Lindsay's "fuck u" manicure was "a joke," but her Cato Institute-quoting tweets aren't. New Mel Gibson tapes apparently show him telling Oksana she "deserved" physical abuse. Ryan Seacrest's beard commits—with sexy photos? Thursday gossip speaks truth to power.
• Mischa Barton didn't do so hot while filming scenes for Law & Order: SVU earlier this week. She reportedly forgot her lines repeatedly and some people suspect it's because the troubled actress has been partying a bit too hard recently. Then again, after playing a strung-out hooker on L&O, her career has nowhere to go but up, right? [NYDN]
• Publishing heiress Lydia Hearst has posed for Playboy and had a guest appearance on Gossip Girl. What's next? She's leaving NYC for Los Angeles to launch an acting career, naturally. Unfortunately, she's taking her boyfriend, spiky-haired pop rocker Ryan Cabrera, along for the ride, so she may not be getting off to the best start. [P6]
• Speaking of people who have built a career based on their willingness to take off their clothes, remember Amy Fisher? She'll be getting naked at a restaurant on Long Island this week and is setting aside a portion of the proceeds to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Your turn, Buttafuoco. [P6]
• John Edwards has finally come clean and admitted that he's the father of Rielle Hunter's two-year-old daughter. Better late than never? [People]
Ivana Trump turns 60 today. Anderson Cooper's mother, heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, is 85. Cindy Crawford is 43. Sidney Poitier turns 82. Coach president Reed Krakoff is 45. Grace Hightower De Niro is turning 56. Knicks guard Stephon Marbury is 32. Patty Hearst is turning 55. Architect Deborah Berke is turning 55. Charles Barkley is 46. Senator Mitch McConnell is turning 67. Actress Lauren Ambrose is 31. And poor Rihanna turns 21 today. Weekend birthdays after the jump!
♦ Money manager Christopher Browne has a new home. He paid $10 million for a three-bedroom co-op at the Sherry Netherland. Browne, identified in property records as ORVGB LLC, purchased the apartment from the estate of Irene Schwartz. Floorplan after the jump. [Cityfile]
♦ Spike Lee has dropped the price of a townhouse at 124 DeKalb Avenue in Fort Greene that he once used as an office. It's now $4.9 million, down from $6 million earlier this year. [NYP]
♦ Retired hockey star Eric Lindros, who played with the Rangers from 2001 to 2004, has listed his apartment at One Morton Square—the same building where Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have been trying to sell their penthouse—for $6.3 million. The listing for the 2,300-square-foot condo is here. [NYP]
♦ Billy Baldwin and wife Chynna Phillips have put their home in Bedford Corners, NY, on the market for $3.895 million. [Real Estalker]
♦ An unidentified European has plunked down $7.82 million for a 3,424-square-foot penthouse at the Setai at 40 Broad Street, setting a new neighborhood record. [NYP]
· Jeff Gossett, who closed the New York Moomba, to open Moomba LA, is now closing the West Coast club as well. [Page Six]
· Kathy Griffin can't tell the difference between Stephen Baldwin and Billy Baldwin. Neither can the Page Six photo editors, apparently. At the moment, a raven-haired, smiling Billy is captioned as "Stephen Baldwin." [Page Six]
· Visitors spotted passing coins to incarcerated Ex-Sotheby's honcho, Al Taubman, so he has money for the commissary. [Cindy Adams]
· European comments, "Joel Steinberg's getting out, Robert Chambers is coming out, that Central Park Jogger bunch is already out. Felons are going free, and smokers are getting arrested." [Cindy Adams]
· Sharon Osbourne refuses designer freebies because "I don't get the same buzz unless I pay for it!" [Liz Smith]
· Cosmopolitans and apple martinis are out; MOs (Bacardi O and Merlins) are in. [Liz Smith]
· Monica Lewinsky, apparently in the mood to be a good little choir girl, is throwing pizza parties with games and make-your-own sundaes. Ivana Trump joins The Donald in vowing revenge for the beer stein tossed at Don Junior's head at a Greenwich Village comedy club. [NY Daily News]
