Bernie Madoff has been out of sight since a judge confined him to his East 64th Street apartment a couple of weeks ago, but there's been plenty of news to keep Madoff in the spotlight. Today a House panel is addressing why the SEC failed to detect the fraud earlier (particularly since the agency acknowledges it looked into the firm 8 times over the past 16 years), a handful of Madoff victims have come forward in the last week (including hedge fund guru Michael Steinhardt), and the scandal-plagued law firm Milberg LLP now says it's signed up 100 victims as part of a class action lawsuit. The most amusing new Madoff details, though, come from an interview with Julia Fenwick, who worked as Madoff's office manager in London for eight years and was a close friend of Bernie's niece, Shana Madoff. Fenwick says Madoff was "the most anally retentive person I have ever met"—and she's not kidding.

• Christopher Mahan, a managing director at the private equity firm AEA Investors, has sold his 15th-floor apartment at 140 East 63rd Street (left) for $8.4 million. [Cityfile]
• Peter Edge, the president of A&R at J Records, paid $4.4 million for a townhouse at 735 Washington Street in the West Village. [Cityfile]
• Daily Show executive producer David Javerbaum and his wife Debra have lowered the price of their two-bedroom apartment in Chelsea for the second time since listing it in July. It's now on the market for $1.7 million. [NYT, Core]

If you see fewer frightening cleavages on show this spring, now you'll know why: Fewer New York women are accessorizing their looks with plastic D-cups as they choose to spend money on items more essential than $10,000 breast implants, according to Manhattan plastic surgeons who are complaining about a drop in business. "If the procedure is purely esthetic, it's definitely down," says one doctor. [NYDN]

Heiress and social fixture Amanda Hearst turns 25 today. Charlie Rose is celebrating his 67th. Diane Keaton is turning 63. Fashion "expert" Steven Cojocaru is 44. Actor Robert Duvall is 78. Former Vice President Walter Mondale is 81. King Carlos of Spain is 71. Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell is turning 65. And Marilyn Manson is celebrating his 40th birthday today.

• Start your engines, ladies: Sean Avery and Kelly Klein have split up. [P6]
• Mariah Carey may have collected as much as $1 million to perform three or four songs on St. Barts on New Year's Eve. [R&M]
• Lots of unresolved questions remain concerning the death of John Travolta's 16-year-old son, Jett, last week. [TMZ, NYP, Mirror]
• Get ready to see more of Lourdes Leon: Madonna's 14-year-old daughter has reportedly enrolled in Manhattan's Professional Children's School with hopes of starting an acting career. [Daily Mail]
• The new year isn't shaping up to be much fun for Gwyneth Paltrow. Her new diet bans dairy, gluten, meat, shellfish, nuts, potatoes, condiments, sugar, alcohol, and caffeine. [Telegraph]

Ostensibly fearing liver damage, John Travolta removed his teenaged son from the anti-seizure medication Depakote. Jett Travolta later succumbed to convulsions and died. Why wasn't he put on other medication?

It once might have raised hackles for the Times to carry a display ad on the front page. Now the only scandal is that the paper waited so long.

Kathy Griffin may have shouted at a heckler, on CNN, "I don't go to your job and knock the dicks out of your mouth," but it's just a "vulgarity" in the Times.

"David Axelrod, a senior adviser, and Robert Gibbs, the press secretary, were plainly excited at being aboard one of the presidential planes for the first time... [Obama] ordered a cheeseburger, fries and water." [Times]

One of the biggest brand-called-you practitioners is calling the whole notion into question. Tech pundit Sarah Lacy publishes in four or five media and wonders what the point is.

The Huffington Post raised $25 million right before traffic cratered post election. Ad Age's Simon Dumenco ran the new numbers and decided HuffPo is just a sad new version of Salon.

Opponent Norm Coleman is already promising a challenge, but as of Monday famed senator-impersonator Al Franken will be an official senate-election winner, per a Minnesota election board.

Future magic unicorn senator Caroline Kennedy was the only New York City employee who got to avoid disclosing her assets when she worked for the schools. That's right: Kennedy was privileged.

Hey, Washington! The Obamas are coming to town, and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, start school tomorrow at Sidwell Friends, Chelsea Clinton's alma mater. Why Sidwell? For the privacy.

Dotcom mogul Halsey Minor, the CNET founder, has spent freely on real estate, artwork, and startups. He's having trouble keeping them all. The latest bauble to run aground: San Francisco magazine publisher 8020 Media.

The tragic death of John Travolta's teenage son Jett could spell the end of Scientology, sci-fi author L. Ron Hubbard's loopy, medicine-hating cult from the 1950s.

Barack Obama's pick as Commerce Secretary, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, has withdrawn his name after a new political scandal erupted in his home state.

Hypernarcissistic videogame developer Charles Forman, whose relationship with professional drama factory Julia Allison ended in PowerPoint-driven recriminations, is back in the market for love, a tipster reports — and suffering from the woes of unfamousness.

When does a recession turn into a depression? When economists start getting fired! Since the experts can't even agree on how long this downturn will last, let's hope that starts happening soon.

One would think the upside of a new Depression would be a return to 1930s Art Deco glamour. But the Rainbow Room, which opened in 1934, is closing its famed New York restaurant.