October 12, 2003

MEET THE MASTERS OF DISASTER MOVIES

"Fire!" "Tornado!" "Earthquake!" "Volcano!" Got your attention? Upstart Hollywood movie production and distribution house Nu Image knows full well single-action words and exclamation points grab the eye. That simple fact...

BULL'S EYE

In-securities American Stock Exchange Chairman Sal Sodano's job security has waned in recent weeks as details of his rich pay deal have begun to emerge. Apparently, the Amex boss is...

MY SEASON OF DISCONTENT ; INSULT HUMOR, INEPT COPS, ICKY REALITY SHOWS - WHY WATCH?

WE'RE just a few weeks into the new season and I have a few bones to pick. So here goes, in no particular order: * I am trying desperately to...

JUSTIN 2.0; BEHIND A TEEN IDOL'S EXTREME MAKEOVER

Justin Timberlake has managed to do what no pop music teen idol has done before - transform himself from a cheesy, manufactured boy-band joke into a legitimate pop star who...

POLLY WANT A NEW IMAGE

Dogs, watch out - man's new best friend could be the parrot. Not only do these colorful, talking birds make devoted pets, but recent strange-but-true news stories have cast them...

STEPPING UP TO PLAY THE FIELD

If, like me, you don't play the field as well as Derek Jeter, would undertaking more dates really result in the big romantic score? It may seem like my love...

HIGH SCHOOL KINK

'Takuya wants to be Satsuki's dog. Satsuki likes to see Takuya cry. Love hurts." So goes the ad for the Japanese shocker "Moonlight Whispers" (1999) - newly arrived on DVD...

HIGH NOTES & LOW NOTES

Just like heaven: Friendster is good at weeding out fakers, so we were curious to find the Cure's Robert Smith on the networking site - or is he? His friends...

GIVE 'EM THE SLIP: THIS FALL, UNDERWEAR BECOMES OUTERWEAR

Marilyn Monroe did it first, wearing a suitcase-worth of sexy lingerie in 1959's "Some Like It Hot." More recently, Nicole Kidman wore an emerald-green slip from Agent Provocateur in her...

SHOPAHOLIC: CAN SOCIALITE/DESIGNER ALEXANDRA LIND ROSE PUT TOGETHER A RED CARPET OUTFIT FOR UNDER $100?

Every year, the Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center hosts a preview party for the International Fine Art and Antique Dealers show (this year on Oct. 16) at the Seventh...

'SECRETS' REVEALS WWII RESCUES

ABSTRACT: Europe, in 1939, was home to 1.5 million Jewish children - only 10 percent survived. The Dutch woman is elderly and frail. She is a Christian who, during the...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Jacksonville Jaguars punter Chris Hunter will be out of action for the rest of the NFL season after slicing his right leg with an ax while hacking at a tree...

KOCH DAMNS DA OVER NORMAN

Former Mayor Ed Koch came out swinging at Brooklyn District Attorney Charles "Joe" Hynes yesterday - calling his treatment of embattled Brooklyn Democratic Leader Clarence Norman "outrageous" and suggesting a...

MASS-MURDER JAILBIRD FLEES

Pennsylvania authorities yesterday were hunting for a suspected serial killer who escaped from a Wilkes-Barre prison by climbing 70 feet down a rope made of bedsheets. Hugo Selenski, a suspect...

NEW SEX ATTACK IN PROSPECT PARK

A sneak attacker sexually assaulted a woman jogger in Prospect Park, fueling fears that the 526-acre park is becoming increasingly unsafe. The 24-year old victim was out for an early...

REPORT RAISING IN-VITRO ANXIETY

Doctors are informing infertile couples about new research linking in-vitro fertilization with a higher risk of birth defects - but they say the data is far too inconclusive to scare...

FUNERAL TEARS FOR CRASH DRIVER

Friends and family gathered to pay their respects to Felipe Mendez, the New Jersey teen killed in a fiery car crash on the West Side Highway last week. The funeral...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

MANHATTAN A 25-year-old man survived an apparent rub-out attempt in Harlem late Friday night when a gunman fired into his vehicle before blasting him twice and running off, cops said...

SYRIA RATTLES SABER OVER ISRAELI RAID

JERUSALEM - Syria and Israel yesterday ratcheted up the rhetoric, with Syria vowing to defend itself if attacked again and Israel responding by saying a state that harbored "terrorist organizations"...

GIS NAB KILLER QUARTET IN TIKRIT

U.S. troops arrested four Iraqis yesterday in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, including two men believed to have been part of the deposed despot's security detail. Troops seized AK-47 rifles...

