Marisa Noel Brown has been keeping busy. Despite the fact her father and husband have seen their reputations go up in smoke the last few weeks, face a slew of lawsuits, and will probably never live down the shame of having enabled Bernie Madoff for so long, the society fixture has made it to two events over the past week or so, including the Gilt Group's anniversary party last Thursday and yesterday's Junior Collector's Night at Doubles. Unfortunately, her peers haven't been quite as thrilled by her presence, at least judging by the look on Jennifer Creel's face, who'd probably rather be sticking pins in her eyes rather than stand next to Brown, but who manages to put on a brave nonetheless. Commenters on the socialite blog Park Avenue Peerage haven't been any kinder: "Marisa get out!!! You should have be in jail!!! Take all you family with you!!!!" says one. But at least Marisa was thoughtful enough to wear black, no?

Watching the cable news, one might get the impression that Republicans aren't a completely powerless minority party. They're still opinionating like it's 2004 out there!

As Wall Street's recklessness brings the country to its knees—and as the nearly $20 billion in bonuses claimed by bankers after the crisis began triggers mass outrage—is it time for the return of the bank robber as folk hero? The FBI is seeing a significant leap in bank robberies in many U.S. cities, including New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and just as the real life Bonnie and Clyde were cheered on by the public during the Great Depression, one reporter suggests that it's now "proving hard to keep the public on the side of the law when banks are the only victims and the average haul is just $10,000, chump change on Wall Street." On a related note, Faye Dunaway is said to be unhappy that Hilary Duff will reprise the role of Bonnie in a remake of the 1967 classic, but we're guessing she'll be pleased that robbing banks for a living has never been more fashionable.

Gloomy economic party-haver and enthusiastic Facebook user Nouriel Roubini is in Davos, working hard to bring our own fameball Photoshop works to life. [His panel was aptly named "What Went Wrong"]

Being a fan of rapstress M.I.A. is a rollercoaster ride. Her songs are good. You love her. She says dumb things, you hate her. Songs are good again, great. Then she says annoying things again!

Carolyn Gusoff covered the Long Island beat for WNBC until the station let her go in December as part of a round of budget cuts. It's been a rocky transition for the vapid TV reporter—or so she says in a Newsday opinion piece—as she details the "harrowing and debasing ordeal" involved in filing for unemployment, and the challenge of paying for gas, parking and phone bills when you don't have any income coming in. Even tougher? Just looking for a job is more expensive than keeping one, since job interviews require that her nails "be perfect" and her hair has to be coiffed just right. It's a good thing she won't have to worry about paying out of pocket to keep up with her plastic surgery habit. Her husband—as she neglects to point out amid all the worries of mounting phone and cable bills—is prominent plastic surgeon Jon Turk.

Stock downgrades. Acquisitions that didn't pan out. Businesses leaking cash. Layoffs. And a whole lot of pessimism about the future. Is Rupert Murdoch losing his magic, wrinkly touch?

Penthouse for sale! This prewar gem features prime Upper East Side location, four bedrooms, five bathrooms, library, and quite possibly the chance to see Bernie Madoff in his Underoos:

At the annual Sidaction AIDS benefit dinner in Paris last night, Carla Bruni, in purple strapless satin Yves Saint Laurent, did what she does best: reveled in the spotlight and upstaged every other dolled-up female—Mischa Barton, Vanessa Paradis, Diane Kruger, Dita von Teese, Milla Jovovich, Laeticia Casta, Dasha Zhukova, Virginie Ledoyen—in the room.

[Lauren Conrad in Los Angeles; image via Bauer-Griffin]

Have you been laid off recently? Are you so depressed about the state of the job market that you find yourself sleeping all day? Have we got a job for you! The New Museum says it's looking for women ages 18 to 40 to take sleeping pills and sleep on a bed in the middle of the museum from 12pm to 6pm daily as a part of a new exhibit by artist Chu Yun. Even better: The museum is paying $10 an hour for the gig, which is a lot more than you're getting for sleeping in your own bed. Insomniacs and people with a fear of exhibitionism need not apply! [New Yorkology]

Today we have a gay baseball player, a separating couple, a secretly wed "fashionista," a druggy celebrity, and a cruel taskmaster.

