It was once thing when politicians and members of the media were haranguing Goldman Sachs over its plans to pay out massive year-end bonuses. But now shareholders are getting into the act, too, a move that shows "how anger over its big-money culture is spilling into the ranks of investors who typically shy away from debates over Wall Street pay." Naturally, these giant mutual funds aren't speaking up on principle. (They'd like to benefit a bit more from the firm's record earnings.) And whether they really plan to do anything about it is up in the air. But there's an indication that all the PR troubles that the firm has faced this week—and this may go down as the worst week in the firm's history from a public relations standpoint—are about to vanish instantly.

Ashley Greene leaving The Box last night with Kings of Leon bassist Jared Followill ... Robert Pattinson out and about in the meatpacking district ... John Mayer getting out of an SUV in Times Square ... Brooke Shields shopping in SoHo ... Julian Lennon walking in Midtown with a friend ... Ed Westwick shooting scenes for Gossip Girl on Central Park West ... Cyndi Lauper exiting Roseland Ballroom through the back door ... Anderson Cooper leaving the Ralph Lauren store on his bike ... Taylor Lautner shopping at Calvin Klein ... Josh Duhamel on the set of The Romantics ... Fergie leaving her hotel ... Katie Holmes leaving a Starbucks on Long Island ... and Kim Kardashian shopping with her mom, Kris Jenner.

Did you know that in some relationships there's one person who is really, really neat while the other person is really, really messy, and occasionally this disparity leads to conflict? Thankfully, today's Wall Street Journal is all over this new crisis taking a toll of millions of relationships, and even has some useful advice to share with people coping with such a situation: "Research shows that a little humor goes a long way toward bridging a gap in a relationship." Hope that helps! [WSJ]

• More than a year after listing it for $27.9 million, Tommy Hilfiger has finally found a buyer for his 20,000-square-foot manse in Greenwich. The estate, which is known as Stone Hill, was purchased by the fashion mogul for $18 million in 2005. Now an unidentified buyer is taking it off his hands for $20 million. [WSJ]
• Former Ariba CEO Lawrence Mueller and his wife Mary Kay have gone into contract to sell their condo at 15 Central Park West. The three-bedroom spread, which the couple first listed for $16.5 million in May and reduced to $15.5 million in October, went into contract earlier this week. [Cityfile, PDE]
• Alex Acquavella, the son of top NYC art dealer Bill Acquavella and his heir apparent at the tony UES gallery, has paid $3.9 million for an apartment at 50 Gramercy Park North. The two-bedroom spread features a wood burning fireplace and private terrace, along with views of Gramercy Park. [Cityfile]
• Melvyn Blum, a retired EVP at Vornado Realty Trust, has sold his 28th-floor apartment at the Trump International for $6.4375 million. The buyer is technology executive Sanjiv Ahuja and his wife Anju. [Cityfile]

Yesterday the Daily News seemed to suggest that a run for Senate by Rudy Giuliani was pretty much inevitable. Today? Not so much. The former mayor is now just "mulling" such a bid, the paper reports before going on to quote several of his aides who say the ex-mayor "is not particularly tempted by any public office."

Give Joe Biden a high five. The Vice President of the United States turns 67 today. (Let's all hope he gets through the day without any more accidents.) The oldest member of Congress, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, turns 92 today. Former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton is 61. Mike D of the Beastie Boys turns 44. Joel McHale of The Soup and Community is turning 38. Pat Kiernan of NY1 is turning 41. Actress Sean Young is 50. Bo Derek turns 53. Author Don DeLillo is turning 73. TV anchor Judy Woodruff turns 63. Avant-garde performer Meredith Monk is 67. Tween star Cody Linley turns 20. Former Eagles member Joe Walsh is turning 62. And Mark Gastineau, the retired football star and father of Brittny, is 53. Below: A few folks celebrating birthdays this weekend, including Scarlett Johansson and Tina Brown.

New York City has picked its latest big public art project. And it doesn't involve setting up a water show in the East River or wrapping up Central Park in brightly colored fabric. It's going to be distributing seven million Metrocards with the word "Optimism" printed on the backs. It's cooler than it sounds:

• Dean Poll has a new name for Tavern on the Green if the city loses its legal battle with the LeRoy family: He'll rename it Tavern in the Park instead. [CNY]
• New: Pichet Ong's dessert place in the EV is open; Bobby Flay's second Bar Americain has debuted in Connecticut; and Death & Co. has a new menu.
• The East Side Social Club opens at Midtown's Pod Hotel next week. [GS]
• Michael Bloomberg celebrated his electoral win with a trip to Paris last weekend and a fancy meal at a fancy restaurant by the Seine. [NYT]
• LaGuardia airport hosted a pizza-eating contest today for some reason. [BB]
• The producers of Top Chef are at work on a new food show for NBC. The winner of the competition gets to open a restaurant chain. [THR]

The path from socialite to reality TV star isn't an easy one. A pilot rarely leads to a full series. And even if it does, there's no telling what may be required to stir up the necessary amount of drama. (See here and here for a recent example of the lengths some will go.) That certainly hasn't stopped every other member of the social set from seeking out a TV deal, of course. To get a little perspective on the socialite-reality TV madness, Douglas Marshall took a few minutes to chat with power publicist Alison Brod and socialite Emma Snowdon-Jones at last night's Solerno-sponsored screening of Robin Baker Leacock's new documentary, A Passion for Giving, at the Four Seasons.

