Let's all take a moment to thank our friends at AIG. In the spirit of generosity, employees at the ruined insurance giant have agreed to a $20 million reduction in the $195 million in bonus payments they were previously promised. They didn't have to do it. But they did. To make you happy. Can't we all get along now? [WSJ]
• There's a good chance you'll be seeing the cast of Jersey Shore in the tents at Fashion Week. (If, that is, you happen to be going to Fashion Week.) MTV's newest crop of reality stars have been asking to tickets to shows, and a few designers have extended invites to "to attend or even model." [P6]
• If you wanted to go to business school but didn't do so well on the GMATs, Diddy is here to help. He says he plans to open a business school in New York City in the near future. [Starpulse, Us]
• Michael Jackson's "personal physician," Dr. Conrad Murray, is expected to surrender to the authorities today in connection with charges he played a role in Jackson's death. He'll likely be charged with involuntary manslaughter, which could land him four years in jail. [TMZ]
• Perpetual brat Kanye West threw a fit while flying back to New York from LA when he was told he and his assistant would have to sit in business class, not first. The temper tantrum paid off, though: The airline found room for him in the front of the plane and the rest of the flight went off without a hitch. [P6]
Nathan Lane turns 54 today. Novelist Paul Auster is turning 63. Public relations heavyweight Howard Rubenstein is 78. Actress Isla Fisher is turning 34. Actress (and Gwyneth mom) Blythe Danner is turning 67. Actress Maura Tierney is 45. Director Frank Coraci (The Wedding Singer) turns 43. Real estate heiress Denise LeFrak is 68. Morgan Fairchild is turning 60. And Tallulah Belle Willis, the daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, celebrates her 16th birthday today.
• Jon Stewart will face off against Bill O'Reilly when he enters the "No Spin Zone" tomorrow evening. In somewhat related news, pedicure-loving ex-congressman (and wanna-be Senator) Harold Ford hit Colbert last night.
• Is the magazine industry on the verge of a turnaround? Let's hope so! [AA]
• TV news: ABC is thinking of moving The View to the afternoon; Fox confirms it's had "conversations" with Conan about a late-night show, but hasn't had any real "negotiations"; and Matthew Broderick may be coming to the small screen.
• Layoffs: Big cuts went down at CBS News yesterday afternoon. And Sony Pictures has announced that it's cutting 450 positions at the studio.
• For the first time in a long time, CNN has surpassed MSNBC in primetime. Neither network is close to catching up with Fox News, though. [Politico, LAT]
• A reality show about The Oprah Winfrey Show is coming to Oprah's new cable channel next January. The network will also be home to shows about imprisoned women, "miracle detectives," and workaholic parents. [NYT]
• News Corp. is in talks with James Cameron about an Avatar sequel. [THR]
• Did you catch the New York Post's "prosti-dude" story today? Some staffers at the paper were a little less than thrilled with the PR stunt, it seems. [Gawker]
• Condé Nast's new fraud hotline should make ratting out co-workers (for stealing office supplies, expensing meals with friends, etc.) much easier! [NYP]
• More on this morning's Oscar nominations. [THR, NYT, TE, LAT]
• Meet Hollywood's top 40 moneymakers for 2009. [Vanity Fair]
"Looks like there's a scientific reason why Jersey Shore's tan addicts "The Situation" and Pauly D are constantly on the prowl. Sunbathing boosts the male sex drive. That's according to researchers in Austria, who found that testosterone levels in men rise at the same rate as doses of vitamin D, reports Britain's Daily Telegraph." [NYDN]
It's looking increasingly unlikely that Amy Sacco will ever reopen Bungalow 8, which closed last fall. Although she sent out an email blast in December that promised a "GRAND RE-OPENING" in time for Fashion Week, she now admits that won't be happening. And although she now claims that she should have things ready to go in March, Eater points out that the venue's liquor license has expired and she's yet to file for any construction permits. [Eater, previously]
More than two dozen employees of the SEC have been investigated over the past two years for viewing porn on their computers at work. (Could this explain why the agency missed numerous chances to catch on to Bernie Madoff? Maybe!) It's also what a bank employee is doing in the video to your left, although he doesn't appear to notice that one of his colleagues is on live television a few feet away. Needless to say, the bank says it's now investigating the incident. And we're guessing it probably won't be long before the banker has all the time in the world to surf the net for dirty pictures from his home computer. [BI]
Natalie Portman walking to her trailer on the set of Black Swan ... Rhea Perlman and Danny DeVito arriving at JFK ... Denis Leary shooting scenes for Rescue Me ... Kelly Rutherford picking up an iced tea at Yura On Madison ... Naomi Watts pushing her sons in a stroller ... Matthew Broderick walking with son James in the West Village ... Kelsey Grammer and wife Camille arriving at JFK ... Blake Lively walking with her bodyguard to the Gossip Girl set ... Vampire Diaries co-star Ian Somerhalder heading into Vento on Hudson Street ... and Kelly Bensimon of Real Houswives and Jersey Shore's Pauly D attending a charity event at Chelsea Piers.
