The Dow Jones industrial average will end the year down more than 34 percent, which makes it the worst year for the index since 1931. Just how much money has evaporated? About $7 trillion, which adds up to six years' worth of gains. On a cheerier note, there weren't any murders in Central Park in 2008, although you still have about eight hours or so to change that if you have nothing better to do this evening. [NYT]
This week marked the debut of The City, the New York-centric MTV reality show that follows Whitney Port flitting around town with her fellow DVF "co-worker" Olivia Palermo. New York honored the grand occasion with a feature by David Amsden, who observed that Palermo isn't the only fixture on the social scene who has been in search of reality TV stardom. There's also Deborah Trachtenberg—otherwise known as Devorah Rose—the "26-year-old editor of Social Life magazine, who recently sold an idea (currently called Social Heights) to ABC about the lives of her and her close friends, the publicist Kristian Laliberte and diamond heiress Annabel Vartanian." Props to Devorah for managing to squeeze two lies by New York's factcheckers in the same sentence. She's actually 29, not 26. And the sale of that reality TV concept? Well, that came as news to ABC, who said they'd never even heard of the show.
This was the year when the reckless behavior of risk takers from Wall Street traders to mortgage lenders to Bernie Madoff blew up in everyone's faces. So it will probably come as cold comfort to learn why certain people are willing to commit such daring acts: It's because they have fewer inhibitors of happy-chemical dopamine in their brains, neuroscience researchers have discovered. So they get an extra feel-good high whenever they take a risk, predisposing them to keep flirting with danger—until, you know, the market crashes or the feds come knocking.
Today is the day when accused swindler Bernie Madoff will turn over a list of all his assets to the SEC and detail where the cash he allegedly siphoned off is located. Madoff victims who are hoping to see a little restitution will be pleased to hear that Madoff has an extra $10,000 as of today: The statue that was stolen from his Palm Beach estate last week has resurfaced. It was returned to his property with a note: "Bernie the Swindler, Lesson: Return stolen property to rightful owners. Signed by–The Educators." [FINalternatives]
• Channels like MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon will no longer be available to Time Warner Cable customers beginning at midnight, unless Viacom and Time Warner settle a dispute over fees. [Bloomberg]
• The Village Voice has laid off Nat Hentoff and Lynn Yaeger. [NYT]
• Ratings for MTV's The City and Bromance were disappointing. [THR]
• Pepsi is parting ways with its longtime pitchman David Beckham. [AdAge]
• Hustler publisher Larry Flynt is feuding with his nephews over their plans to launch an adult media company of their own. [NYP]
• Nick Denton's Gawker Media has sold off a site and is selling another. [NYT]
• It's not all bad news these days for journalists, clearly. [THR]
Did you know that a new MTV series, The City, debuted on Monday? Need to get up to speed on this exciting TV milestone and its significance for kids today? Thankfully, esteemed social chronicler David Patrick Columbia has popped his reality TV cherry and brought us a lengthy exegesis on Whitney Port and Olivia Palermo's tragic little show. "It's kinda like a soap opera looking for a plot," opines DPC sagely, "but don't let that worry you." Well, we'll try not to! What else? Oh yes, of course: Olivia, hitherto just another pretty face popping up on NYSD's party pictures, is "like an honest to god movie star," and "the biggest glamour-puss" onscreen. Gosh, this will almost—no, completely!—make up for the fact that according to everyone else, she revealed a unique talent for being unconvincing and repellent in the same moment. [NYSD]
If Michael Bloomberg is so interested in trimming the city's budget, allow us to kindly suggest one way to save the city $250,008.00 in 2009: Fire Kevin Sheekey immediately. The pit bull deputy mayor, who championed Bloomberg's non-bid for the White House and then counseled his boss against running for a third term (advice his boss ignored, of course), is now on the hot seat for his aggressive efforts to get Caroline Kennedy named as Hillary Clinton's successor in the Senate. And yet his attempt to strong-arm the political establishment—like, say, instructing the head of a union to support Kennedy because she, too, is Irish—has only managed to do more damage than good. "Everything was backfiring," a source told the Post of Sheekey's efforts to corral support on Kennedy's behalf.
We're nearly a decade into the new millennium. We carry miniature computers around in our pockets, smooth wrinkles with quick injections, fix poor eyesight with a 3-second laser beam, and watch TV shows about robotic beings whose lives are scripted for them. Yet the most vital scientific breakthrough of them all continues to elude mankind: When will scientists get their act together and create a pill for instant weight loss with no unpleasant side effects?
