declined to say whether his hooking up with Rihanna was included in that figure. The Autumn, the play starring Meryl Streep’s daughter Mamie Gummer, is coming to Broadway. Law & Order: SVU star Richard Belzer spends a lot of time looking for UFOs. Cindy Adams discusses reruns on TV.
intel
Rejecting the Celebrity TransfusionEarlier today, we noted that the Us Weekly set seems to be migrating from Los Angeles to New York, what with Lindsay Lohan and Brangelina and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Brandon Fucking Davis all settling in, and Jennifer Aniston talking about moving. We don’t know exactly why this is happening. Could the Second Gilded Age, with its luxury apartment buildings and $400 omakase menus, have created a kind of reverse gold rush, with the very rich moving here to liquidate? Are they really running from the paparazzi, as they say? Or are glare of TMZ’s klieg lights, combined with the massive brown pollution cloud that hovers over Los Angeles, just really bad for your skin?
party lines
Wahlberg Sibling Rivalry Still ‘Hangin’ Tough’At last night’s premiere of We Own the Night, celebrities pondered the nature of sibling rivalry. In the film, Mark Wahlberg plays a cop whose brother (Joaquin Phoenix) ends up challenging him over a nightclub raid. We asked Wahlberg if he was still facing that kind of competition from his brother, Donny. “I’m still trying to kick my brother’s ass,” he assured us. “That’s what it’s all about.” Which is funny, because we thought it was all about the fact that his brother’s ass had been thoroughly kicked since Marky Mark outlasted the New Kids on the Block. Adam Goldberg feels the same way. “My [siblings] are 12 and like 13 and 10,” he explained. “But I have it very severely because they get to wear little dresses and get a lot of attention.” Isn’t that always the case? Speaking of dressing up and getting attention, when we ran into Rihanna at the after-party, we had to ask about her trademark hairdo and whether it was inspired by Victoria Beckham. “Is it Posh?” we asked. “My hair is Rihanna,” she shot back. “Get used to that!” —Bennett Marcus
Read more of our complete We Own the Night premiere coverage!
gossipmonger
Fashionistas Mad Wintour Likes Federer BetterAlice + Olivia designer Stacey Bendet took offense to Molly Sims’s comment that the label was “lower end” by claiming that Sims begged for free pants and a plane ticket to the show when she modeled for her last February. Tennis stars Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova claim to be just friends, but they were out singing karaoke together till 5 a.m. the night after Djokovic lost in the finals. In other tennis news: Some designers were annoyed that Anna Wintour spent more time with Roger Federer at the U.S. Open than at Fashion Week shows. Details editor Dan Peres is expecting his first child with Aussie wife Sarah Wynter. Walmart competitor the Wholesale Department Store Union bought out a showing of Off Broadway show Walmartopia. Chef Todd English, of Olives fame, may open up a new place on 98 Kenmare Street. Liz Smith’s sources tell her that Rudy Giuliani is “a bad man and an erratic personality” but would make a good chief executive.
gossipmonger
Divorces, Horses, and So OnPaula Zahn’s friends say she wanted to stay in the Fifth Avenue apartment she shares with soon-to-be ex-husband Richard Cohen for the sake of their kids, but he made it too difficult. Lou Dobbs’s daughter Hillary won the Open Jumper Class (and $7,500) at the Hampton Classic Horse Show. (Soon-to-be-mom Kelly Klein also rode there.) Heather Mills has racked up a number of parking tickets in her Bentley convertible in East Hampton. NYU’s school newspaper went out of its way to point out that people use the campus library to commit suicide and hook up on Craigslist. Larry David doesn’t like fund-raisers on yachts in Martha’s Vineyard. Courtney Love is blaming ex-boyfriend Steve Coogan for Owen Wilson’s attempted suicide, and now Coogan is worried about his career prospects. The New York Times has a clear anti-Yankees bias, “Page Six” says.
