• Keith McNally's revamped Minetta Tavern will open in March. [Eater]
• Le Cirque will extend its Restaurant Week menu till the end of the year. [GS]
• The South Beach Wine & Food Festival starts tonight, in case you happen to be in Miami or you're looking for something to do the next few days. [Eater]
• Some say NYC nightlife has been a bit bleak this Fashion Week. [Zagat]
• Pink Elephant was the top grossing club in NYC in 2008. [GoaG]
• A blogger is trying to go a week without buying any food. Related: eGullet is hosting a challenge called "A Week Without Shopping." [ABroadrview, NYT]
• More on what Danny Meyer has planned for Citi Field. [TFB]
• Starbucks' new line of instant coffee? Not that bad, reportedly. [AdAge]

Now that Mickey Rourke's date drama is resolved, our hopes for a spontaneous, surprising Oscars are all but dead. But in some parallel universe, viewers may yet get the awardscast we dream of:

Allen Stanford, the billionaire financier accused of bilking investors out of an estimated $8 billion, has been located following a nationwide search. The FBI found him in Fredericksburg, Virginia this afternoon and served him with the SEC's complaint. His lobbyist says Stanford is "very depressed," by the way; thanks for your concern. [ABC News]

Whatever intern is tasked with explaining current events to Barbara Walters failed miserably today, as she misunderstood the growing controversy about a perceived-to-be-racist Post cartoon in the most hilarious way possible.

We are closely following the breaking news at the student-occupied NYU food court, where protesters are fighting for Palestinian solidarity. The most important issues so far: vegan lunches and cigarette breaks. Things are getting tense!

A tipster tells us that Rachel Syme, culture editor at Tina Brown's Daily Beast, has sent the "world's worst email" in an attempt to get free research for an article she's writing. Let's read it!

The voicemail message at the home of Catherine Malandrino and her husband/business partner Bernard Aidan. Previous fashion-related voicemails: Lynn Yaeger, Gilles Bensimon, Lucy Sykes, Charlotte Ronson, Hamish Bowles, Simon Doonan and Jonathan Adler.

Every communication medium, from the telegraph to instant messaging, develops its own peculiar lingo. But the lingo of Twitter, the status-updating tool which has infected Internet hipsters, media types, and Hollywood, is ahistorically vile.

· There's good news and bad news about this weekend's marathon of Oscar parties. The good news first: Nikki Finke has a sweepingly comprehensive list of those we expect you to crash. Godspeed!

In your informative Thursday media column: Wired's publisher is out, John Updike's death begets a new book, NYP employees are pissed, and good and bad ideas for newspapers:

[Posh "Victoria Beckham" Spice in Los Angeles; image via Bauer-Griffin]

The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled to its lowest close in more than six years today, dropping 89.68 points, or 1.2%, to close at 7,465. Financial stocks were the hardest hit: Citigroup closed at $2.51, the lowest it's been in the bank's history. American Express dropped 8.7% to end the day at $12.87, a level it hasn't seen since 1972. In more positive news, this NYSE floor trader is totally getting lucky tonight, so at least he's got that going for him. [NYP, MW]

Newly elected Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele plans an "off the hook" public relations offensive to attract younger voters, especially blacks and Hispanics, by applying the party's principles to "urban-suburban hip-hop settings."

Creepy adult "teeny boppers" wanted for TV, inquire within. [Nerve]

All the major Oscar categories are pretty much locked up. Slumdog, Winslet, Ledger, etc. So where will Oscar pools be won and lost? In the tiny, shitty categories. Let's attempt a lesser categories betting guide.

Rev. Al Sharpton, having no other plans for the day, just held a protest outside the New York Post's headquarters to protest Sean Delonas' monkey cartoon. It's more outrageous than Don Imus, sez the Rev!

Sure, all but one of this year's Oscar-nominated actresses have done nude scenes during their career (there's still time, Viola Davis!), but the frequently-bare Kate Winslet is hoping that the topless buck stops here.

Snoop Dogg's historic appearance last year on Martha was thought to finally shatter the barrier between hip-hop icons and potato-mashing domestic heroism. Alas, as Ludacris discovered today, that was not change we can believe in.

The Iraqi shoe-thrower guy was in court today and he has a pretty awesome defense: President Bush was not a "guest," so throwing a shoe at him was not even impolite.