CAMERA COP'S A PEEPING PERV: DA

A Port Authority cop - once credited for helping find a missing 9-year-old boy with Down syndrome at JFK - was arraigned on child sex abuse charges after he was...

OXY OR HILLBILLY HEROIN: A KILLER BY ANY NAME

On the street, it's known as Oxy's, Killers and Hillbilly Heroin. For America's drug-enforcement agents, the powerful painkiller OxyContin has been a growing problem for years. Last week, the opiate...

'ARNIE WAS FAIR GAME'

The Los Angeles Times editor behind the controversial revelations about Arnold Schwarzenegger's groping exploits said the governor-elect was fair game, and the paper has no regrets about an exposé that...

SOX HURLER TOSSES YANK COACH ZIM

The bad blood between the Yankees and Red Sox boiled over yesterday when a beanball by Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez later sparked a bench-clearing brawl during which the hotheaded hurler...

MIKE SET FOR ELEX-OVERHAUL AD BLITZ

MAYOR Bloomberg is gearing up for a last-minute blitz to push nonpartisan elections - just in case opponents of the proposal launch an unexpected attack in the final days before...

MARTINEZ THE PUNK IN A CLASSLESS BY HIMSELF

BOSTON - So you wondered if the Red Sox and the Yankees hated each other with the same passion, the same fervor, the same religious devotion with which Red Sox...

POLS' 'FIX-IT' GUY COPS PLEA

A Staten Island man who spent years on the public payroll with no official duties has pleaded guilty to two charges arising from an incident at a toy store. Daniel...

TEEN BUSTED IN ARSON A REAL FIREBUG

The Queens teen accused of setting the blaze that led to the death of a beloved firefighter, had a flare for fires, law-enforcement sources said. The family of Anthony Santiago,...

WHERE'S THE SECURITY? ; YANK PRESIDENT EXCHANGES BARBS WITH BASEBALL VP

BOSTON - Yankee president Randy Levine and Sandy Alderson, baseball's VP of baseball operations, engaged in a heated, curse-filled argument over the handling by the MLB and Red Sox officials...

FIGHT OVER WAR-VET VENDORS

ALBANY - State lawmakers are looking to give the city the power to limit the number of nonveteran vendors on some crowded streets, The Post has learned. "Key areas of...

AGONY OF DI'S MOM

The heartsick mother of Princess Diana says the royal family sent her headlong into despair when they refused to let her hug her daughter's body in a final goodbye. The...

2 YANKEES MAY GET SLAMMED IN BOSTON

Two Yankees players could face assault charges for brawling with a Fenway Park groundskeeper who went into the Bomber bullpen and rooted for the Red Sox, Boston police said yesterday....

AIR PASSENGER'S MYSTERY DEATH

An Aero Mexico flight from Mexico City bound for Paris was forced to make an emergency landing at John F. Kennedy Airport last night when a passenger had a heart...

ONO, YOU DON'T: MAN SUES OVER YOKO DUDS

A vintage clothier allegedly played mind games with a psychic who once advised John Lennon, taking clothing he got from Yoko Ono for an appraisal and then refusing to give...

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'? IT'S AN AH-NOLD NIGHTMARE

Remember the good old days when you got to throw somebody out of office if you found out that they had molested women, had posed for naughty photos and hung...

COLUMBIA'S KID-SCHOOL ADMISSIONS FLUB

Columbia University is under community pressure to rectify an embarrassing blunder in admissions to its new elementary school. Community Board 7 will hold a public meeting Tuesday night to discuss...

'THIEF' PRIEST CHARGED

A renegade priest who allegedly skimmed $88,000 from the collection boxes of a Long Island church where he celebrated Mass for 25 years was arraigned yesterday for possessing an illegal...

5 STRICKEN WITH DIRE DISEASE

Five Staten Island residents have been stricken a serious illness believed to be encephalitis, City Department of Health officials revealed yesterday. Four of the five patients - who range in...

$UIT OVER YOKO DUDS

A vintage clothier allegedly played mind games with a psychic who once advised John Lennon - taking clothing he got from Yoko Ono for an appraisal and then refusing to...

FUNERAL TEARS FOR CRASH MOTORIST

Friends and family gathered to pay their respects to Felipe Mendez, the New Jersey teen who was killed in a fiery car crash on the West Side Highway last week....

HEATLEY DESERVES OUR PRAYERS, SYMPATHY

COLUMBUS - It is, I believe, possible to condemn Dany Heatley for his reckless behavior behind the wheel of his car without denouncing him as an individual. Good people have...

