· A fifth Terminator installment is in the works, Halcyon Co. announced today. Logically picking up where the last ends, Terminator Salivation pits marble-mouthed John Connor against a new breed of excessively drooly mechanoids. [Variety]

With Mahalo Answers, the latest Web project from Brooklyn-born blog blowhard Jason Calacanis, you can pay people to Google for you with fictional bucks. Genius!

Real estate tycoon and Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman would like you to know that, contrary to earlier reports, he was not really a victim of Bernie Madoff's $50 billion Ponzi scheme. First of all, the $30 million he'd invested with Madoff was part of a charitable trust and didn't have anything to do with his personal fortune. And he'd never even heard of Madoff before last week; the money was invested with Madoff via a third party. Please also note that he hasn't worried about the Madoff mess for a moment. "I spent the weekend taking my daughter to see the Jonas Brothers, so I haven't been thinking about this, and after that concert I'm trying to regain my hearing, which I've barely done." [NYM]

Though Hugh Jackman's upcoming projects sound as though they exploded from the mind of a Ritalin-deprived, 8-year-old gay boy (Oscar hosting, 3-D Cleopatra musical), at least he's got Wolverine to balance the books.

Tina Brown — who once edited Tatler, Vanity Fair, and the New Yorker and Talk — has reinvented herself by editing a website that mixes high and low culture. Where have we heard that before?

We hear that former Gawker editor Jesse Oxfeld has been let go from his position as a senior editor at New York magazine.

So many things are changing about American Idol this season! Like Cousin Oliver before them, could these changes spell the doom of the increasingly creaky, 8-year-old singing competition? Let's look at what's changing:

• Frank Bruni assesses the toll the recession's having on NYC restaurants. The silver lining: It's never been easier to snag a last-minute reservation. [NYT]
• A look inside Ortine, which opens on Wednesday. [GS]
• Expect further delays for Table 8 inside the Cooper Square Hotel. [Eater]
• Christophe Bellanca has landed at Laurent Tourondel's BLT Group. [TFB]
• Caracas Arepa Bar's Brooklyn outpost opens today. [BP]
• That can of Coke is going to cost you more pretty soon. Gov. David Paterson has proposed a 15% "obesity tax" on nondiet drinks. [NYDN]

This is stupid. Caroline Kennedy waited until public opinion turned completely against the idea to actively pursue Hillary Clinton's Senate seat.

Rainy days and Mondays got you down? Buck up your holiday mood with a bit of apocalyptic egg nog we like to call Monday Morning Box Office:

It's a classic geek insult: A Google executive has called the Wall Street Journal "confused" about its stance on whether companies should be able to buy themselves a fast lane on the Internet.

Hedge fund hustler Bernie Madoff made $50 billion in wealth evaporate—much of it from some of America's richest Jews. Does this fact have a greater significance? We'll say... yes(?)

Upon being confronted with last week's Jennifer Aniston nudesapalooza, Defamer commenter icallthebigonebitey said, "Someone call me when Scott Caan does a similar photo shoot." Bitey, we have paparazzi service X17 holding for you.

Earlier we discussed Kathy Fuld's shameful habit of secretly buying stuff from Hermès. We noted that the Daily Beast item about the trend didn't have a byline to it. Why would this be?

The most precious (and probably sticky) art relationship of our generation is over! Matthew Barney is no longer listed as in a relationship (according to a Facebook page that might be his).

Steve Feinberg is the elusive founder of Cerberus Capital, the private equity giant that paid $7.4 billion to acquire 80 percent of Chrysler in 2007. For years Feinberg has done his very best to remain in the shadows: Few photos of him have been published—the ones that have typically been outdated or grainy—and he almost never speaks with the press, preferring to leave those duties to the firm's chairman, former Treasury Secretary John Snow. Until now, that is. Feinberg headed to Washington on Friday to participate in negotiations over the auto industry bailout and soon found himself confronted by reporters on the scene. "When other reporters figured out it was Feinberg—who has rarely been photographed in 20 years on Wall Street—photographers and TV crews swarmed him," reports the Detroit News. A photographer for the AP managed to snap a pic of the elusive billionaire (above) before "he and the other Cerberus executives fled to a tiny room in the Capitol basement." Nice to see one of the most powerful men in finance (and one of the country's most prolific Republican fundraisers) come out of the shadows, isn't it? In honor of his outing, we're pleased to share a couple of other photos of the notoriously secretive billionaire. After the jump, photos of Feinberg holding up his prey from a hunting trip last winter.

Che's "roadshow" engagement attracted capacity crowds in L.A. and New York over the weekend, with director Steven Soderbergh even making a special NYC appearance to take his audience's thoughtful questions and verbal abuse.

Everyone in Real-America liked Christmas a lot, but Hitch, who lived just north of Real-America, did not. So he drank until ill and drank until iller, and spilled on his Christmas card from Phyllis Diller!

Washington guy Jay Carney leaving Time, for some reason. [Politico]

[Madonna! In South America! On a balcony! With her children! Most! Exciting! Picture! Ever!; via INF]