Drew Barrymore walking in the West Village ... Alex Rodriguez leaving a workout at the Reebok Gym ... Spike Lee posing for photos outside a hotel ... Julianne Moore carrying a shopping bag ... Kelly Ripa and David Blaine hanging upside down in Central Park for a Live segment ... Blake Lively and Leighton Meester walking around the Gossip Girl set ... Real Housewives' Alex McCord posing on the red carpet at the Metropolitan Opera season opener ... Actor Mark Ruffalo holding hands with his wife as they cross the street ... Natasha Bedingfield and Caroline Rhea leaving ABC Studios in Midtown ... and Chris Rock and Lance Armstrong outside the David Letterman show.

As New Yorkers enter an era best characterized by that old Chinese curse "may you live in interesting times," it's only appropriate that people will want to take control of their lives, and their finances, in the most rational and reliable way possible. And how better to do that than by asking a clairvoyant or tarot card reader to prognosticate on which job to take and how to usefully diversify one's investment portfolio? According to the Times, psychics are "experiencing a boom in business linked to deep worries about money," especially from financial sector employees. Hey, gazing into a crystal ball will yield information at least as helpful as whatever the economic futurists employed by Wall Street firms have been saying.

♦ Jewelery designer Barry Kieselstein-Cord, the ex-husband of Cece and father of former "It" girl Elizabeth, has sold his Lexington Avenue mansion, known as the Parge House (left), for $23 million. Cord purchased the seven-bedroom townhouse for $3 million in 2008 and first put it on the market for $23.5 million in 2006. (You can see the photos here.) The buyer is listed on property records as Lex 65 LLC. [Cityfile]
♦ Filmmaker Anja Murmann paid $2.6 million for a loft in SoHo. The three-bedroom space on 451 Broome Street was purchased from Chelsea Art Museum founders Jean Miotte and Dorothea Keeser. [Cityfile]
♦ Asian art dealer Michael Weisbrod's Westhampton mansion, which was previously on the market last year for $9 million, is now being handled as a bankruptcy sale, with an asking price of just $6 million. [Newsday]

Last Friday we were told that alcohol sales have shot up on account of the Wall Street meltdown. Today another totally obvious angle to the financial crisis is explored, one that explains what the people who haven't been getting wasted have been doing with their free time: They're in church! Yes, brief interviews with a handful of local clergymen seems to suggest that New Yorkers are now turning to God for comfort and consolation. Reverend Mark Bozzuti-Jones of Trinity Church says he's seen a upturn in visitors over the past week and says the church is now putting together workshops and seminars with titles like "Coping with stress in an uncertain time" and "Navigating career transitions."

You won't find a big grin on Dan Rather's face today. Yesterday a judge threw out two of the four remaining claims that are part of the newsman's $70 million lawsuit against CBS, including the most serious allegation, that the network committed fraud for "falsely promising to help restore his reputation." Rather still plans to press ahead with the his less-serious charges of of breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. And the disappointing development didn't seem to put off his lawyer. He told reporters that the case is "still alive" and the breach-of-contract claim would be a "slam dunk." [NYP]

Scientists have devised a new test that will tell you whether or not you're a shopaholic. This sounds like great news—wouldn't it be useful to know if that afternoon spent at Barneys was a necessary revamp of your fall wardrobe or the sign of an awful addiction?—except the "scientists" in this case are actually marketing professors, and the "test" is a survey in the manner of "Is Your Romance Headed for Marriage?"

Joel Klein may be preparing to run for mayor, says Azi Paybarah of the Observer. It seems the Schools Chancellor "has been talking to political consultants who have laid out a road map for a potential mayoral candidacy." [NYO]

This probably isn't the news that enviromentalists wanted to hear: After an embarrassing investigation turned up evidence that the London branch of Nobu was serving endangered bluefin tuna, Nobu's general manager Richie Notar (left) now says the sushi chain will list which dishes contain the endangered species on the menu. It will be up to customers to "decide whether to order the fish despite environmental qualms, or to choose a 'greener' alternative." Why not take bluefin off the menu entirely? Notar says that was what he wanted to do, but "the move was being resisted by the chain's Japanese chefs." (And you never go up against a sushi chef, especially if he has a knife in his hand.) Just in case you're wondering if this means that Nobu might add other endangered species to the menu with a similar disclaimer, you needn't worry. "Mr. Notar said he would not serve chimpanzee and tiger meat, because it was illegal, but while bluefin remained legal, there was a "ludicrous situation" where some said it was unethical to serve it but Japanese fishmongers said it was a well regulated trade. "I would love to see a law because then there is no grey area." [Telegraph UK]

So many important people in the city, have you noticed? They're all on hand for the opening session of the UN General Assembly, of course, which is why you can't move three inches in a taxi in less than 10 minutes and why a trip to your local coffee cart requires you to wait as a motorcade of 19 vehicles passes by first. Yesterday Nicolas Sarkozy bounced around from event to event. Of course, no one had the slightest interest in the French president; all eyes were on his wife, Carla Bruni and the outfits that she unveiled almost hourly.

