November 12, 2004

MIRAMAX SEARCH - DISNEY HUNTS EXECS TO REPLACE WEINSTEINS

Walt Disney is in hot pursuit of an executive to oversee its Miramax unit - a sign that the departure of the Weinstein brothers may be imminent, The Post has...

COKE'S AD POP: $400M

Coca-Cola Co. is aiming to put the fizz back into its marketing as a key part of its turnaround strategy. Coke will boost its annual spending on marketing and developing...

LAW FIRM IS MOVING DOWNTOWN

Fast-growing law firm McKee Nelson is leaving Times Square for much larger quarters downtown, the latest in a boomlet of Midtown companies moving to Lower Manhattan. McKee Nelson signed a...

BIG LOSE-DAY; PINK SLIPS AT TABLOID IN A TUTU

Newsday's bloodbath will chop staff by 100 people in the latest response to the Long Island daily's circulation scandal. They represent about 3.3 percent of the paper's 3,000-person work force....

DREAMWORKS GETS $50M FOR MUSIC-PUBLISHING UNIT

New York-based venture capital firm Dimensional Associates inked a deal yesterday to acquire DreamWorks Music Publishing for roughly $50 million. Dimensional, which owns digital-music services eMusic and The Orchard, cinched...

MARTHA CONFIDANTE BUMPED OFF AT MSO

While Martha Stewart sits in prison, a mystery deepened yesterday over a shakeup under way inside her battered company. The newly organized board at Martha Stewart Omnimedia has picked a...

EXCHANGES HIT; SEC PROBES AMEX EXECS, NYSE UNDER FIRE

Top executives at the American Stock Exchange, under fire for 17 months for not policing its trading floor and handing out fat contracts to its bosses, are facing a possible...

STREET WONDERS AT JONES' BARNEYS BUY

Peter Boneparth, chief executive of Jones Apparel Group, has earned the reputation as a master dealmaker, but even he acknowledged yesterday that it would take some work to convince people...

CIRCULATION SCANDALS LEAD ABC TO MULL TIGHTENING RULES

A spate of circulation scandals could lead to tougher rules for the entire newspaper industry in the coming weeks. The Audit Bureau of Circulations, which is responsible for verifying figures,...

ALCAN BIDS WEIGHED

Apollo Management, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Canada's Onex Corp. are among the handful of buyout firms jockeying to buy Alcan Inc.'s rolled-products business, The Post has learned. Alcan, the...

DREAMWORKS GETS $50M FOR MUSIC UNIT

New York-based venture capital firm Dimensional Associates inked a deal yesterday to acquire DreamWorks Music Publishing for roughly $50 million. Dimensional, which owns digital-music services eMusic and The Orchard, cinched...

BAD MOVE FOR N.Y. OBSERVER

THE New York Observer had a rough time trying to get its issue out this week from its new headquarters on 21st and Broadway. The papers staff took up residence...

KIDS' PICK

SHOW YOUR FACE:Kids age 10 and under are invited to make faces Thursday in the windows of two Children's Place clothing stores, to kick off the first Make a Funny...

FILM PICK

BIG RED MASTERPIECE:Legendary maverick director Sam Ful ler spent years trying to get his autobiographical World War II epic before the cameras, but his downbeat view of the ab surdity...

ROCK PICK

TELL IT LIKE IT IS: When you see the Neville Brothers in con cert, it takes a few minutes to get past the clash of Aaron Neville's incredible hulk physique...

STARR REPORT

Remembering Joan Ch. 7's Bill Ritter will emcee this year's Strolling Supper Benefit for Joan's Legacy, a foundation raising money for lung cancer re search. Bill's mom died of lung...

SPACEY 'JONES'

BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON ½ (two and a half stars) Second verse, same as the first.Running time: 106 minutes. Rated R (profanity, sex). At the Empire, the Lincoln...

FILE ISLE CAPER UNDER SCENIC BUT PREDICTABLE

AFTER THE SUNSET (two stars) Harmless time-killer. Running time: 97 minutes. Rated PG (sexuality, violence, profanity). At the E-Walk, the Chelsea, the Battery Park City, others. BAHAMAS scenery, Woody Harrelson's...

