The silly pranksters at Improv Everywhere just posted their latest stunt: The performance group sent 20 "agents" to JFK to welcome home total strangers with flowers and balloons, cribbing their names from car service signs. More photos and video of the shenanigans here. [Improv Everywhere]

Nevermind that Lipstick Jungle was axed by NBC last week: Brooke Shields thinks the show is doing great! In fact, she says the show has a "huge fanbase," people have been demonstrating their support by mailing NBC chief Jeff Zucker tubes of lipstick, and the only reason the the show is rumored to be on the rocks is because it's "so popular on DVR" that advertisers don't know what to do with it yet. Possibly related: Shields shares a birthday (and astrological chart) with Norman Vincent Peale, the author of The Power of Positive Thinking. [NYO, NYP]

Paris wears the same dresses as Vanessa Hudgens, Vanessa Minnillo [NYDN]

As you've probably heard, the real estate market has softened and developers and apartment owners are getting increasingly desperate as they try to unload condos and co-ops. Real estate scion/Observer owner Jared Kushner has a few tips on navigating the market: "There is nothing too obnoxious you can ask for right now," he advises. "For the first time in a long time, brokers have to earn their commissions." Video of his remarks is to your left. [The Real Deal]

Mayor Bloomberg's plan to slash the city's budget will require cuts at all local agencies. It also means he's going to have to cut 23 people from his own staff if he expects to comply with his own order on "maximum allowable headcounts." If you work at City Hall and the mayor asks you to step out of the bullpen and into his glass conference room, well, don't say we didn't warn you! [NYP]

It looks like the Yellowstone isn't the only members-only club having a hard time making ends meet in these precarious economic times. Founding members of the Core Club, the VIP hangout on East 55th Street founded by Jennie Saunders, have been warned that they may not get back the $100,000 they invested in the club when it first opened in 2005.

♦ Barack Obama's first post-election interview with 60 Minutes (an excerpt is on your left) earned the show its biggest audience in nine years. [THR]
♦ Dan Rather has spent $2 million battling CBS thus far, but it looks like his time and money may finally be paying off. [NYT]
♦ MTV's TRL came to an end yesterday, in case you haven't heard the terribly tragic news. [NYT]
♦ Rupert Murdoch's New York Post appears to have warmed to Barack Obama. "So has Mr. Murdoch gone soft on liberals—or perhaps just reacted pragmatically to Mr. Obama's sizable victory?" [NYT]
♦ The new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, was No. 1 at the box office this weekend. The flick generated $70.4 in its first three days. [Reuters]

Unless you have young sons, you might not be aware that circumcision is on a downward trend, and that the anti-circumcision lobby is gaining ground. Not your problem? Well, it turns out that this issue is suddenly of relevance to everyone: Foreskins are the latest tool in the fight against aging, and we're going to need a constant fresh supply!

Kelly Ripa jogging in Central Park ... John Mayer pulling up to the Bowery Hotel in his Porsche Cayenne ... Natalie Portman sitting down on the set of her new film ... Leighton Meester on the set of a new ad campaign for Reebok ... Philip Seymour Hoffman walking home after having brunch in SoHo ... Russell Brand leaving the Four Seasons hotel on East 57th Street ... Salma Hayek and daugher Valentina standing on the set of 30 Rock ... Debra Messing walking down Madison Avenue ... Katie Holmes leaving her apartment in the East Village ... Jessica Alba filming scenes for her new movie in the Bronx ... and Justin Timberlake arriving at Dos Caminos for the SNL afterparty, which Jennifer Aniston attended, too.

CNN plans to air a documentary on Diane von Furstenberg the day after tomorrow. But it seems the network is having some trouble finding someone who owns one of her wrap dresses from 30 years ago to gush about it on camera: "If you own a wrap dress from the 1970s, write to CNN and tell them where and when you bought it, and what it means to you. Your quote or photo could then be featured on the show. Email revealed@cnn.com." [DVF]

The TSA Does Not Like Your Luggage [BoingBoing]

Mark Cuban, the loud-mouthed tech entrepreneur, short-lived reality TV star, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and occasional blogger, has been charged with insider trading by the SEC. [WSJ, NYP, Dealbreaker]