RUSSIAN TO IGOR'S DEFENSE ; BRYLIN A BIG FAN OF LARIONOV

RALEIGH - Even before two power-play assists in his first game as a Devil, Igor Larionov already had a fan - one of some 15 years and half-a-world away. "When...

MUZZLE-LOADING SEASON IN FALL SPLENDOR

THE leaves already have turned and snow has blanketed some of the higher Adirondack peaks. With these expected turns of autumn comes another rite of fall: New York's big-game hunting...

ISLES WASTE NO TIME CHANGING THINGS UP

BUFFALO - One game into the season, and the Islanders were already changing up the lines and giving younger players a shot to impress Steve Stirling. But the coach maintained...

BURKETT'S UP TO HIS OLD TRICKS

BOSTON - Early yesterday afternoon, John Burkett drove to Fenway Park. On his bicycle. Burkett, by the way, will turn 39 years old next month. But it's clear from his...

PP LOOKS PUTRID ; RANGER POWER PLAY WAS AWFUL IN OPENER

COLUMBUS - This was during the exhibition season of John Muckler's final year behind the Ranger bench. Playing the Red Wings at the Garden, the Blueshirts zipped the puck around...

WELLS RIPS FENWAY ; KA-BOOMER! 'LET ME PUSH THE BUTTON'

"It's becoming pretty vulgar and rude over the last few years that I've been coming here. It's just getting worse."DAVID WELLS BOSTON - The one thing this Yankees-Red Sox series...

AL JAZEERA, GRAY DAVIS AND THE GARDEN

WHEN did Latrell Sprewell's opinion become so hum-drum? When did his feelings become like everyone else's? Submitting the Knick franchise took a sharp turn for the worst when James Dolan,...

KIDD: DON'T STRAND ME ON ISLAND

When Jason Kidd was deciding about his free-agent signing last summer, Nets ownership assured him the team would stay in New Jersey. Now Kidd is hearing otherwise and he admitted...

SPREWELL'S SHADOW STILL LOOMS LARGE

SAY what you want about Latrell Sprewell, but amid the stoic, corporate organization the Knicks have become, he always kept things interesting with his unique blend of passion, performance and...

CUBS' PEN PICKS UP THE SLACK FOR KERRY

NLCS NOTEBOOK MIAMI - With Kerry Wood a tick off Friday night, the Cubs' bullpen (mostly) picked up the slack. Wood was chased with two outs in the seventh inning,...

COWDIN DRAWS FIELD OF THREE

Where have all the 2-year-olds gone? Mirroring the lack of interest in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, which has fallen apart like a cheap suit, today's $75,000 Cowdin Stakes at Belmont...

HURRICANES RALLY ; BANGED-UP MIAMI GETS DEFENSIVE TO DROP FSU

Miami 22Florida St. 14 TALLAHASSEE - For two decades, Florida State-Miami has been a litmus test, a measuring stick after which the winner stands over the vanquished with a clear...

DON TO FANS: BE FAIR TO KEITH

T'wolves 96Knicks 77 Don Chaney called on Knick fans to "be fair" to Keith Van Horn this season. Yesterday, it wasn't. In his Garden debut as a Knick, Van Horn...

HAHN HAMMERS MOUNT

St. Anthony's 42Mount 27 Matt Hahn has been running through defenses for three seasons now at St. Anthony's, but his coach never saw him bull his way forward the way...

1 TO GO FOR CUBS: ARAMIS' 6 RBIS PUT FISH ON BRINK

GAME 4 Cubs 8 Marlins 4 MIAMI - With one tape-measure clout inside the left-field foul pole, Aramis Ramirez put the Cubs into unfamiliar territory, and basically slammed the door...

BELMONT OPEN FOR HOLIDAY

Belmont Park will be open tomorrow with a live 10-race card for Columbus Day, featuring the Grade 3 Pebbles Handicap for three-year-old fillies at a mile-nd an eighth on the...

METS ARE STILL MUM ABOUT GM SEARCH

MIAMI - The Mets yesterday were just beginning to digest a report that Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has been granted permission to pursue the GM opening in Flushing -...

DONTRELLE FINALLY LOOKS LIKE ROOKIE

MIAMI - Aramis Ramirez' first-inning fly ball went up, up, up - just like Dontrelle Willis' ceiling during June and early July. The ball hung up there so high that...

