A deranged straphanger attempted to assault the MTA's chief executive with a shoe at a hearing today. Thankfully police apprehended the man and seized his deadly Oxfords.

While most people on Wall Street are in a state of panic these days, it's worth noting that not everyone is heading into Christmas vacation with their gloomy look on their faces. Financial News has issued its list of the year's biggest winners and losers. The man who earned the No. 1 spot on the "Profit Makers" list? John Paulson, the gloomy-looking hedge fund manager on your left, who not only took home a ridiculous $3.7 billion last year, but is up another 20 percent in 2008. [WSJ]

Christians are not taking the Atheist War on Christmas lying down. Heathens ran quirky, anti-god ads in DC recently, so Christians are striking back with a novel strategy—quirky, pro-god ads!

Typically, when one is tasking one's publicist with the announcement of just about the biggest divorce payout ever made to an ex-husband, one wouldn't claim two days later, "Ooops, clicked 'send' too early!"

Last week, we dialed up a few luxury hotels in places like Aspen and Vail to see how they were faring this holiday season amid the recession. The abundance of rooms didn't strike us as a very encouraging sign, especially since many of them had already slashed room rates compared to previous seasons. But that was two weeks before Christmas—maybe there would be a rush of well-heeled travelers who would take advantage of the low prices at the last minute? With Christmas Eve just a week away, we thought we'd check back in and see if business had picked up at all.

The new season of weirdo comedy series Flight of the Conchords, about two singing and bumbling boys from New Zealand, is coming back soon. The first episode is already online! And it is very funny.

With seemingly so little left to live for (or is that just us?), the second season of Flight of the Conchords, and all the "Foux de Fafa" frivolity that implies, seems like it can't arrive quickly enough. But wait! Put down that kebab skewer pressed to your temple! You needn't wait until the January 18th premiere to catch your Brett and Jemaine fix, nor do you even need to hold out until this Monday, when the first episode streams on HBO.com. That's because it's already streaming, at this very moment, courtesy of FunnyorDie.com. We'll see you in half an hour.

Maybe our ire at Brooklyn's new Brit-It Girl, sybarite Peaches Geldof, is misdirected. After all, anyone's allowed to move to Brooklyn. If they happen to have a nice apartment, then so be it.

MTV has confirmed its wacky plans to give a TV show to the young men behind CollegHumor.com. What a good time to review all we know about CollegeHumor boss Ricky Van Veen!

Michael Sneed, Chicago's own Liz Smith, isn't letting the fact that she was revealed to be the preferred press mouthpiece of disgraced Guv Blagojevich stop her from continuing to weigh in.

It seems any Tom Cruise appearance lately is predicated on image rehabilitation, whether making amends with Matt Lauer, who he famously suckerpunched on live TV in a heated disagreement over Wellbutrin,

• As expected, Barack Obama has been named Time's person of the year. [Time]
• Oprah has negotiated a deal to produce movies for HBO. [Reuters]
• It appears the end is near for Lenny Dykstra's Players Club magazine. [NYP]
• News Corp. is moving its listing from the NYSE to the NASDAQ. [NYT]
• American Idol was the most time-shifted show in primetime in 2008. [Reuters]
• Cutting web staff seems to be a popular way for magazines to keep their print titles afloat. [NYO]

Our video guru Richard Blakeley and intern Josh Rachford have sifted through all the videos that have popped up on Gawker's radar in 2008 and picked the ten very best.

Hey, you there! Think you can run a network? You may be able to do it better than NBC's boy-king Jeff Zucker, who Jay Leno has just exposed as a total space cadet.

Bernie Madoff won't be spending the night in prison. A judge ruled earlier today that the alleged swindler can stay out on bail, provided he remains at home and he's equipped with an electronic monitoring device. An hour ago or so, he returned to the East 64th Street apartment building that he calls home (and the same building that Matt Lauer lives in), where was mobbed by the press, left. But Madoff has wisely decided to turn off his home phone. Calls to Casa Madoff just ring and ring. And there's no one picking up the phone at Madoff's homes on Long Island or in Palm Beach either! Has the household staff been dismissed? We don't know, but if you're trying to reach him, we'd recommend trying his cell.

Oh gee, yesterday the word was that Baghdad Shoe Hurler Muntader al-Zaidi could face seven years in prison. But then George W. Bush called for mercy, and now his possible sentence has doubled:

[Blake Lively, from the Frontline special documentary series "Gossip Girl," filming in New York City, NY yesterday; image via Bauer-Griffin]

The recession affects all of us. Not wanting to appear insensitive or out of touch, it's become fashionable among the wealthy to moan about the sacrifices they have to make, too. Only problem?

It's never been tougher for young New Yorkers trying to break into the media business: No one is hiring, of course, and to make matters worse, you now not only have to compete with children of the rich and prominent for unpaid internships, but with actual grown-up celebrities attempting to grab a bit of cheap publicity.

When Democratic party uber-lawyer Fred Baron died this year, he left poor Rielle Hunter with nothing. So she's back on the East Coast and ready to party!