December 14, 1999

CELEBS STOCK UP BY TOUTING .COMS

It's the latest must-have among the celebrity set: the exclusive sponsorship deal with an emerging Internet company. William Shatner got things going when he signed on to do ads for...

HUGE 'NET GAINS BOOST AMERINDO TECHNOLOGY

THE year isn't even officially over yet, but Amerindo Technology Fund has already been dubbed the top mutual fund of 1999 by Lipper Analytical Services Inc. Of course, Amerindo's sitting...

BROOKS BROTHERS TO BE ORPHANED?

Brooks Brothers may soon find itself with a new corporate owner. The British parent of the venerable haberdasher is reportedly on the block and analysts say the money-losing Brooks Bros....

INTERMIX' NATIONAL DESIGNS ; CHIC BOUTIQUE IN EXPANSION MODE

Intermix -- one of New York's trendiest boutiques -- is set to launch a series of stores across the country. Frequented by such high-profile celebrities as Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron...

DEATH TO TCHOTCHKES! BIG RETAILERS EYE TIMES SQUARE

T HE bubbleheads who don't understand the "new" Times Square have even more reason to be confused these days. The chemistry of the reborn "Crossroads of the World" -- where...

SFX HUMS 42ND ST. TUNE

ENTERTAINMENT mogul Robert Sillerman is poised to take over the entire Candler Building -- dramatically boosting SFX's Times Square presence. The move now being negotiated would add a corporate face...

NIKOLAI.COM SIGNS WITH AOL FOR $9M

Nikolai and his toy cat Neow-Neow, the stars of the award-winning children's software, will hit the stage of America Online. Nikolai.com Inc., a Toronto-based children's Internet content and e-commerce player,...

BUD TAKES $20M OF BOWL ADS

Anheuser-Busch is aiming for a superkill on the Super Bowl by running 10 commercials for Bud and Bud Light -- at about $2.2 million a pop. The company will monitor...

TOLINS' 'MEMORY' FAILS

THEATER REVIEW LET me confess. I have always adored Elizabeth Ashley. I don't actually know her -- always the safest route for the rocky road of adoration. Still, even from...

AILEY OFFERS 2 MORE WORTHY NEW WORKS

DANCE REVIEW IT seems almost impossible, but Judith Jamison is now celebrating her 10th season as artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. In Ailey's own tradition, Jamison...

TRAVELER'S UPDATE

Foreign tongue Dining in a restaurant where the menu is written in a foreign language can be intimidating. Worse, when you're dining in the foreign country, and the waiter doesn't...

THE STARR REPORT

The White stuff Expect to see former Ch. 5 anchor Lynn White back on the air early next year. Since leaving Ch. 5 in early November, White has been fielding...

'ACCESS' TO GIVENS YANKED OVER LOVE - TWENTIETH TV WANTS MOTHER OUT OF SIGHT

'ACCESS Hollywood" won't soon forgive Twentieth Television for pulling the rug out from under its planned interview with Robin Givens. "Access" was all ready to sit down with Givens Sunday...

A SHOW AS TIMELY AS TODAY'S HEADLINES

THE New York opening of Marc Wolf's one-man show "Another American: Asking and Telling" couldn't have come at a better time. The play, which opens Thursday at the Theater at...

B.I.G.'S LARGER THAN DEATH

BORN AGAIN Notorious B.I.G. 1/2 Bad Boy/ Arista "Born Again" -- the second posthumous release by The Notorious B.I.G. -- isn't so much a dead man's achievement as a monument...

IT'S TIME FOR THE HOLIDAY CHEESE!

"A Crime of Passion" 9 p.m. tomorrow on WCBS/Ch. 2 FIRST, there's something you need to know. I love cheesey TV movies. The cheesier the better. I confess that I...

CURING ARI

AUSTRALIAN general practitioner Mark Eisenberg was born to be a doctor. Little did he know he would someday save his own son. Ari Eisenberg, now 29, was born with Epidermolysis...

