Remember those protests outside AIG last fall? Those angry hearings in Washington? The bus trips to visit the suburban homes of AIG executives. The populist anger has subsided a good deal since then (even if the bill to bail out the firm has gone up), which is probably why five AIG executives are now threatening to quit the company if their pay is cut by Washington. [WSJ]
Blake Lively and Penn Badgley arriving at the SNL after-party at Abe & Arthur's ... Whitney Port showing up at the same party a little while later ... Karolina Kurkova walking downtown with her husband and baby ... Sienna Miller standing outside Jude Law's apartment ... Jessica Simpson getting out of an SUV in front of her hotel ... Matthew Broderick walking son James to school in the West Village ... Cate Blanchett putting packages inside an SUV outside her apartment building ... Isabella Rossellini crossing Central Park West ... Emily Blunt shooting scenes for The Adjustment Bureau ... Jude Law leaving his apartment ... and Andrea Bocelli leaving the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
• It looks like Richard Gere has finally unloaded his spread at Julian Schnabel's Palazzo Chupi. The 3.500-square-foot space, which Gere bought for $13 million in 2007 and listed for $17.995 million in 2008, has reportedly sold for $12 million to an unidentified buyer. [NYT]
• John Novogratz, a senior managing director at Millenium Partners and the brother of fellow financier Michael Novogratz, has paid $3.44 million for a 4,400-square-foot apartment at 39 Vestry Street. [Cityfile]
• The penthouse duplex at 1020 Fifth has undergone a $5 million price cut. The 7,000-square-foot apartment, which is owned by heirs to the Kress retail fortune and first went on the market for $46.5 million in 2008, was reduced to $39 million in January. It's now listed for $34 million. [NYT, Corcoran]
Actress Ellen Burstyn is 77. Famed financier Michael Steinhardt is turning 69. Musician Tom Waits turns 60. MIT linguistics professor, author, and activist Noam Chomsky is 81. Actor Jeffrey Wright is turning 44. NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens turns 36. Retired basketball great Larry Bird is 53. And actress Jennifer Carpenter turns 30. And singer, actor, and Dancing with the Stars reject Aaron Carter is turning 22.
• Rolling Stone is opening a theme restaurant in LA, believe it or not. [LAT]
• The first issue of Bloomberg BusinessWeek hit newsstands today. [NYO]
• MTV's Jersey Shore is off to a very solid start, not surprisingly. [Wrap]
• Entourage has two more seasons left, and then a movie will follow. [THR]
• The NBC-Comcast deal turned into comedy fodder for Conan this week. [NYT]
• Editors at Golf Digest are a bit embarrassed. The headline on the cover of the January issue: "The Top 10 Tips Obama Can Take From Tiger." [NYP]
• The new issue of Vogue Italia is totally dedicated to Twitter. [R29, TC]
• Tom Brokaw and his wife were almost killed in a car crash today, but escaped unharmed. A woman in another car died in the incident. [NYP]
Tiger Woods' major sponsors have been standing by him. But if any of them do part ways with the golfer over his extra-marital dalliances, there's probably a pharmaceutical endorsement deal that could be his. According to a report this morning, Woods and Rachel Uchitel were fond of taking Ambien before getting down and dirty. "You know you have crazier sex on Ambien," Uchitel reportedly told a friend. "You get into that Ambien haze. We have crazy Ambien sex." [Radar]
If you love the fact that local Chinese restaurants shove dozens of menus under your door every day, you're going to be overjoyed by J&R's new marketing campaign. The electronics giant is printing up fake menus advertising its same-day delivery service which it's planning to distribute by having them placed under the doors of unsuspecting New Yorkers. Let's hope this doesn't start a trend. [Copyranter]
Hedge fund kingpin and mega-art collector Steve Cohen should be chilling out at Art Basel Miami right about now, eyeing the overpriced artwork he plans to add to the ridiculous $700 million collection that sits inside his ridiculous Greenwich compound. But it's unlikely the billionaire hedge funder is having a very good day. The painfully embarrassing lawsuit filed by a former employee of Cohen's SAC Capital in 2008—which involves, among other things, sexual harassment, sodomy, female hormones, and forced cross-dressing—has finally been unsealed for all to see. And it's quite a doozy, needless to say. [Dealbreaker]
It's looking less and less likely that Rudy Giuliani will end up challenging Kirsten Gillibrand for her Senate seat in 2010. Two weeks ago, Giuliani aides suggested the ex-mayor would probably announce his candidacy within "the next 48 hours." But there hasn't been any news of a political bid since then, and today Rudy's security firm announced it will be advising Rio de Janiero on its preparations for the Olympic Games in 2016. Rio is one of the world's most dangerous cities, of course. So that should keep him busy for the next six years, no? [NYDN]
Drew Barrymore going to lunch at La Esquina with a friend ... Kate Beckinsale arriving at JFK with her daughter and later sitting on a swing in Central Park ... Naomi Watts leaving lunch at Smile ... Sienna Miller running from photographers outside Jude Law's apartment and later shopping downtown ... Howie Mandel walking in Midtown ... Hugh Jackman playing with daughter Ava ... Wayne Gretzky and wife Janet Jones walking in Midtown ... Meg Ryan leaving ABC after an appearance on Regis & Kelly ... Jessica Simpson getting out of an SUV ... Robin Williams leaving his hotel ... Elijah Wood walking around on Long Island ... and Tito Jackson signing autographs outside his hotel.