party lines
Rihanna Has No Idea What to Do NextWhat’s 19-year-old Barbados-born singing sensation Rihanna supposed to do next, now that her ubiquitous (and awesome) summer song “Umbrella” has taken her halfway toward total world domination? We saw her at a Paper-magazine party the other day (she’s the mag’s latest cover girl), and we asked. And, well, she doesn’t seem to know. But she’s open to things. Movies? “I want to do comedy and action,” she told us. “I would love to do my own stunts. That would be fun.” Broadway? “Maybe,” she said. Then, “Definitely!” A fashion line? “I want to start something. I like mean-girl stuff. I like lingerie. I’m very extreme.” And what about the umbrella line? “They approached me. I’m thinking metallic, maybe. Or transparent’s cool — you gotta see the raindrops.” —Rachel Wolff
party lines
Mischa Barton Lives in Hoboken
Mischa Barton is currently filming Assassination of a High School President with Bruce Willis in New Jersey, and the apartment she owns in Tribeca is rented out. So instead she’s taken up residence across the river, in Hoboken. “Every time I’ve come recently I’ve stayed in a hotel, which just feels lame,” the former O.C. star told us at Paper magazine’s dinner for its September cover girl, Rihanna, last night. “I’ve been hanging at friends’ flats in the city, and it made me want to get a place of my own.” Oh, that’s right, Mischa, you were born in London, where they have flats. We forgot. (Elsewhere at the party, Paper’s Mickey Boardman greeted guests in a sequined blazer, of the Elton John style. He prefers Rihanna’s “Breaking Dishes” from her new album over the more popular “Umbrella,” if you must know. “It shows a little bit of a rougher side,” he said.) “I think I need to be back here,” said Barton, who grew up in an apartment in the city. “I’m in my twenties now, and it would be nice to finally have my own place in the city. I like the East Village, Greenwich Village, and the meatpacking. I’m sort of a downtown girl.” Which is just as well. We needed a new haughty waif who thinks she’s British. Claire Danes is nearly 30. —Rachel Wolff
gossipmonger
Lindsay, NudeA Website claims it has nude photos of Lindsay Lohan taken by boyfriend Calum Best. Don Imus may be returning to radio in September. Former Mafioso club promoter Chris Paciello is out of jail and now hanging out with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. Equinox is planning to open a $5 million gym in East Hampton, complete with spa and valet parking. Luciano Pavarotti is fighting pancreatic cancer. Jessica Alba and Cash Warren are apartment-hunting in New York. Leonardo DiCaprio, Lucas Hass, and Q-Tip cruised lower Manhattan on bikes. Brandon Davis has been cut off by his parents and is asking friends for loans. Dane Cook wants you to know he is straight and alive, contrary to Internet rumors.
party lines
Rihanna the Only Must at ‘EW’ Event We’ve rarely seen product whoring as skillfully integrated with event design as it was at last night’s Entertainment Weekly “Must List” party. Some of the décor didn’t quite make sense, like the two lifeguard booths smack in the middle of Gotham Hall. There was a giant sculpture of the number 25, which we later discovered was made of Diet Coke bottles. (You’d think Coke was having an anniversary or something.) And Garnier Fructis was in charge of the margaritas, which not only looked like shampoo but kind of tasted like it, too.
party lines
Tinsley Mortimer Loves Danity Kane, Gets No Love From DiddyRelatively few boldfacers showed up for Diddy’s CFDA awards after-party at Marquee last night — do Top Model winner Caridee and Danity Kane singer Aubrey O’Day count as celebs? — but Tinsley Mortimer was one of them, arriving long before Diddy showed up. Tinsley occupied her time getting cozy with new BFFs Richie Rich and Trevor Raines, engaging in some groping with the former and hoisting up her white sequined dress to do a lap dance for the latter. But then she abandoned the Heatherette duo for — huh? — that chick from Danity Kane. Presumably this was a move to get closer to Diddy, who was holding court at a table nearby. Mortimer and the Danity Kane chick danced and flirted with random passersby, perhaps angling for Diddy’s attention. It didn’t seem to work. Once it became clear that Diddy either (a) had no idea who she was or (b) didn’t care, Mortimer, who was perpetually perched on a banquette, fiddled with her cell phone for a while before sneaking out inconspicuously. Top Model’s Caridee, meantime, stuck around on the unacknowledged outskirts of Diddy’s bevy of friends and bodyguards. —Rachel Wolff
the know-it-all
What Ails Mrs. Hevesi?Early and Often brings the exciting news that state comptroller Alan Hevesi’s name has received the greatest of honors. It has been verbed. To “hevesi” apparently means “to illegally convert governmental assets or resources to one’s personal use; and, when caught, to offer to make full restitution and public apology.”
It also reminded us of another issue we’ve had about Hevesi’s whole hevesi-ing episode. Namely, that he claimed he’d used the state employee to chauffeur his wife both due to security concerns and also because his wife is — as all the papers say — “ailing.” Why is the comptroller so concerned for his wife’s safety? And, more intriguingly, what ails Carol Hevesi?
intel
Gail Collins Out as ‘Times’ Edit-Page EditorHuh. If you’d told us someone in a prominent position at the Times was about to leave it, this so wouldn’t have been the one we’d have guessed: Gail Collins is stepping down as editorial-page editor. She’ll be replaced by Andrew Rosenthal, former foreign editor, onetime loyal Howell Raines sidekick, and perpetually Abe’s son.
(Oh, and don’t worry: She’ll be back soon enough, returning to her old op-ed column next July.)
Andrew Rosenthal Named Editorial Page Editor of The New York Times [NYTCo.]
The United States of America vs. Bill Keller [NYM]