• It looks like Jann Wenner has finally given up his stake in the Upper West Side townhouse that he shared with Jane Wenner up until their marriage dissolved in the mid-'90s. (The Rolling Stone founder and publisher now resides with his longtime partner, Matt Nye.) Property records show that Jane paid Jann $4 million for his share of the five-story townhouse at 37 West 70th Street, which the couple jointly purchased from the estate of Perry Ellis back in 1987. [Cityfile]
• Carol McFadden, the social fixture whose husband George was killed in a plane crash in 2008, has closed on the sale of her penthouse at The Metropolitan on East 90th Street. Nearly a year and a half after first listing the home for $8.9 million, the full-floor spread has been sold to Stewart Satter, the CEO of Consumer Testing Laboratories, for $6.925 million. That's about $1 million less than what Carol and her late husband paid for the place back in 2004. [Cityfile, Corcoran]
• Could Courtney Love be planning to buy a West Village townhouse? That's the rumor, since she was reportedly spotted checking out a townhouse at 56 Bank Street that is currently on the market for $5.998 million. [Curbed, BHS]
• Have Madonna and Jesus Luz gone their separate ways? That's what report today indicates, suggesting it was the couple's "overall lack of mutual interests" that caused the split and it was Luz who called things off. [CST]
• Rip Torn appeared in court yesterday and was formally charged with trespassing, burglary, and possessing a firearm following his arrest over the weekend for breaking into a bank because he thought it was his own house. In all fairness, though, Torn was in rural Connecticut and the "bank" is located in a two-story colonial, so this could have been a mistake that anyone could have made, no? Maybe not. Either way, Torn is now headed to rehab upstate. [NYP, NYDN, TMZ]
• Charlize Theron recently split up with her longtime partner, Stuart Townsend, but she may already have a new man in her life: Theron was spotted in LA last week on what appeared to be a date. [P6]
• Haven't the people of Haiti suffered enough? Hot on the heels of John Travolta's trip to the devastated nation to spread Scientology to the masses and now Michael Lohan and Kate Major say they, too, are planning to head to Haiti to "help" quake victims. [Radar]
Barry Diller turns 68 today. Christie Brinkley is turning 56 (not that she looks it). Former New York Post gossip columnist (and current wowowow.com contributor) Liz Smith is celebrating her 87th birthday. Colombia's most famous cultural export, Shakira, is turning 33 today. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas is 58. Broadway vet Elaine Stritch is turning 85. Food Network host Ina Garten is 62. Marissa Jaret Winokur (of Hairspray fame) turns 37. And Duane Chapman, who you probably know as "Dog the Bounty Hunter," turns 57 today.
• An estimated 25 million people tuned into last night's broadcast of the Grammy Awards on CBS, earning it its highest ratings in six years. [AP]
• Disney is looking to sell off the Miramax name and its library of 700 movies, and seven to 10 parties have reportedly expressed interest. [NYT, NYP]
• Nate Berkus's new TV show will hit WNBC beginning this fall. [THR, NYP]
• Kelly Cutrone's reality show, Kell on Earth, debuts on Bravo tonight. [LAT]
• Candy Crowley is the new anchor of CNN's State of the Union. [NYT]
• Amazon.com is backing down in its fight over e-book prices. [Reuters]
• Avatar was No. 1 at the box office for a seventh weekend in a row. The movie has now grossed more than $2 billion around the world. [NYT]
Not only do coats and sweaters on dogs look incredibly ridiculous, they serve no real purpose, since dogs can't catch the cold virus and in most cases they don't even notice when it's freezing outside. Even worse: Dressing up your dog can be downright "dangerous," say vets, since it interferes with how they regulate body heat, and that can lead to heatstroke. "If New Yorkers want to make a fashion statement, they can do it with a colored collar," says one vet. [NYP]