Three out-of-work bankers are in for a treat! Steven Land Clothing is looking for a few new faces to represent the brand, and it's decided to turn to the city's pool of unemployed Wall Streeters to fill the positions. There isn't any money involved, unfortunately; the three men will get $500 worth of Steven Land clothing, which means whatever chance they have of landing a new job in finance will probably be shot if they show up in what may be the tackiest clothing you've ever seen (see above). But there's always a dollar or two to be made on eBay! The press release is below.
Because when it comes to massive sex scandals, there is no greater authority on managing your 15 minutes of fame and profiting off your notoriety (or not!), the Post asked Ashley Dupre what she thought of the Tiger Woods saga. "Here you have all these girls accepting gifts, money, trips from Tiger in exchange for sex—all the while knowing he is married," she responded to the paper via text message. "And now they all can't wait to tell their stories in exchange for even more money from the tabloids? And I was the hooker? At least I kept my mouth shut." [NYP]
• Billionaire publishing heir Robert Ziff has gone into contract to sell his condo at the Trump International. The three-bedroom pad on the 41st-floor, which Ziff bought for $5 million in 2001 and first listed for $13 million in July 2008, had been on the market most recently for $11.5 million. [Cityfile, Sotheby's]
• It's been a busy week for John Legend. Not only did he close on the purchase of a one-bedroom condo at 52 East 4th Street for $1.9 million, he also went into contract to sell his former apartment at 72 East 3rd Street. The two-bedroom condo had been listed for $1.195 million. [WSJ, PDE]
• The West Village duplex that Jude Law is currently renting is up for sale—and at a discounted price, too. The 3,498-square-foot apartment at 135 West 4th Street, which comes with 20' vaulted ceilings and a "floating staircase wrapped in chrome," can now be yours for $6.9 million. [Real Estalker, BHS]
• Late fashion designer Abbijane Schifrin's former townhouse on East 19th St. has been chopped in price. The five-story manse, which went on the market for $8.75 million in October, is now $7.995 million. [Curbed, Sotheby's]
Author/socialite Plum Sykes and her twin sister, fashion designer/socialite Lucy Sykes Rellie are turning 40 today. Jay-Z is celebrating his 40th birthday, too. Tyra Banks turns 36. Marisa Tomei is turning 45. Saturday Night Live's Fred Armisen is 43. Actor Jeff Bridges is 60. Ugly Betty's Kevin Sussman is 39. Former porn star Nikki Tyler is 37. And former game show host Wink Martindale turns 75 today. A handful of weekend birthdays are below.
A few weeks back, a rep for Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich informed us that he believed restaurateur Nello Balan was responsible for leaking a phony bill to the media, and he was looking into taking legal action against the shameless publicity-seeker. Abramovich hasn't filed suit against sued Balan—not yet, at least—but someone else has:
Padma Lakshmi turned up on the cover of Page Six Magazine yesterday, and while the cover reads "I like me better naked," those words only appear to apply to the non-pregnant version of the TV hostess and author. (The photo of Padma "draped in delicate gold and gemstone spices" is a year old and was used in an ad for her "food inspired" jewelry line.)