You know we're in a deep recession when even billionaire financiers can't afford to pay for subscriptions to the Financial Times. In what will go down as one of the more bizarre (and unintentionally hilarious) lawsuits we've seen in quite some time, the newspaper filed a lawsuit against Steve Schwarzman's Blackstone Group on Wednesday for sharing an FT username and password instead of setting up separate accounts for its employees. Yes, an unknown "senior employee" at the colossal private equity firm "authorized the initiation and repeated renewal of an individual, personal subscription to FT.com" and then distributed the login details to company employees so they could all join in on the fun. (The court documents list the username as "theblackstonegroup" and the password as "blackstone," although FT says it has since "disabled the credentials to mitigate damages.")

• Several top brokers have reportedly visited Bernie and Ruth Madoff's penthouse at 133 East 64th Street to assess its value in anticipation of a sale. The four-bedroom, five-bathroom apartment could go for $8 million or so. [NYP]
• The Sloane Mansion has undergone a $10 million price cut. It's now listed with Paula Del Nunzio for $54 million. [NYO, BHS]
• Investor Amit Ben-Haim's penthouse at 15 CPW, which was listed at $80 million last year before it was taken off the market, is now sporting a much more modest $47.5 million price tag. [Real Estalker, Sotheby's]

Starbucks jobs are now reserved for Yale grads; the rest of us have to try and obtain menial but absurd positions with Kanye West.

Publicist (and new mom) Lizzie Grubman turns 38 today. Dick Cheney turns 68. Christian Bale is 35. Gene Hackman is 79. Wilmer Valderrama turns 29. Vanessa Redgrave is 72. Phil Collins is turning 58. Theater impresarios Harold Prince and Bernard Gersten are 81 and 86, respectively. NHL star Chris Simon is 37. Singer/songwriter Josh Kelley is 29. Weekend birthdays—including that of Andre Balazs—after the jump.

• Andrew Cuomo may demand the return of $4 billion in bonuses paid by Merrill Lynch just before it was acquired by Bank of America. [BN]
• U.S. GDP shrank 3.8% in the fourth quarter, the most since 1982. [BN, NYT]
• Two senators have introduced legislation to regulate hedge funds. [NYT]
• A handful of ex-Merrill execs were victims of Bernie Madoff. [WSJ]
• More layoffs at Morgan and Goldman are in the works. [Dealbreaker]
• A silver lining to the recession (at least for non-lawyers): Corporate firms are dropping rates and looking at "alternative billing practices." [NYT]
• "Private equity is not dead," says Henry Kravis. Glad to hear it! [DB]

Once a year, socialites are permitted to put on sneakers, venture into a sports bar on Second Avenue, order a plate of wings, and watch a big-screen television. Yes, Super Bowl Sunday is 48 hours away. But if you're a member of the social set and you're still a bit baffled by all the rules and terminology, VF.com has a helpful vocab list you can refer to. Remember: A block is not "the distance you have to walk on Park Avenue between 72nd and 73rd Streets." [Vanity Fair]

General manager Kent Brownridge is following editor Susan Toepfer out the door at celebrity magazine OK!. The publication's overlords are bringing back the old guard — including former celebrity flack Rob Shuter.

• Martha Stewart is so distraught over the death of her chow chow and her break-up with Charles Simonyi that she's been adopting cats left and right (and throwing them parties, too). Or at least that's what the National Enquirer says. [NE]
• Brooke Shields says the Lipstick Jungle stage manager who stole props from the set swiped cash from her wallet, too. [NYDN]
• Amy Winehouse's house in London was robbed yesterday. [People, The Sun]
• Kimora Lee Simmons and Russell Simmons have finalized their divorce. Good thing, too, since she's pregnant with Djimon Hounsou's baby. [Us]
• Kanye West employs a resident "shoekeeper" to keep track of his 450 pairs of shoes, which is what you'd do, too, if you were Kanye West. [The Sun]