Andre Balazs may be having trouble filling rooms at his collection of boutique hotels and his Standard NYC will open this week without a lucrative bar or room service operation in place, but it seems he's come up with a new way to keep the cash flowing: He's unveiled a series of limited-edition Standard T-shirts. Balazs commissioned three artists to design the $55 tees, and they're now on sale in the lobby of his hotels as well as on the Standard website. [notcot.com]

♦ The Tribune Co. is now hovering dangerously close to bankruptcy. [NYT]
♦ Media companies have let 30,000 people go thus far this year. [AdAge]
♦ Christie Hefner is stepping down as CEO of Playboy. [Bloomberg]
♦ It's now official: David Gregory is the new host of Meet the Press. [NYT]
♦ The New York Times Co. says it plans to borrow $225 million against the value of its new office building to "ease a potential cash flow squeeze." [NYT]
♦ More on the changes to NBC's executive ranks last week. [Variety]
♦ Ad agencies are bracing for a round of deep cost cuts. [NYP]
♦ Wowowow.com, the site featuring writing by the likes of Liz Smith and Lesley Stahl, has raised $1.5 million from Bob Pittman, among others. [NYP]
♦ Four Christmases was No. 1 at the box office this weekend for a second week in a row. [Reuters]

Maggie Gyllenhaal shopping in the West Village ... Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson saying goodbye to Charlotte Ronson outside the Bowery Hotel ... Gisele Bundchen leaving lunch at Extra Virgin on West 4th Street ... Naomi Watts with a friend outside Think Coffee on the Bowery ... Joan Cusack crossing the street ... Katie Holmes leaving her Village apartment, and later shopping with Suri at FAO Schwartz ... Robert Buckley walking in the East Village ... Ed Westwick and Jessica Szohr heading to the Gossip Girl holiday party at Haven on East 51st ... Victoria Beckham leaving the Donna Karan store in the meatpacking district, and later heading to dinner at Nobu.

Like a depressing microcosm of the problems afflicting the world at large, Miami Art Basel was a shadow of its former wild and ostentatious self and has drawn to a close, leaving debt, hangovers, and photos of Pamela Anderson's ass in its wake. Despite elaborate prevarication from certain onlookers, the combination of thinner crowds, a subdued mood, and desperate discounts left no one in any doubt that the art bubble has truly burst.

Those annoying people who are always smiling and laughing? It turns out that the best option may not be to avoid them: According to researchers from Harvard and the University of California, happiness is genuinely contagious. Weirdly, it's not simply that someone's cheerful mood rubs off on you if you're in their company. The happiness levels of people up to three degrees away in your social network—whom you might not even know—influences your own. So go ahead and start cultivating the charmed and fortunate. Just don't tell any West Coasty types that their New Age babble about good vibes and the transferral of emotional energy might actually be true.

Sorry, fans of scandal-prone political dynasties: "The odds of Gov. Paterson choosing Caroline Kennedy to replace soon-to-be Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in the US Senate are no better than 20-1, a source close to the governor said yesterday." [NYP]

How is the greeting card industry adjusting to the economic downturn? Designers are toning down the glitter ("That's just not the mindset anymore"), and sticking with more traditional colors, like deep reds and greens. Cards with "a lot of shopping bags or gifts piled high" are out. Most depressingly, tacky is back in big way: "The text is deliberately long-winded. Before, cards had shorter, snappier messages. 'Now people want longer copy,' says Rochelle Lulow, creative director of American Greetings' editorial studio. 'During difficult times, we see people wanting to connect on a deeper, emotional level that goes above and beyond.'" [WSJ]

♦ The Georgian mansion at 21 Beekman Place, which was owned by the the late William Rupp and has been at the center of an legal battle for years now, underwent its second price cut last week. Originally listed by Sharon Baum for $25 million in March, it's now down to $15 million. [Cityfile, Corcoran]
♦ Ron Tysoe, the former CFO and vice chairman of Federated Department Stores (now Macy's), has sold his 32nd-floor apartment at the Trump International for $6 million. [Cityfile]
♦ Opera singer Placido Domingo has paid $999,000 for a one-bedroom apartment at 425 East 58th Street. [Real Deal]
♦ Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony have put their Bel Air mansion on the market for $8.5 million. [LAT]

"Vanity Fair is taking over the Four Seasons Grill Room this morning... The magazine is shooting the power lunch hot spot and its regulars for an upcoming piece on the restaurant’s 50th anniversary. Among the regular customers expected to participate in the shoot are Blackstone Group founders Pete Peterson and Steve Schwartzman [sic]; designers Ralph Lauren, Zac Posen and Thom Browne; Martha Stewart; Aby Rosen; Peggy Siegel [sic]; Lazard CEO Bruce Wasserstein; Dolly Lenz; the Edgar Bronfmans, both Sr. and Jr.; former New York mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins; Georgette Mosbacher; Ed Lewis; Tim and Nina Zagat; Leonard Lauder of The Estée Lauder Cos.; Henry Kissinger, and gossips Richard Johnson and Liz Smith." [WWD]

Today is Ann Coulter's 47th birthday. Sadly, since it was only a couple of weeks ago that her jaw was wired shut after an accident, it's unclear if Coulter will get to blow out any candles or eat any birthday cake today. Others celebrating: Teri Hatcher is 44. Sinead O'Connor is turning 42. Lost's Dominic Monaghan is 32. Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is 34. The Allman Brothers' Gregg Allman turning 61. Mike Mussina is 40. David Carradine is 72. Jackass co-creator Jeff Tremaine is turning 42. And Kim Basinger is turning 55, although she probably won't be getting any warm birthday wishes from Alec Baldwin.

