It sounded like a good idea at the time: Hide your awards-hopeful in the major markets, then let it fly into wide release with as much Oscar-nomination momentum as possible. Alas.

TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington, left distraught after a stranger spat on him at a tech conference in Munich, promised he'd take February off. Two days in, he's having a hard time leaving the Internet.

Perhaps we spoke a bit too quickly when we declared that a Bruce Springsteen halftime show would be safely free of any demonshlong appearances.

Peggy Siegal invited a media-heavy crowd to the Oak Room last night to watch the Super Bowl. Sports Illustrated editor Terry McDonell was in attendance (apparently, budget cuts prevented him from flying to Tampa in person); and some folks, such as former HarperCollins chief Jane Friedman, left, even donned 3-D glasses to fully appreciate the commercials. Others on hand for the festivities: Richard Johnson, Ron Perelman, Dan Abrams, Dave Zinczenko, Joanne Lipman, Charlie Rose, George Rush, Richard Meier, Cece Cord, Kate Betts, Gay Talese, Rocco DiSpirito, Chuck Scarborough, Francine LeFrak, Andrew and Nancy Jarecki, Ron Delsener, Ken Auletta, Larry Gagosian, Lewis Lapham, Steve Kroft, Lloyd Grove, Morgan Entrekin, Ann Dexter-Jones, Harry Smith, Liz Smith, Cynthia McFadden, and Felicia Taylor. [PMc, NYO, GoaG, Fox 411]

Great news: former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's publicist just sent out his client's media schedule for tomorrow! He will be everywhere!

Oh no, Michael Phelps and the demon weed marijuana! He's going to lose all his endorsements and his motivation, besides! Relax, people. This can all work out to the advantage of his nerd-ass reputation.

America, this is getting ridiculous. All Wall-E tried to do is save Earth, and now you're repaying the little robot with a series of awards snubs that put its Best Animated Film Oscar into question.

[Submit your own Gawker Stalker sightings to stalker@gawker.com] Feb. 1 @ 12:30pm Eating at Macelleria with model Jesus Luz (Is that her boyfriend? He's even hunkier in person!) and her daughter Lourdes.

Pajamas Media was founded by a bunch of conservative bloggers dissatisfied with the liberal MSM. And now, like the liberal MSM, they are all out of money.

In a blog post, Draper, a principal at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, recounted all the political figures he met at the Alfalfa Club over the weekend — Sarah Palin, John McCain, Vernon Jordan, and other "Washington insiders."

A tipster tells us the atmosphere is tense at the Vibe offices—"they may not have enough money to print the March issue" because of a lack of ads. [UPDATE: Vibe statement below]:

So what if anyone has yet to see Watchmen — director Zack Snyder wants you to know what fantastic disaster to look forward to in the unfortunate occasion of a sequel.

Robert De Niro's Nobu has agreed to pay out $2.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of 200 workers, who sued the sushi chain in 2007 for forcing them to share tips and failing to pay overtime wages. Each plaintiff in the case will receive $3,300, except for four workers who recruited other "victims," who will take home an additional $10,000 apiece. The balance? That will go to Maimon Kirshenbaum, naturally. [NYP]

Conde Nast, magazine publisher of the gods, is in trouble. Many of its most famous magazines are losing critical amounts of advertising. How bad are things? So bad that Conde is actually making some changes!

What a game, eh? The first half was kinda slow until that last play, when Elvira the Catahoula Cur Mix made that unbelievable Nylabone interception. Let's see who else was a winner this weekend:

Microsoft's first-ever mass layoffs bore unusual fruit for Microsoft obsessive Todd Bishop, who spent the weekend in Seattle-area thrift shops. He discovered more discarded Microsoft logowear than ever. Some of his finds:

The news that Luke Janklow and his wife Julie were divorcing first surfaced two weeks ago, and last week the couple's townhouse hit the market for $24.95 million. But the literary agent to the rich and famous (such as Anderson Cooper and Gwyneth Paltrow) hasn't been sitting at home mourning the dissolution of his marriage. We hear that Janklow is now dating Jessica Joffe, the flame-tressed social scenester and occasional model/writer who was famously involved with singer Ryan Adams until last year.

Sure, we've already told you what we thought of the movie trailers that aired during yesterday's big game. However, what was our take on the 30-second, NSFW porn clip that accidentally played in Tuscon, Arizona?

We liked him so much when all we knew was that he gave us our new president of hope, but Obama campaign manager David Plouffe ruined all that by babbling about beer pong to Esquire.

You missed your chance to swoop in like a vulture and take advantage of some of the poor souls who lost everything to Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme. Over the weekend, Palm Beach's Kofski Antiques held a two-day "Madoff Estate" sale and offered up the possessions of two Madoff investors who lost their fortunes as part of the alleged fraud. Included in the mix was a $3,000 mink coat and $3,850 crystal horse head. Then there there was this set of Eureka Grand Baroque Sterling flatware, which went for a mere $350. Don't be too disappointed if you missed out, though. Kofski's owner says he has another Madoff sale in the works, as well as a sale by a "top executive of Lehman Brothers." Excellent! We're totally buying one of Dick Fuld's old squash racquets.