• It's official: Oprah says she plans to call it quits in September 2011. [ABC]
• Layoffs: The BusinessWeek cuts continue (and include a handful of the mag's more notable names); meanwhile the AP body count now stands at 90.
• Sarah Palin sold 300,000 copies of her book the first day, alas. [TDB]
• Condé Nast and Adobe are teaming up to bring Wired to electronic reading devices. Digital versions of Vogue, VF, and the NYer will follow. [WSJ]
• Vogue's design director is exiting the magazine after a four-year run. [WWD]
• In other Anna news, her de facto stepdaughter, Alexis Bryan Morgan, is leaving the Condé Nast family to take Nina Garcia's old job at Elle. [NYM]
• Cable mogul John Malone isn't happy about the idea of Comcast and NBC teaming up. Meanwhile NBC chief Jeff Zucker is staying mum about the deal.
• Another rumored Playboy bidder is denying interest in an acquisition. [NYT]
• Does Bonnie Fuller's new website stand a chance? [NYP]

Just in case you had doubts that the economy was bouncing back, there's more great news today. Enjoy. [Crain's]

Why is this country so fat and getting fatter by the day? Apparently one reason is that some Americans have yet to figure out that consuming a six-pound bucket of movie popcorn bathed in butter is not healthy. Weren't aware yourself? Make a note of it! [NYDN]

In what may be the clearest evidence yet that New York's real estate market is royally screwed, Ebay is opening a pop-up store on 57th Street tomorrow just a few yards from Louis Vuitton and Bergdorf Goodman. Fortunately, it won't be filled with junk that an old lady in the Midwest has been keeping in her garage for the past two decades. It'll be selling brand-new stuff (like Michael Kors handbags, M.A.C. cosmetics, and Anthropologie dresses), and the company says it will match whatever is spent in the store and donate it to charity. But if the idea of a Ebay store still horrifies you, do remember it's temporary. It will disappear from sight on November 29. [WWD]

Goldman Sachs decided against holding a holiday party this year. Condé Nast revealed yesterday that it plans to proceed with its annual fête, albeit at a slightly less expensive restaurant. Now JPMorgan has weighed in. The party is on this year, which is certainly nice to hear. Not as nice: It will take place in the company cafeteria. [Dealbreaker]

It seems the New York Times only had half the story when it reported earlier that Rudy Giuliani had abandoned plans to run for governor. "A source familiar with Giuliani's thinking" now tells the Daily News that he plans to run for Senate instead and challenge Kirsten Gillibrand in 2010 to fill out the remaining two years of Hillary Clinton's term. "If elected, the source said, he could use that as a stepping stone to run for President in 2012—rather than run for re-election to the Senate." Be afraid. Be very afraid. [NYDN]

Rupert Murdoch called Gov. David Paterson earlier today to apologize for his bizarre comments yesterday in which he suggested the governor was clueless about the political goings-on in New York because he was blind. And Paterson accepted. "Apparently, Paterson was willing to chalk Murdoch's bizarre comments up to a 'random misstatement.'" [NYDN]

There are an estimated one million dogs living in New York City, and the breeds of dogs represented are as diverse as the people who own them. But do certain canines reveal traits about their owner without that person even having to utter a word? We took it upon ourselves to ask Dan Rubenstein—dog behaviorist and co-owner of Spot (formerly The Paw Stop), a dog daycare, grooming, and training facility in Tribeca—to explain what you can glean about a dog owner just by looking at what kind of pup he's walking. Generally speaking, of course. "Owners tend to pick dogs and dog breeds that exhibit personality characteristics similar to their own," Rubenstein says, "although it's not as if they do it consciously." After the jump, Rubenstein sizes up a few popular New York City breeds, descriptions you can compare to one of the boldfaced people who happens to own one.

Rudy Giuliani has decided not to run for governor next year, reports the Times:

Here's some news you'll find disturbing (unless you have a really weird fetish, in which case you won't). It turns out you're more likely to be groped on the subway these days. Complaints of subway sexual abuse are up four percent this year, although arrests are down six percent, according to the NYPD. Manhattan is the worst borough, and the stations at Grand Central Terminal and 14th Street are supposedly the choicest stomping grounds for these miscreants, who are typically most active during the morning and evening rush hours since they love it when the subway cars are crowded. So keep your wits about you. Unless you fall into that other category, in which case you now know where to be and when. [NYP]

Olivia Palermo walking in Soho with her boyfriend Johannes Huebl and dog ... Calvin Klein leaving his apartment building ... Randy Jackson leaving his hotel in Midtown ... Sandra Bullock running errands downtown ... Penelope Cruz arriving at JFK ... Blake Lively filming scenes for Gossip Girl on the Upper West Side ... Alessandra Ambrosio walking around SoHo with a camera crew in tow ... John Malkovich on Madison Avenue ... Uma Thurman walking in the Village ... Miranda Kerr getting out of an SUV ... Katie Holmes on the set of The Romantics on Long Island ... Marion Cotillard arriving at JFK ... and Ed Westwick walking in the West Village with a D'Agostino shopping bag in hand.