SAFRA'S SLEUTH: PI JOE MULLEN SAVED THE REPUTATION OF THE LATE EDMOND SAFRA AND HAS CRACKED MANY A CASE FOR THIS DECADE'S FAMOUS AND INFAMOUS

I HEARD the footsteps. I reached for my gat. No pistolero is gonna take me for a sap. Then I saw her. She had gams all the way up to...

KAUFMAN BIOPIC ECLIPSES MARKETING

HOW do you market a film about the life and unknowable mind of the late Andy Kaufman, the comedy world's most notorious fringe-dweller? You go underground. In keeping with the...

TV'S WACKIEST WEBSITES: CLEVER TV FANS TAKE TURNS TAKING BIG SWINGS AT NETWORK NONSENSE

TV has asked for it. Viewers who want to talk back to their TV sets, never got anywhere yelling at their screen. Now, they can get the word out through...

ANDY CUOMO'S PLEA TO RUDY: RETHINK POLICY ON HOMELESS

DISAGREEING with the man who broke with his party to endorse his father for governor does not come easy to HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo. But yesterday, in a long interview,...

JUSTICE WON'T BE COMPLETE UNTIL SCHWARZ IS FREE

IF I had heard the word "justice" one more time yesterday, I think I would've thrown up. Justice -- God's idea and man's ideal -- crashed and burned in Brooklyn...

EX-CABBY HOPING 'LAST' CHECKER IS YELLOW GOLD MINE

How much would you pay for a 21-year-old car with 994,050 miles on it? Wait. Don't answer. The car is a classic Checker cab from the glory days - a...

JAILED 'OTHER' OFFICER FACES HURDLES

Charles Schwarz -- convicted of being Justin Volpe's accomplice in the Abner Louima attack -- faces an uphill battle to get out of jail, legal experts say. Schwarz must win...

GENE THERAPY TURMOIL: ARE HUNDREDS OF TEST SUBJECTS' LIVES AT RISK BECAUSE OF ONE FATAL MISTAKE?

SUSAN Bottari is worried.The Westchester mother of two fears the furor over the death of Jesse Gelsinger -- who became the first casualty of experimental gene therapy three months ago...

AUTHOR JOSEPH HELLER DIES ; CREATOR OF 'CATCH-22' WAS 76

Author Joseph Heller, whose classic novel "Catch-22" chronicled the insanity of war and gave America a new phrase for an absurdly no-win dilemma, has died. He was 76. The Coney...

COP'S TEEN KILLER GETS THE MAX

Applause and sobs filled a Staten Island courtroom yesterday as teen killing machine Shatiek Johnson got the maximum sentence for shooting a beloved housing cop. The remorseless Johnson -- linked...

DISABLED SCORE MORE SEATS AT YANKEE STADIUM

The city yesterday agreed to spend $5.5 million to make Yankee Stadium more accessible to the handicapped -- while the Yankees spend just $35,000. Under the deal, the city --...

30 YEARS FOR VOLPE IN LOUIMA SEX ATROCITY ; SAFIR LAUDS SENTENCE; PROTESTERS WANTED LIFE

Disgraced torture cop Justin Volpe broke down and begged for mercy yesterday from a federal judge -- who spared him a life sentence but gave him 30 years in prison...

DOCTOR TO LEAD ST. PAT'S MARCH

John Cardinal O'Connor's doctor, Bronx-native Kevin Cahill, was selected yesterday to be grand marshal of next year's St. Patrick's Day Parade. "The best part about this is, I love parades,"...

HEART BABY ON WAY FOR SURGERY

A chance at life is the holiday gift waiting for little Emily Mendoza when she arrives in the United States tomorrow. The U.S. Consulate in Guayaquil, Ecuador, yesterday granted an...