♦ Lenny Kravitz has slashed the price of his SoHo penthouse yet again. Most recently listed for $18.75 million, the loft on Crosby Street is now on the market for just $14.995 million. [Curbed, Corcoran]
♦ Hedge funder Scott Bommer and his wife Donya are looking to unload another eight-figure apartment. The Bommers set records when they paid $46 million for a co-op at 1060 Fifth in January and then sold it for $48.5 million a few months later. Now they've put their 29th-floor apartment at the Ritz-Carlton on the market for $35 million, less than four months after purchasing it for $28.5 million. [NYT, Corcoran]
♦ Sundance Film Festival co-director Geoffrey Gilmore and film producer Julie le Brocquy have paid $2.475 million for a three-bedroom condo at 25 Central Park West. [Cityfile]

Brooke Astor died last year at the age of 105. If you looked at the papers with any regularity in the months that proceeded and followed her passing, you're probably familiar with the controversy involving Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, who was accused of neglecting his dying mother, forcing her to change her will, and plundering her estate. New details surrounding Astor's final days are now emerging with the publication of Mrs. Astor Regrets by Meryl Gordon, several passages from which were excerpted in the Post over the weekend.

What could be a nicer way to ease into the week than seeing Chace Crawford's adorable face pout in pseudo-concentration as he applies himself to a fashion quiz put to him by a kindly patronizing lady from Grazia magazine? Chace doesn't get many of the questions—Which are the world's fashion capitals? What is the difference between a wedge and a stiletto? Who is Alexander Wang?—right, which should establish his heterosexuality once and for all. Even if the snugness of his t-shirt and the prettiness of his bangs might beg to differ.

How are champagne manufacturers expected to fare this holiday season now that the economy is in a tailspin? Not well, unsurprisingly. "It's hard to imagine it will be anything other than horrible," says one expert. [AdAge]

There you were thinking that seeing celebrities with ten-piece sets of Louis Vuitton luggage, or people with more money than style attired in outfits emblazoned with Versace medusa heads, was merely an assault on one's fashion sensibilities. But it turns out that fashion emblems may be worming their way into our consciousness and influencing our behavior without us even knowing about it. Rob Walker reports on a study in which subjects were more likely to choose a certain brand of bottled water after being shown photos of people drinking it, even though they weren't aware of having noticed the brand.

John Mack probably won't be celebrating much this year given the financial crisis, but the Morgan Stanley CEO turns 64 today. Also turning 64 on this Monday: SNL creator Lorne Michaels and Danny DeVito. Martin Scorsese is celebrating his 66th. Lauren Hutton is 65. Howard Dean turns 60. Former MTV House of Style host Daisy Fuentes is turning 42. Drag performer RuPaul, is turning 48. Isaac Hanson, of the Hanson brothers, turns 28. In the weddings department, hotelier Ian Schrager tied the knot with another former ballerina on Saturday night named Tania Wahlstedt. And Rob Speyer, the president of Tishman Speyer and son of real estate billionaire Jerry Speyer, married Anne-Cecilie Engell over the weekend.

♦ Is Kate Hudson trying to steal Alex Rodriguez away from Madonna? She was spotted with her "arms completely wrapped around" him at a party in Miami this weekend. But she might just be trying to steal Jason Statham away from his girlfriend, since the two were seen downing dirty martinis together. [NYDN, P6]
♦ A PETA activist pelted Lindsay Lohan with a bag of flour at an event in Paris on Saturday. Sam Ronson responded by dissing the activist on MySpace: "My dog is far more civilized than that person." [People]
♦ Kanye West was arrested in London on Friday after an altercation with a photographer. Now he's suggesting the entire episode was "bogus," and has upset some Brits by comparing himself to Princess Di. [People, The Sun]
♦ Sarah Palin may collect a $7 million advance if she writes a book. [MSNBC]

♦ Goldman Sachs' seven most senior execs have decided to forgo their 2008 bonuses. The move was simply "the right thing to do," said a Goldman spokesman. [WSJ, NYT]
♦ JP Morgan may cut up to 3,000 people, or 10 percent of its global workforce, in the coming months. [Telegraph]
♦ Citigroup's CEO, Vikram Pandit, says the bank plans to eliminate another 50,000 jobs, and cut expenses by as much as 20 percent. [Bloomberg]
♦ UBS reportedly plans to lay off 30 percent of its investment banking division. [Dealbreaker]
♦ Japan has announced that it is officially in a recession. [Bloomberg]
♦ As for the U.S., 96 percent of the economists surveyed in a recent poll believe the economy is in a recession, and nearly three-fourths think it could persist beyond the first quarter of next year. [CNNMoney]