YULE CRINGE AT 'NOEL'

NOELZero stars Zero for two.Running time: 96 minutes. Rated PG-13 (sexuality). At the Village East, Second Avenue and 12th Street. THE excruciatingly maudlin "Noel" is even harder to sit through...

WEATHER CH. BLOWS OFF AD

THE Weather Channel has banned a CBS ad promoting the network's new fictional miniseries, "Category 6: Day of Destruction." In response, CBS is advertising the natural disaster film as "The...

DANCE PICK

PINA BAUSCH'S 20th: The most celebrated post-modernish, avant-gardish dance company in the world, the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, based in the German industrial town of Wuppertal, made its first appearance...

NEESON TO BELIEVE

KINSEY ½ (three and a half stars) Serious Oscar bait.Running time: 118 minutes. Rated R (sexually graphic images and language). At the Lincoln Plaza and the Sunshine. THOUGH it's perhaps...

NO, IT'S NOT ABOUT THAT BAMBI

WHO KILLED BAMBI? (three stars) Hospital serial killer.In French, with English subtitles. Running time: 126 minutes. Not rated (violence, nudity, sex, unpleasant operating- room images). At the Quad, 13th Street,...

A 'LILI' BLUSTER

LA PETITE LILI 1/2 (one and a half stars) FRENCH tart Ludivine Sagnier isn't shy about showing off her God-given body on-screen. (Remember "Swim ming Pool" and "Water Drops on...

TWISTED FUN - DISASTERS NOT THE ONLY FAKES IN 'CATEGORY 6'

"Category 6:Day of Destruction" Sunday night at 9 and Wednesday night at 8 on CBS/Ch. 2 ½ (two and a half stars) CANADIAN actors were the obvious beneficiaries of the...

WHY WEIGHT? HEFTY KID ON 'LOST' NEVER SLIMS DOWN

THOSE hapless cast aways on "Lost" are lucky they have Hurley - the big, red-haired guy who likes to say "dude" a lot - to keep them company. The character,...

'BRIEF MOMENTS' ALL WET

DELFOS DANZA CONTEMPORANEAAt the Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Ave., at 19th Street; (212) 242-0800. Season runs throughSunday. AS part of a citywide festival of modern Mexican art and culture, Delfos...

DEPP CHARGE - JOHNNY FLIES HIGH AS 'PETER PAN' CREATOR IN 'NEVERLAND'

FINDING NEVERLAND (four stars) Pure magic. Running time: 101 minutes. Rated PG (references to death). At the Empire, the Cinema 1, Loews Village VII, others. PORTRAYING "Peter Pan" creator J.M....

A BIG MOVIES OPENING

MIDNIGHT Movies combines droning guitars, keyboards and the ethereal vocals of Gena Olivier, to create dark, haunting space rock, which can disintegrate in early Sonic Youth-ish hypnotic chaos or lift...

TRUMPAXESBRIDAL FIASCO

IT helps to have a ringer on your team, as the candidates on "The Apprentice 2" found out last night. Bridal salon owner Sandy Ferreira fueled her team to victory...

'CSI' GETS SECOND SHOT

CBS will re-air Wednes day's episode of "CSI: NY" tonight - after the episode's dramatic finish was interrupted when CBS News broke in with news of Yasser Arafat's death. "An...

IT HAD TO BE JEW ; FIERSTEIN THE NEW 'FIDDLER'

IT'S official: Anatevka has a new Tevye and this time he really is Jewish. "Listen, the block I lived on in Benson hurst had a yeshiva on one corner and...

INDIE MUSIC PICK

SOUTHPAW PAIR:It's a match made in singer/songwriter heaven. Sufjan Stevens writes introspective songs, sings them with his hushed vocals and accompanies himself with a moody array of instruments. Nicolai Dunger,...

FREE FROM ARAFAT; PALESTINIANS' BIG CHANCE

TO the Palestinian people: In the wake of Yasser Ar afat's death, you face a mo mentous and historic choice. Now that the evil terrorist is no more, you can...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

It makes you wonder what all the media hype here in New York was about - a 59-year-old great-grandmother from Georgia will deliver twins next month. She wasn't even trying...

SEX DOC IN RISE AND FALL - BAD ERECTION INJECTION

ALBANY - A Manhattan doctor who treats patients for sexual dysfunction got a stiff rebuke from the state yesterday for professional misconduct, The Post has learned. Dr. Farhad Mohebban was...