YOU'LL FIND NO HORSY SET AT BLUE-COLLAR 'BIG A'

Each day until Jan. 1, The Post will take a look at one ofNew York's landmarks on the eve of the new millennium.We'll talk to people who work or visit...

AMAZING FEET: INTREPID SCRIBE HOOFS IT TO WORK

IF TRANSIT workers go on strike tonight, millions will wake up tomorrow wondering how they're going to get to work. Many, many will have to walk. To see what kind...

INFO H'WAY IS ROCKY ROAD FOR GEM BUYERS

The Savvy Shopper reveals tips and trends for gift-buying in what is shaping up as the biggest holiday season of the '90s.W ANT to buy your loved one a special...

RENT-CONTROL TENANT SAYS MUSEUM'S FORCING HER OUT

A 73-year-old widow says the Whitney Museum of American Art is playing Scrooge by trying to evict her from an Upper East Side walk-up she has called home for 45...

RAFT BOY'S HOPEFUL DAD: 'U.S. WANTS TO SEND MY KID HOME'

Six-year-old refugee Elian Gonzalez could be on his way back to Cuba soon, the boy's dad said yesterday after meeting for the first time with U.S. immigration officials. "These people...

WHISTLE-BLOWER FURIOUS OVER STROLLER MOM'S SUIT

The tipster who dropped a dime on Annette Sorensen for leaving her baby outside an East Village restaurant is outraged the Danish mom is seeking millions in a lawsuit against...

FATAL-COLLAPSE BUILDER'S B'KLYN APTS. SHUTTERED

A team of city building inspectors swooped down on a Williamsburg apartment complex last night and ordered as many as nine families from units determined to be illegal. Inspectors, targeting...

CREW RIPS 'PATHETIC' SCHOOL-$CAM REPORT

Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew yesterday called Gov. Pataki's report on attendance fraud in city schools "pathetic" -- while Pataki said flagrant abuses have continued even while the probe was ongoing....

BUSH: MCCAIN'S FINANCE REFORM WOULD HURT GOP

WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential front-runner George W. Bush said in an Iowa GOP debate last night that his main challenger's plan to curb big-bucks campaign contributions would hurt his party....

RIDERS FEAR 'MESS' TRANSIT ; BUT TALKS YIELD HOPE FOR AVERTING MIDNIGHT STRIKE

New Yorkers are bracing for chaos as the clock ticks down on a midnight transit strike -- despite "encouraging" progress in negotiations. Gov. Pataki joined Mayor Giuliani yesterday in condemning...

BUSTS MADE IN MIDEAST TERROR PLOTS

JERUSALEM -- Up to a dozen people reportedly have been arrested in the Mideast for planning terror attacks on Americans visiting Christian holy places during the holidays. The suspects had...

RUSSIANS & REBELS BOTH CLAIM CONTROL OF AIRPORT

Chechen rebels said yesterday they had retaken a key airport on the outskirts of the capital Grozny after Russian forces seized it in fierce fighting. But heavy fog shrouded the...

BARAK GETS LUKEWARM SENDOFF

JERUSALEM - Before flying to Washington today for a historic reopening of peace talks with Syria, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak was embarrassed by a bitterly divided Knesset that reluctantly...

SEXGATE TEAM TRIES TO AID TRIPP IN WIRETAPPING CASE

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. - Sexgate prosecutors yesterday went to bat for Linda Tripp - their key informant in the probe of the president - saying her secret taping of Monica...

LUCAS EARNING SHOT AS VINNY'S BACKUP IN 2000

Ray Lucas is looking more and more like he's for real as an NFL quarterback. Lucas, coming off his finest, most consistent performance as a pro in Sunday's 28-20 win...

KEYSHAWN'S 4-YEAR ANALYSIS: NOBODY'S DONE IT BETTER

JET NOTES Keyshawn Johnson yesterday anointed himself as the best receiver in NFL history based on his first four years in the league. Johnson wasn't proclaiming himself the best ever,...

