Ryan Adams turns 34 today. Yankee Johnny Damon is 35. Celebrity economist Jeffrey Sachs is celebrating his 54th. Art Garfunkel is turning 67. Actress Tatum O'Neal is 45. Kevin Jonas of the Jonas Brothers turns 21. Famke Janssen is 43. Author Joyce Maynard is 55. Actress Tilda Swinton is turning 48. Sam Rockwell is 40. And Kris Jenner, the woman who you can thank for bringing Kim Kardashian into this world, is 53.
♦ You weren't the only one who stayed up to watch election results. Brad Pitt and Oprah watched the festivities from Grant Park in Chicago. Harvey Weinstein had a party at Public House attended by James Franco, Josh Lucas and Jessica Alba. Robin Williams and Billy Crystal watched Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert live. And in LA, Courteney Cox and David Arquette hosted an Obama victory party attended by Jennifer Aniston, John Mayer and Sacha Baron Cohen, among others. [R&M, E!]
♦ Star is standing by its Jennifer Aniston pregnancy story. The mag claims she's undergoing fertility treatments so she can get pregnant by her 40th birthday in February. [Star]
♦ Are Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes planning to have another baby? [OK!]
♦ Stock futures were down on Wednesday morning as investors focused on the challenges facing President-elect Obama. Yesterday's gain, however, was the largest Election Day rally in 24 years. [Reuters, NYT]
♦ The former chief risk officer at Bear Stearns is now a senior official at the Fed where he's part of the division that supervises U.S. banks. [DB]
♦ US companies cut 157,000 jobs in October. [Bloomberg]
After the jump, video of the crowd in Grant Park reacting to the news.
You've waited two years for this (or maybe you haven't), but if the thought of watching the election returns at home tonight depresses you, rest assured that nearly every bar or restaurant in the city will be tuned into the coverage. Many will be offering silly drink specials and silly live performances, too! After the jump, a long list of events at a bar or restaurant near you where you'll be able to celebrate or mourn, depending on what happens.
♦ Unlike the Marc Jacobs store window in LA, which is mocking Sarah Palin, Henri Bendel's display is bipartisan, with mannequins flanked by red and blue polling booths. In more other Marc news, you can add his "Rock and Roll Circus" holiday party to the list of festivites that have been cancelled due to the economic downturn. [WWD, WWD]
♦ Madison Avenue is "pockmarked" with vacant storefronts, reflecting "sky-high rents and how cautious and dollar-conscious European and American brands have become in their expansion plans." [WWD]
♦ Donna Karan is opting not to spend money shooting an ad campaign for spring '09; instead, the company will just use images from the runway show. If this is going to be a trend, models and photographers might want to consider a side job. [The Cut]
Oprah has been busy planning what to wear to Barack Obama's inauguration. In fact, she says she's been making her plans since she met up with Michelle Obama, Caroline Kennedy, and Maria Shriver back in February: "I created a vision board. I had never had a vision board before. I came home, I got me a board and put Barack Obama's picture on it and I put a picture of my dress I want to wear to the inauguration." [Stylewatch]
Looks like it's the end of the line for financier Henry Silverman and his wife Nancy. David Patrick Columbia hears the former Blackstone honcho and Realogy CEO is splitting up with his wife to "taste the wines of youth," if you catch his drift. "This would be, I would imagine, a very expensive divorce." [NYSD]
♦ Election returns may set TV viewing records tonight, assuming there's some "suspense." [AP]
♦ What's been on cable news channels all day? Mindless talk and speculation, for the most part. [TV Decoder]
♦ It's possible the networks will call the election before the polls close. [THR]
♦ Some of the high-tech wizardry in store tonight: CNN plans to feature 3D "holographic images" of the network's remote correspondents in its New York studio. [WSJ]
♦ More trouble for tabloid kingpin David Pecker: John Miller, AMI's chief operating officer, has resigned. [NYP]
Dan Rather won't be covering the election tonight for a major American network. The longtime CBS News anchor, who remains embroiled in a $70 million lawsuit against his former employer, signed with the French cable network Canal Plus a few weeks ago to provide election commentary to French television viewers. Supposedly he'll be on the air this evening to cover the returns and he'll return tomorrow to offer up some post-election analysis. (It's unclear how his "Ratherisms" will play with audiences on other side of the Atlantic.) But in the meantime, you can take a look at this clip which has been touting his arrival on French TV in recent days. It's in French, but the opening introduction is priceless: "In the United States, he's as well-known as Mickey [Mouse], as popular as Elvis."
Hope you weren't too excited about those rumors of an Apple store opening on West 34th Street. It's no longer in the works. Despite the fact that Apple has been paying $5.9 million in rent for the space since 2006, Apple chief Steve Jobs has apparently decided that the location across from the Empire State building is a little too low-class: "One source said he looked at a run-down building across the street and said, 'This is not for Apple.'" [NYP]
Jessica Alba in Soho pushing baby Honor ... Kate Winslet hailing a cab in the meatpacking district ... Robin Williams arriving at his hotel on Central Park South ... Blake Lively and Penn Badgley getting in a car after eating brunch in the West Village ... Ryan Reynolds walking by himself ... Kim Raver taking a lunch break on the set of Lipstick Jungle ... Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, and daughter Violet shopping for toys, and later getting in an SUV outside Matt Damon's apartment on Lafayette Street ... Paris Hilton, Ricky Gervais, and Elvis Costello posing in front of Letterman ... Keira Knightley on the set of her new movie in the meatpacking district ... country singer Clint Black leaving his hotel ... and Liev Schreiber, Naomi Watts, and baby Alexander going for a walk.