'COWBOY' THROWN OFF ; EMPIRE STRIKES HARDEST IN WILD CLASSIC

COWBOY DOWN. Empire Up. This was an instant classic. Ship the video to the Hall of Fame and show it continuously on the YES Network. Show Pedro the Punk, Zim...

BIG EAST CONSIDERS MILITARY MANEUVER

BOSTON - As the Big East Conference waits to learn if Boston College is ACC-bound, as was reported exclusively last Sunday in The Post, behind-the-scenes discussions focusing on the future...

CONTRERAS DOES JOB UNDER PRESSURE

BOSTON - Jose Contreras is making it look easy in this ALCS against the Red Sox. It is not supposed to be this way, of course. A player's first experience...

MO COMES TO RESCUE ONCE AGAIN

BOSTON - Mariano Rivera had two incredibly difficult jobs yesterday in Fenway Park. He had to work the final two innings in crucial Game 3 of the ALCS and preserve...

ROG EARNS YANK IMMORTALITY

BOSTON - In his last act at Fenway Park, Roger Clemens was more a Yankee than ever. He survived after allowing a two-run first inning against the majors' best offense...

HURRICANE 'D' SWAMPS SEMS

Miami 22Florida St. 14 TALLAHASSEE - For two decades, Florida State-Miami has been a litmus test, a benchmark that leaves the winner standing atop the loser with a clear view...

IGOR'S MADE SOME DIFFERENCE ; LARIONOV PUTS POWER IN PP

Devils 2'Canes 1 RALEIGH - Here's another guy making Lou Lamoriello look good. This improbable time it's 42-year-old Igor Larionov, who wants to take the Devils from worst to best...

PEDRO AND ZIM GO TOE-TO-TOE MARTINEZ DECKS DON, BUT YANKS SCORE KNOCKOUT

GAME 3 YANKEES 4 RED SOX 3 BOSTON - The fiercest rivalry in sports turned very dangerous yesterday as Pedro Martinez tossed Don Zimmer to the Fenway turf and a...

CONFUSED RED SOX HOPEFUL ZIM'S OK

BOSTON - Seeing 72-year-old Don Zimmer go after Pedro Martinez brought about two emotions from the Red Sox: confusion and concern. "It was kind of shocking to me," right fielder...

TWO NIGHTS LATER, EVERYTHING'S GREAT

Islanders 6Sabres 0 BUFFALO - Two nights prior, Steve Stirling was most upset with the Islanders' inability to do the little things necessary to win - or even compete -...

KARIM AT CENTER OF STORM

BOSTON - When Joe Torre inserted Karim Garcia into the Yankees' starting lineup yesterday for Game 2 of the ALCS against the cowgirl Red Sox, the manager said he was...

GETTING UGLY EARLY ; BUMBLING RANGERS EMBARRASSED AGAIN

B-Jackets 5Rangers 0 COLUMBUS - The Hartford area code is 860. Now the question is, a) whether Glen Sather will speed dial it before Thursday night's home opener against the...

MAN, YOU'RE A WIMP! ; GUTLESS RAMIREZ HAS NO DEFENSE

BOSTON - Funny, the tough guy didn't look so tough now. He wasn't spoiling for a fight anymore. It took Manny Ramirez 14 strides to make it from his locker,...

SOX: ROG DIDN'T TRY TO HIT HIM

BOSTON - Pedro Martinez wouldn't talk about his pitch to Karim Garcia, and Manny Ramirez didn't stick around to say much about Roger Clemens' pitch to him. So it was...

YANKEE PITCHING GEMS LOST IN ALL THE FENWAY MAYHEM

ALCS NOTEBOOK BOSTON - Lost in all the extracurricular activity yesterday was a wonderful ALCS Game 3 win by the Yankees. Pedro Martinez tossing Don Zimmer to the ground, Ramirez...

ZIMMER PROVES HE'S HIP

BOSTON - Pedro Martinez thinks he's tough. Don Zimmer proved he's tougher. When the Red Sox and Yankees escalated their rivalry into a gang war, Martinez threw Zimmer to the...

WALKER OK WITH GARCIA'S 'DIRTY' SLIDE

BOSTON - Todd Walker didn't have a problem with Karim Garcia's slide. He had a problem with its purpose. The Sox second baseman was one of several people who was...

FIGHT COULD BRING CHARGES

BOSTON - Only a Red Sox-Yankees battle could produce a fight in the bullpen between a Red Sox employee and Yankees players. That's what happened to start the bottom of...