♦ Mary-Kate Olsen was "acting very oddly" during her stay in Miami for Art Basel. After getting into a fight with Kirsten Dunst at a party at the Delano on Wednesday night, MK—who "looked like she had not brushed her hair in a week"—spent the weekend drinking, chain-smoking, and hanging out with boyfriend Nate Lowman, which means she's probably not pregnant. [P6, P6]
♦ Lindsay Lohan went to a party for Milk without Samantha Ronson last week, where she was spotted nuzzling with Sean Penn. [Fox 411]
♦ Amy Winehouse's husband Blake Fielder-Civil is reportedly threatening to write a tell-all book about Winehouse unless she gives him $1.7 million in the divorce settlement. [NYP]

♦ Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain is tangling with the bank's board over a $10 million annual bonus he says he deserves for "saving" the firm and selling it to Bank of America. [Reuters]
♦ Ken Griffin's Citadel is closing up shop in Tokyo. [Bloomberg]
♦ UBS may be planning to shed another 4,500 jobs. [DB]
♦ Sam Zell's Tribune Co. has retained Lazard to assist the company with a possible bankruptcy filing. [WSJ]
♦ The outlook is increasingly grim for Wesley Edens' Fortress Investment Group: Shares have gone down more than 90 percent this year. [NYP]
♦ Plenty of problems also face Leon Black and his Apollo Management. [NYT]
♦ But it's been a good year for hedge fund manager Jim Chanos, despite the whole Ashley Dupre thing. [NYM]
♦ Stocks are expected to gain big today with the news of an auto bailout. [CNN]

Please direct your tawdry gossip, useful info, and corrections here.

Few figures on the New York social scene are as ubiquitous (or charming) as Euan Rellie, the Brit-born banker, husband of Lucy Sykes, and veteran man-about-town. So when he sits down with Men.Style.com and shares his list of holiday party tips, you'd be well advised to pay close attention. (After all, he'd better have something to show for his 665 pictures on Patrick McMullan.) After the jump, Rellie's tips on playing the perfect guest and hosting the perfect soirée, including what you should and shouldn't talk about (talking about kindergarten admissions is boring; discussing racism with Spike Lee is dangerous); why people will have more faith in you if you pretend you're British ("there's a spurious credibility that comes from speaking in an accent"); why decor doesn't matter (it's the guest list that counts); and why it's important to make sure lots of pretty girls are there: "Everybody likes pretty girls, from octogenarian aunts to your kids to gay guys to boring married guys." And don't let the grim talk of a recession (including our own) deter you: "When the economy gives you lemons, you'd better be able to twist them into some festive cocktails."

♦ A sensational robbery was carried out at Harry Winston in Paris last night. Robbers—dressed in drag, no less—made off with $108 million diamond rings, gem-studded bracelets and other jewelry, making it one of the largest such heists ever. [AP]
♦ Sofia Coppola is in Tokyo this evening to unveil her new line of accessories for Louis Vuitton. [WWD]
♦ Courtney Cox is the new face of Avon's women's fragrance, Spotlight. [WWD]
♦ "Save Anna" t-shirts have materialized, of course. [Racked]
♦ More on the party last night for Vera Wang's new boutique in Soho. [WSJ]

William Cohan, the banker-turned-author who published The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Freres & Co. last year, has a few details on just how much Bruce Wasserstein's investment banking firm is making off the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. For advising Bryan Marsal, the turnaround guru who is now running what's left of Lehman, Lazard is collecting $400,000 a month for the next two years (and then $150,000 a month thereafter). But there's more: Lazard is also getting a $5 million fee for the week's worth of work it did in September advising Lehman on the sale of its headquarters at 750 Seventh Avenue to Barclays. Wasserstein is also expected to receive another $5 million for its efforts to sell Lehman's investment-management businesses, including Neuberger Berman. And there's good reason to assume that Wasserstein is sitting back right now smiling at his current circumstances, says Cohan:

♦ Today marks the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. Here's a look at some of the city's former speakeasies. [NewYorkology]
♦ Noah Tepperberg says he plans to move ahead with his new lounge, despite not getting Community Board approval. [GS]
♦ Changing seasons: Park Avenue Winter has arrived. [Eater]
♦ Mayor Bloomberg usually treats reporters to a holiday meal at Gracie Mansion. This year it costs $45 and it's at Chinatown's Golden Unicorn. [P6]
♦ Tips on how to gain access to the "secret" bar below Little Branch. [DBTH]
♦ Anita Lo shows off the new interiors at Bar Q. [GS]
♦ Fans of Padma Lakshmi: She'll be at the Whole Foods Bowery tomorrow. [GS]

Confidential to Liz Smith: We're thinking it probably isn't the best idea to start off any of your FoxNews.com video segments by describing the New York Times as "staid" and "old." Sure, the Times was founded way back in 1851, but that means it's just 72 years older than you are. Click on the video to see the clip for yourself.

Andre Balazs' long-awaited Standard NYC is opening its doors beginning on December 10th with rooms starting out at just $195 a night. The catch? Construction on the hotel hasn't been completed as of yet, so guests will probably have to dodge a bit of dust and debris for the first few weeks. Oh, and room service won't be available when the hotel opens, although Balazs promises that "guests will receive an in-room binder consisting of our favorite local restaurants which will provide delivery service." At least tourists can be grateful that the Standard won't be slipping them under their doors.

WWD reports that Barack Obama plans to wear a union-made tuxedo by Hart Schaffner Marx to the inaugural balls on Jan. 20. Well, at least one important decision is out of the way! [WWD]