GM CREATING AMAZIN' MESS: METS GOING BACKWARDS

GIVE me a Z. Give me an E. Give me an I. Give me an L. Give me another E. What does it spell? Panic. P-A-N-I-C. Panic. Last winter, Steve...

BIG BLUE CAN SURVIVE SETBACK IN ST. LOUIS

GIANT NOTES The permutations involved with the Giants and their playoff chances are long and involved, but there are some clues that fans can watch in the final three weeks...

RED STORM NEED TO BE RIGHT ON 'Q'

Just before getting off a telephone conference call with reporters yesterday, St. John's coach Mike Jarvis jokingly asked if there were any ideas as to how the Red Storm could...

CAMBY POT STILL BOILING ; DWINDLING PT CONCERNS MARCUS

Despite a Saturday powwow between Knicks' coach Jeff Van Gundy and Marcus Camby, Rick Kaplan, Camby's business manager, yesterday was still trying to defuse the notion that the Knicks' most...

THINGS CAN'T GET WORSE AT MARSEILLES

LONDON -- Marseilles is a club that is cursed, no doubt about it. Its current misfortunes are only the latest in a long line of disasters that began in 1993,...

PINSTRIPES DUMP CURTI$ ON TEXAS

ANAHEIM -- The Yankees completed half of their salary dump yesterday when they traded Chad Curtis to the Rangers for two prospects. Now, they will heighten efforts to move Hideki...

TURKCAN'S KNICK DAYS NUMBERED

KNICK NOTES Knicks rookie forward Mirsad Turkcan likes Manhattan and has developed a budding friendship with reclusive Patrick Ewing. But his bond with Patrick isn't enough to make him accept...

FASSEL'S APOSTLES ; JINTS KEPT FAITH IN VISIONARY LEADER

They were done, finished, buried. They were sinking, descending into a losing spiral that leaves behind the carnage of griping, dissension and the inevitable countdown of a coach's days being...

WADLEIGH KICKS OFF KANGAROOS

Wadleigh 62 Boys & Girls 59 Boys & Girls' guard Lee Church heaved the ball from beyond halfcourt just before the buzzer sounded. The ball fell well short and Wadleigh...

DEVIL RAYS SHOW VAUGHN THE MONEY

ANAHEIM -- In the course of one day, the normally static Devil Rays transformed themselves into a home-run derby force. It remains to be seen if that is a good...

NEILSON WEARING BRAVE FACE, SMILE

PHILADELPHIA -- To not coach? Now, that would surely kill Roger Neilson. But incurable bone-marrow cancer? He'll take his chances. Neilson believes not only has he dealt with locker-room cancers...

NO SHOCKER DANNY'S HOME ON THE AINGE

LET THEIR records show, the combined victory total this season of P.J. Carlesimo, Brian Hill and Chris Ford -- the Western Conference's three imminently delete coaches -- is an equally...

ROCKIES SKY HIGH AFTER FOUR-TEAM TRADE

ANAHEIM -- The joke about Tampa Bay GM Chuck LaMar is he has a no-trade clause in his contract. Since the November 1997 expansion draft, he had not made a...

GUTTY LIONS CAN'T CLOSE DEAL VS. SETON HALL

Seton Hall 60 Columbia 58 Sometimes, sports isn't fair. Some nights things like heart and hustle and hunger fall by the wayside like an errant 3-pointer bouncing off the rim....

GRIFFEY SAYS NO TO METS' OFFER

ANAHEIM -- Ken Griffey Jr. did as he promised -- he rejected a trade to the Mets. GM Steve Phillips, after initially plowing ahead despite hearing Griffey would not accept...

SETON HALL DISCOVERS FAST LANE TO BASKET

Darius Lane knew it all along. And after practicing against Lane all of last season, so did the rest of the Seton Hall basketball team. Now, the Pirates' opponents are...