Bruce Springsteen has been collecting praise for nearly four decades now; in a few short years, he'll be collecting social security, too: Bruce turns 59 today. Others celebrating: Hedge fund manager (and Chelsea Clinton's boss) Marc Lasry is 49. Jermaine Dupri is turning 36. Playwright and director George C. Wolfe is 54. Seinfeld (and pretzel commercial) star Jason Alexander is 49. Writer Joshua Foer (and brother of JSF) is turning 26. Ani DiFranco is 38. Actor Mickey Rooney turns 88. And singer Julio Iglesias celebrates his 65th birthday today.

Mayor Bloomberg is thinking about raising property taxes by 7 percent beginning in January. Great timing, huh? But don't say Mike didn't warn you! "Perhaps to soften people up for a tax hike, the mayor has referred to the need to find new revenue sources at least three times in the last week, most recently during his radio address on Friday." [NYT]

♦ Samantha Ronson refused to DJ an event at Rubyfruit, allegedly because she doesn't spin at gay or lesbian bars. Her rep, of course, denies this. [P6]
♦ David Spade didn't turn up at Eric Trump's charity golf tournament in New Jersey last week because he thought it was taking place at Trump's LA course. [P6]
♦ An Atlantic City monsignor wants his name added to the list of Raffaello Follieri's victims. He says he gave the Italian playboy $110,000 because Raffaello said he needed the funds to pay some nuns. [NYDN]
♦ MTV has finally confirmed Whitney Port's Hills spinoff. It will begin airing in early 2009. [E!]
♦ How exciting! Mike Bloomberg will become an honorary citizen of Tbilisi, Georgia tomorrow night. [P6]

♦ The markets were down sharply yesterday as investors worried about the government's $700 billion bailout and lawmakers squabbled over the specifics. More will be revealed today when Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and SEC chair Christopher Cox discuss the plan in more detail in front of the Senate. [NYT, WSJ, WSJ, Marketwatch]
♦ The SEC's new short-selling rules have been generating plenty of questions and complaints the past few days. Now the SEC plans to revise a number of the rules. [Dealbook, WSJ, NYP]
♦ Nomura is close to acquiring the European operations of Lehman Brothers, a day after the Japanese bank snagged Lehman's Asian operations for $225 million. [WSJ]
♦ The Times' Sorkin: "Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr.'s $700 billion proposal to bail out Wall Street is both the biggest rescue and the most amazing power grab in the history of the American economy. [NYT]

♦ On the heels of her PBS culinary show and appearance on Oprah last week, Gwyneth Paltrow is launching a new "lifestyle website" called Goop. "Read something beautiful. Treat yourself to something. Go to a city you've never been to," reads the site's mission statement. Of course, it's a lot easier to spend your days reading novels, shopping at fancy stores, and traveling to exotic places when you're as rich and famous as Gwyneth Paltrow. [The Daily]

Today is the first day of fall. But the folks at Target are thinking ahead: the Brooklyn location has already set up its display of Christmas decorations. [Gothamist]

♦ Restaurants are adjusting to the economy by lowering prices and offering coupons. Coupons? Things are worse than we imagined. [NYM]
♦ A handy map of the bars on Bowery. [DBTH]
♦ An armed robber stole $7,000 from Dylan Lauren's Dylan's Candy Bar this weekend. [NYDN]
♦ Rocco DiSpirito is happy to talk about the chicken minestrone he's downing by the quart to get ready for Dancing with the Stars. He's a little less eager to talk about his "primping regimen." [TONY]
♦ Cain is either shutting down this Friday or just closing temporarily for renovations. [DBTH]
♦ Sam Talbot may move from Montauk to his own restaurant in Chelsea in the near future. [Bottomless Dish via GS]

Fashion companies will be delighted to hear that while demand for their $5,000 purses may be waning a little, expensive perfume is enjoying a renaissance as a means for women to broadcast that they have too much time and/or money on the hands. Rare and expensive fragrances are growing in popularity as "perfumistas," who obsess on blogs like perfumeposse.com, compete for hard to find brands, to the extent of traveling to different countries to track them down.

If you cashed in during the boom times by taking shortcuts—or you made a fortune during the credit crisis by spreading misinformation—and you're wondering what your life will be like in a few years after the government investigation is complete and you're facing an indictment as long as your arm, you'd be well advised to take a look at the article in the Times today about Alberto Vilar, the disgraced financier who once presided over Amerindo Investment Advisors. Once worth $1 billion and one of the largest donors to the Metropolitan Opera (the Met later ripped out the plaque with Vilar's name on it after he was indicted), Vilar hasn't found much peace in the three years since he was first accused of fraud.

Manhattan real estate prices haven't dropped substantially yet, but appraisers say apartment owners can expect the trifecta of doom—job loss, tight credit, and a weak dollar—to hit with full force by 2009. Just what you wanted to hear, we're sure. [WSJ]

♦ Vanity Fair's Dominick Dunne was taken to a Las Vegas hospital today after he fell ill while watching the O.J. Simpson trial. [AP]
♦ People.com passed TMZ last month for the first time with 11.5 million visitors, thanks to pics of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's newborns. [WWD]
♦ Hard to believe it if you've been watching the news this past week, but financial journalists say they're "parsing their words with unusual care." [NYT]
♦ MTV has given the greenlight to a "sex-themed series for teens and their parents" featuring Dr. Drew Pinsky. [THR]