PAIR OF PITCHING GEMS LOST IN ALL THE FENWAY MAYHEM

ALCS NOTEBOOK BOSTON - Lost in all the extracurricular activity yesterday was a wonderful ALCS Game 3 win by the Yankees. Pedro Martinez tossing Don Zimmer to the ground, Ramirez...

THEY'RE TALKIN' A BIG BLUE STREAK ; JINTS TRYING TO GET VICTORY TRAIN ROLLIN'

FOXBORO - It has not gotten late early for the Giants, but the later it gets without a winning streak in sight, the more likely it becomes that this season...

PROF. FASSEL ORDERS EXTRA STUDYING

GIANT NOTES FOXBORO - Practices from week to week rarely vary, but Jim Fassel pulled a change-up in the days leading up to today's game against the Patriots. The Giants...

WEBB THE MVP OF BASEBALL TV

THURSDAY night, near the end of Red Sox-Yanks, Fox's Joe Buck ran through the closing credits, stopping at director Bill Webb's name to add that, "There's no one in the...

WIN WOULD EASE THEIR PAIN ; JETS NEED TO SAY GOODBYE TO O-FER

Bill Parcells often speaks about the "psychology of results" and the critical role they play in sports, whether your business is coaching or playing. The Jets limp into today's 4:15...

FLAG ON HERM IF HE BENCHES ABRAHAM

HERMAN Edwards' credo is "you play to win the game." But the Jets' coach isn't playing to win today's AFC East game against the Bills if he benches defensive end...

SPIKES KNOWS WINLESS = DANGEROUS

JET NOTES Takeo Spikes knows losing, having spent his entire career mired in misery with the Bengals before escaping to Buffalo this season. He knows what being 0-4 feels like,...

SOX GAME AWAY FROM SAYING, 'RATS ALL, FOLKS'

BOSTON - Walking down the ramp out of Fenway Park late Friday night, I turned the corner behind the home-plate concession area and immediately got in a rundown with a...

PEDRO, ZIM IN BEANBALL WAR : MARTINEZ DECKS DON AFTER MONSTER MELEE AT FENWAY

BOSTON - The buzz at Fenway Park yesterday turned into an ugly brawl in which Pedro Martinez slammed Don Zimmer to the ground in the fourth inning of Game 3...

PEDRO AND ZIM GO TOE-TO-TOE: MARTINEZ DECKS DON, BUT YANKS SCORE KNOCKOUT

BOSTON - The fiercest rivalry in sports turned very dangerous yesterday as Pedro Martinez tossed Don Zimmer to the Fenway turf and a Red Sox employee got involved in a...

BOSTON BATTLE CRY HAS RED SOX FANS RIDIN' HIGH

"I've been hearing it all my life. It's a rodeo expression. We've been kind of saying it all year." MIKE TIMLIN BOSTON - This city now has its own slogan,...

IT'S A DAY FULL OF CIRCUS ACTS: CASHMAN KNOWS HIS ROLE IN BOSS' TWISTED SIDESHOW

BOSTON - Brian Cashman finds himself in the baseball version of a rock and hard place. Between a boor and buffoons. Between George Steinbrenner and the Wilpons. Here was Cashman...

CITY OF 'COWBOY' JUNKIES: DOWNTRODDEN DENIZENS TIRED OF TALKING ABOUT THE CURSE

BOSTON - Red Sox fans are a strange bunch. On the one hand, they take great pride in their collective suffering. They see it as a generational honor that they...

NO RELIEF IN SIGHT FOR JOSE

BOSTON - Jose Contreras is making it look easy in this ALCS against the Red Sox. It is not supposed to be this way, of course. A player's first experience...

PUDGE PICKUP PUT FISH IN BIG POND

MIAMI - Signing Pudge was the fattest-headed move of the offseason. What were the Marlins thinking, giving $10 million to a guy who was coming off a herniated disc, who...

CUBBIES ROAD TOUGH: KNOW HOW TO WIN AWAY FROM WRIGLEY

MIAMI - It is a beautiful thing to play baseball at Wrigley Field, except when Cubs fans are on the verge of leaping off the neighborhood rooftops. Which, when the...

THE INSIDERS: THE POST TAKES YOU BEHIND THE LOCKER-ROOM DOORS

Three Musketeers Jeremy, Boomer & Jason take on New England Think of Jeremy Shockey, David Wells and Jason Giambi as the Three Musketeers in this weekend battle of New York...

WATERED-DOWN COWDIN DRAWS FIELD OF THREE

Where have all the 2-year-olds gone? Mirroring the lack of interest in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, which has fallen apart like a cheap suit, today's $75,000 Cowdin Stakes at Belmont...