• Paul and Carol Kleinberg, the founders of the electrical contracting firm that bears their name, paid $9 million for a penthouse apartment at 520 West 19th Street. [Cityfile]
• Casino developer Richard Fields is selling his 38th-floor apartment at 15 CPW for $27 million. The flip will yield him double what he paid for the place in June, but it's $8 million less than what he was looking for when he first listed it in September. [Real Deal]
• Peter Lusk, the former COO at Tony Forstmann's private equity firm Forstmann-Leff International, and his wife Jeanne, have sold their 15th-floor co-op at 1 East 66th Street for $7 million. [Cityfile]
Stephen Green's commercial real estate empire has been hard hit by the credit crisis—just yesterday, the company announced it planned to cut its fourth-quarter dividend—but the implosion of Lehman Brothers may end up putting an extra $21 million in the coffers of his company, SL Green. Last week, SL Green filed suit against Lehman's commercial banking arm for failing to provide his firm with a loan after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. Doesn't compute? Allow us to explain.
Yesterday, we mentioned in passing that Regis Philbin's son and daughter-in-law had told the National Enquirer that they were destitute, barely had enough food to eat, and had been turned down when they approached Rege for financial help. Could there be another side to the story, one that differs from the account in the nation's most trustworthy and reliable news publication? We have no idea, really, but Daniel Philbin, Regis' son, did contact us out of the blue yesterday to share a few additional thoughts on his famous father. His reply after the jump.
Diane von Furstenberg turns 62 today. Donald Trump Jr. is 31. Actress Bebe Neuwirth is 50. Anthony Hopkins is celebrating his 71st. Val Kilmer is 49. Legendary attorney Joe Flom is 85. Real estate mega-developer Ed Minskoff is turning 68. Donna Summers is 60. Author Nicholas Sparks is 43. Ben Kingsley is turning 65. Gong Li is 43. Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton is 57. And New Kids on the Block alum Joey McIntyre is turning 36.
• Jeremy Piven's latest conquest? A 23-year-old model/bottle waitress at Mansion named Ashley Chontos, who was the first to respond to Piven's late-night text appeal ("Come to my room—whoever responds first gets me for the night") and who, you'll be happy to hear, is standing by her man, even though he's in Bangkok so he can "recover" from "mercury poisoning." [NYDN]
• Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony are supposedly divorcing in a few weeks, or at least that's what the Daily News says. For the time being, though, they seem to be enjoying themselves in Puerto Rico. [E!]
• Mia Farrow's daughter's death may have been been AIDS-related. [NYP]
• Mariah Carey is supposedly in talks to make a Broadway musical about her life and hopes Leona Lewis, Vanessa Hudgens, or Eva Longoria will take on the lead role. [Telegraph]
Frank Bruni's list of the 10 Best New Restaurants of 2008 is online. Here they are: 1. David Chang's Momofuku Ko, 2. Drew Nieporent and chef Paul Liebrandt's Corton; 3. (tie) Scott Conant's Scarpetta; 3. (tie) L'Impero; 5. Dovetail; 6. Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Matsugen; 7. Adour Alain Ducasse; 8. Daniel Boulud's Bar Boulud; 9. Allegretti; 10. Mia Dona. [NYT]
• Both retailers and editors are scaling back plans for the couture shows in Paris in January. Anna Wintour, however, will not be deterred. [The Cut]
• A list of 2008's "ubiquitors." [WWD]
• Designer Ted Lapidus is dead at 79. [Guardian]
• The movie about the Bruni-Sarkozy love affair will only air in France, alas. [Style.com]
• A former YSL makeup artist has slapped the company with a discrimination lawsuit. [WWD]
• Tough times: the CEO of Liz Claiborne is forced to fly commercial. [WSJ]
• Did you miss The City? You didn't miss much, but Whitney Port has posted her very own recap, if you're interested. [Celebuzz]
Two more victims of Bernie Madoff's giant Ponzi scheme: Kevin Bacon and his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, reports New York's Daily Intel, news that Bacon's publicist confirmed today. But there's good news for one other Madoff victim: Crain's reports that Yeshiva University, which previously indicated it had lost $110 million as part of the scam, now says it "only" lost $14.5 million, an error the school attributes to "fictitious numbers provided to it by Ezra Merkin."
• Jim Lahey's Co., backed by JGV and Phil Suarez, opens Friday. [Eater]
• City Winery is hosting (another) sneak preview from 6 to 12 tonight. [Eater]
• At Vermilion's going all out tomorrow night with a seven-course menu. [TFB]
• A guide to food shopping along 14th Street. [Urbanite]
• Margaret Palaca Bakes in Cobble Hill is closing. [BP]
• Just a few of the spots mentioned on The City last night: Nero, Cafe Noir, Thom Bar, Extra Virgin, Tenjune, and Philippe. [Metromix Twitter]
