· Harper's beat the New Yorker Tuesday night in what was surely one of the most excruciatingly overintellectualized softball games ever played in Central Park. [Page Six]
· Arnold Schwartzenegger on the smoking ban: "I would have some restaurants that are smoking restaurants and some non-smoking so there is a choice. Now there is no choice, so I think it's a little overboard." [Page Six]
· KISS singer Gene Simmons on the war between the sexes: ""Women are from Mars, men have penises. Life's biggest problem is marriage. One of the two is usually a man who is expected to get in touch with his feminine side. I've never asked a woman to be in touch with her masculine side. A woman wants a man to cry at a sloppy movie. But if he cries before she does, he's a wimp." [Cindy Adams]
· Liz Smith points out that NY Mag media critic Michael Wolff's recent raves about ex-Talk editor Tina Brown's talk show ("I think it's strangely good. I think it's the kind of fairly verbal, almost nuanced, culturally attentive, a smarter-rather-than-stupider show that people see and say, What's that doing on television? Where are the blowhards and nutcases? The vulgarians? The show is oddball. It has a late-night '50s air.") come after eight straight columns "trashing her to pieces." [Liz Smith]
· Feeding recent rumors that she's been seeking chemical help for wrinkles, Madonna pretends to get botoxed in her latest video. [NY Daily News]