It took a rumored meeting of superstars like Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep to get us to care again about a potential actors strike, and a hasty bit of rumor-debunking this morning to dash all the intrigue. But after a retraction, a non-retraction, and a few sharp personal jabs between dueling industry journos Nikki Finke and Sharon Waxman, all we know is that this match in their ongoing feud deserves a bit of play-by-play.We amended yesterday's news of a top-secret actor's meeting to reflect Waxman's retraction, which occurred overnight after Nikki revealed how Waxman got punk'd. Except, Waxman noted this morning, she didn't retract the story; she was just correcting her errors and saved the piece to "draft." Right. Still, Waxman emphasizes, "the essence of the story is correct": A high-octane, strike-gauging meeting took place at SAG president Alan Rosenberg's request, though not at the time of federal mediation between SAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which would a serious no-no. But what about Finke's allegations?

"If the story is so unimportant, I wonder why Nikki Finke devotes so much energy to it, and if doing so serves her readers. I suspect it has more to do with embarrassing a fellow journalist. Is she a mouthpiece for SAG, or an independent voice?"

All right, fine — it's a draw. Still, Sharon, consider having an editor look at that cut above your eye.