• Investment banker Lewis van Amerongen has slashed the price of his five-story townhouse at 13 East 71st Street. First listed last September for $24.95 million, the 8,766-square-foot manse (left) can now be yours for $16.95 million. [Cityfile, BHS]
• Jason Klarman, the general manager of Oxygen Media, paid $2.21 million for a three-bedroom condo (plus storage room) at 201 West 72nd Street. [Cityfile]
• Dr. Richard Kaul, an anesthesiologist and spine specialist, has put his 7,200-square-foot townhouse at 69 West 83rd Street on the market for $14 million. Kaul bought the home for $3.6 million back in 2005. [Cityfile, PDE]
• Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez hasn't had much luck selling off his mansion in Coral Gables. He just dropped the price from $14.9 million to $9.9 million. But he's also said he'd be happy to rent it for $25,000 a month. [Real Deal]

Tony Romo dumped Jessica Simpson, Quentin Tarantino talks retirement, Larry King's wife eyes a Broadway role, Renee Zellweger can't get laid, Megan Fox has to get drunk to watch her movies and Lindsay Lohan's hair is falling out.

It's a big day for Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter: He celebrates his 60th birthday today! (Gifts, flowers, and cards can be directed to 4 Times Square, 22nd floor.) Others marking off another year today: hedge fund manager Phil Falcone (and the husband of Lisa Maria) is turning 47. Music impresario Tommy Mottola is 60. Movie mega-producer Scott Rudin is turning 51. Fellow film mogul Joel Silver is 57. Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, is turning 48. Upper East Side plastic surgeon Sherrell Aston is 67. Actor Matthew Fox is turning 43. Tech luminary Esther Dyson is 58. Hudson News chief Jimmy Cohen is 51. Legal powerhouse Barry Ostrager is turning 62. Actor Harry Dean Stanton is 83. Interior designer Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz turns 53. Artist Lee Friedlander is 75. And actor Vincent "Big Pussy" Pastore celebrates his 63rd birthday today.

• Tony Romo dumped Jessica Simpson the night before her 29th birthday. The worst part? She was forced to cancel the "Barbie and Ken-themed birthday party" she'd planned for the next day. [NYDN]
• Ali Wise, the publicist accused of hacking into the voicemail of Nina Freudenberger, has a new accuser: A fashion designer named Briana Rasinski has also filed a harassment complaint with the NYPD. [P6]
• Chace Crawford has moved out of the pad he shared with Ed Westwick. [Us]
• "Real Housewives" Jill Zarin and Danielle Staub got into a little tiff at an event the other night. No one was hurt, you may be disappointed to hear. [NYDN]
• Arrivals: Molly Ringwald gave birth to twins last Friday. And Mira Sorvino gave birth to a son after a "difficult pregnancy." [NYDN, Us]

That dang Seymour Hersh. The New Yorker scribe is always running saying crazy things to scare the bejesus out of us and, unfortunately, he's always right. Just like when he mentioned that Dick Cheney was running a CIA "death squad."

Contrary to what CNBC and the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, convicted con artist Bernie Madoff did not end up at the federal prison in Butner, North Carolina last night. But he didn't go to the facility in Otisville, NY either, which was what the Post and CNN had been claiming. All those "sources" turned out to be wrong, and he arrived at a prison in Atlanta. But no one knows if he'll be staying in Atlanta permanently, or if it's just a temporary stop-off, so the mystery continues, it seems. [NYT, BN, previously]

The 270,000 square-foot space on 23rd street that once housed Marc Ecko's headquarters before he pissed away his fortune is now up for rent. Anyone have $9 million per year to spare?

A selection from Italian stylist Gattinoni's fall-winter 2009-2010 high fashion collection is worn by a model in Rome. [AP/Pier Paolo Cito]

In what is possibly the most bizarre coupling since Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley married, Sarah Palin and the Washington Post have come together as one and given birth to a Sarah Palin Washington Post op-ed piece. Yeah.

Arthur Kade, the world's greatest man/thespian, is in New York to work as a "featured extra" in some flick. To enhance "The Journey," Kade took the bus in from Philly, slumming in the back "like a modern day Rosa Parks."

The LA Times reports tonight that American Idol host Ryan Seacrest has received a three year, $45 million contract extension, plus a $300,000 annual "expense account." Maybe those rumors about Simon Cowell getting $144 million are true? [Company Town]

Mark Dreier will spend twenty years in prison for defrauding investors out of $400 million.

Oh noes! Barack Obama was giving a speech on urban policy late this afternoon when his precious teleprompter fell and shattered all over the floor. How could he possibly get through it?

In 2006 ABC's Bob Woodruff was seriously injured in a bombing by Iraqi insurgents while covering the war for his network. Today he returned for the first time since the incident.

Glenn Beck is upset, upset that "as our country burns to the ground," we have Senators who didn't bother questioning Obama's racist Mexican lady Supreme Court nominee at her confirmation hearings today! Um, maybe that's because the questioning begins tomorrow?

• Kate Moss is teaming up with Topshop boss Philip Green and Simon Cowell to launch an entertainment conglomerate that will "rival Disney." At least that's what one British newspaper is reporting. [Daily Mail]
• Sad: Escada may be forced to file for bankruptcy in the near future. [Vogue UK, Fashionista]
• Sadder: Jon Gosselin may be teaming up with Christian Audigier to launch a kids' clothing line. [E!]
• Saddest: The rumor floating around Moscow is that Pop editor/It girl Dasha Zhukova and her billionaire boyfriend, Roman Abramovich, have gone their separate ways. [FWD]

Two different writers said they were too productive to tweet today, and did so on Twitter; Chris Anderson found his own book tour boring and Jennifer 8. Lee continued to geek out. The Twitterati were defiantly branching out.

We felt bad for Susan Orlean, the professional chronicler of whimsies, after she lost her chicken Laroche in upstate New York and then was nearly ravaged by a bear. Now come two more animal encounters, and we're losing sympathy.

California is a hotbed for wacky, inexperienced politicians, like current Gov. Arnold Schwazenegger and his would-be replacement, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. Luckily, these people can all learn how not to launch a campaign, by watching Carly Fiorina.

[The scene at the Capitol during the first day of judge Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court confirmation hearings; image via Getty]