Donny Deutsch's career as a talk show host may have gone on "hiatus" and his personal life may seen its share of controversy in recent weeks, but the ad mogul isn't letting the bad news get in the way of his forthcoming book, The Big Idea: How to Make Your Entrepreneurial Dreams Come True, From the Aha Moment to Your First Million. Says his publicist: "I'm pretty sure it's gonna be a bestseller." [AgencySpy]

There are so many gaudily fraudulent characters in the story of this country's mania for buying and selling homes — like Sam Leccima, the former Flip This House star who allegedly slapped "Sold" signs on unsold houses and didn't even have a real-estate license. A&E yanked his shows from the channel's lineup after charges that his house-flipping efforts were a hoax.

• A look at what will one day open inside Andre Balazs' Standard NYC. [Eater]
• A roundup of the changes to the Tribeca dining scene this past year. [NYT]
• Bar Milano is set to become another outpost of 'inoteca. [Eater]
• A look back at five years of Marquee. [NYP]
• A handy map of dessert spots in the East Village. [Eater]
• Construction on the Nobu Hotel has been halted. [NYT]
• Mauro Maccioni isn't thrilled with the Page Six mag piece portraying "him and his brothers as a scheming fiends seeking to throw their father into exile." [FB]
• Thomas Keller will be on Nightline tonight, just so you know. [GS]

For some, the country's economic dire straits mean job loss, financial cutbacks, and tough choices. Mary-Kate Olsen, however, believes that "the recession" is a hip new chain store akin to Fred Segal.

The aftermath of any disaster requires a period of quiet reflection followed by intense investigation. Or, if you're as ambitious as Baz Luhrmann, you combine the two in one expanded whining binge to THR.

Among the honorary co-chairs of Obama's inauguration? Wisconsin Rep Tammy Baldwin, one of the three openly gay members in Congress, and not the one who just called Obama's selection of Rick Warren a "mistake." [CBS]

Zac Efron's holiday decorations are a decidedly grownups-only affair, his tree festively adorned with inflatable party sheep and a fine misting of pudenda glitter—but if there's children around, perhaps this ornament is more appropriate.

[Famous rich lady Victoria Beckham with the Gabbana part of Dolce & Gabbana in Milan; image via Getty]

You may have been surprised to open the Times today to see a letter to the editor by the mayor of Paris harshing on Caroline Kennedy's bid to take over Hillary Clinton's seat in the Senate. Why would the mayor of Paris, like, you know, care? He doesn't: "Earlier this morning, we posted a letter that carried the name of Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of Paris, sharply criticizing Caroline Kennedy. This letter was a fake. It should not have been published." In a related story, officials on the Caribbean island of Monserrat have no particular opinion on whether Hiram Monseratte should give up his State Senate seat. [NYT]

All of the alleged Fort Dix plotters have been acquitted of attempted murder, but five have been convicted of "conspiring to kill military personnel." This is the end of their ridiculous trial.

Sequoia Capital, the backer of Apple, Yahoo, and Google, ordered its startups to slash their payrolls this fall. We hear one CEO fired people so enthusiastically he had to retract some of his pink slips.

While Paris Hilton's bedroom has no doubt seen its fair share of criminal action, rarely does it result in the heiress losing a whole $2 million.

To be sure, the holiday season is stressful. If it's not about hiding your drug use from your dysfunctional family, it's about your crushing inability to find a proper gift for your significant other.

Nothing says Christmas like two people screaming at each other. Gawker video guru Richard Blakeley compiled and ranked the ten very best of this contentious year.

Ignore all the talk of layoffs and focus on the positive: According to "biorhythm researchers" and condom manufacturers, more people are having sex right now than at any other point in the year. It may be due to the cold weather, or it may have something to do with the tendency to get a little wild during the holidays before New Year resolutions (like, say, not having risky sex with strangers) kick in. Whatever it is, enjoy yourself before the Internet or too much recession talk gets in the way! [AMNY]

Chicken-wingery-parking-lot-felon Andy Dick was a very special guest on The View today, where he unveiled his new court-ordered ankle monitor with a Tom Waits-esque blues ditty.

An HSBC banker hanged himself in a 5-star hotel room in West London, The Times reports.

It's not all bad news for the folks defrauded by Bernie Madoff. In addition to his handful of homes in Manhattan, Montauk, and Palm Beach, it's likely Madoff's 50 percent stake in this $24 million Embaer Legacy jet will eventually be distributed to the people he cheated as part of his elaborate scheme. The plane, which is based at Long Island's Republic Airport and is just a year old, was purchased by Madoff and real estate developer Edward Blumenfeld, who revealed last week he'd been "invested heavily" in Madoff and had teamed up with him to build a shopping complex in East Harlem. The two, it turns out, also went on family vacations together, which probably explains why they got together to buy the plane. (It's one of two planes that Madoff used on a regular basis: He's also a Netjets customer and is listed as a fractional owner of a Cessna 750 alongside hedge fund billionaire Phil Falcone and Richard Kinder, the former president of Enron.) It's the plane that Madoff co-owns with Blumenthal, though, that you can take for a spin, if you're interested. A company called Talon Air is still leasing Air Bernie, so if you're looking to take 12 friends on a trip—or you just want to see what Bernie used to traipse around the world and rope in new investors—here you go.

Earlier this morning we bemoaned the fact that Alex from Real Housewives New York was writing a book. An advice book, about parenting. Ugh, and hah! But maybe we didn't need to worry after all. A tipster from inside the book world tells us that Alex (and presumably her dopish, gayish husband Simon) had an agent shop the stupid thing around, but no one bit. All the publishing houses told her to come back once season two of the Bravo reality slosh started and maybe something could happen, but for the time being it's a no go.

Oooh, look at him! President-elect Barack Obama is on vacation in Hawaii right now and a stressful campaign and glorious victory seem to have done a body good. He's trimmer than he was in August!