NJ TRANSIT RUN$ OVER RIDERS WITH 15% HIKE

Commuters who ride NJ Transit buses and trains are facing a whopping 15 percent fare hike next year as part of a plan to close the agency's $65 million budget...

FIREBRAND FOOL WENT OUT WITH A WHIMPER

THE terrorist who vowed martyrdom met an ignominious end - he died with his boots off. There was no last stand for this bloodlust leader, Yasser Arafat, who promised to...

GIFFIE TO TACKLE JET ARENA BID

City Council Speaker Gifford Miller next week may finally say whether or not he supports the Jets stadium on the West Side. Despite the firestorm of controversy the proposed stadium...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

MANHATTAN * A 49-year-old New Jersey man died yesterday after he apparently leaped off the George Washington Bridge, police sources said. The victim, identified as Gergory Bryer, of Asbury Park,...

UPSTATE COLLEGE FLAP OVER URBAN-TERRORIST TEACHER

An upstate police chief yesterday angrily weighed in on a controversy brewing over Hamilton College's move to hire a former radical who had been linked to the 1981 Brinks armored-car...

VETERANS PARADE AMERICAN VALUES

Proud veterans marched up Fifth Avenue yesterday to honor the American heroes who have kept this nation free - especially the New Yorkers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan...

OLYMPIC POLL VAULT - NYERS BACK BID, GO IFFY ON STADIUM

By a 2-to-1 margin, city voters are enthusiastic about holding a Big Apple Olympics in 2012, according to a poll released yesterday. But support for a West Side stadium to...

SHOVER SOUGHT IN DEATH OF VILLAGE BEGGAR

Police are looking for a man who clashed with a Greenwich Village panhandler - apparently causing his death. Police said Jose Cantue, 61, died Sunday in St. Vincent's Hospital after...

DEATH SOUGHT FOR MOB BOSS

The feds want to rub out a Mafia boss. Prosecutors are set to announce today they'll seek the death penalty for Bonanno family head Joseph Massino if he's convicted of...

HE CHECKS OUT, SUHA CASHES IN

Suha Arafat, who jealously guarded her husband's bedside during his final hours, brought his body home from France yesterday for burial - after sealing a deal that will make her...

TICKET TREATS FOR ARENA-PLAN FANS

It apparently pays to support a professional-basketball arena in Brooklyn. Thousands of basketball tickets have been showered on Brooklyn residents who offered their support to an NBA arena in the...

HS JOCKS SLAPPED IN 'SEX' RAP

Five New Jersey high-school soccer players have been busted over a locker-room attack on two 16-year-old teammates that authorities said included molestation. The students from Colonia HS in Woodbridge, who...

2012 EFFORT GETS OFF & RUNNING

Thousands of New Yorkers, including immigrant schoolchildren from 60 nations, lined the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday as Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg held an elaborate sendoff for the city's official bid...

COPS TAKE OUT CHINESE GANG

New York's most powerful Chinese organized-crime operation was smashed early yesterday when federal agents and local cops fanned out throughout the city and arrested more than two dozen reputed members,...

NYERS CHIME IN: 'LET HIM ROT IN HELL'

New Yorkers yesterday said goodbye - and most said good riddance - to Yasser Arafat. "Let him rot in hell. He believed in killing instead of negotiating," said Jacob Holtzman,...

TRIBUTE TODAY TO SLAIN HERO COP

A plaque dedication ceremony will be held today at the 24th Precinct on the Upper West Side to memorialize slain Police Officer Christopher Hoban, a 26-year- old narcotics officer gunned...

BLIND GRANNY THANKS FIRE HERO

"I thank God for you." With those simple words, a 75-year-old blind Bronx woman gave her heartfelt thanks to a firefighter who rescued her from certain death in a smoky...

INSIDE FIENDS' DEATH HOUSES - FALLUJAH GIS FIND STARVING CAPTIVE, SLAIN INNOCENTS

WASHINGTON - U.S. troops made gruesome discoveries at abandoned terrorist hideouts in Fallujah yesterday as commanders launched the powerful second phase of Operation Dawn, aimed at delivering a final blow...

YULE LOGJAM WILL SOCK TOY SHOPPERS

Want to keep the kids happy this Christmas? Do your toy shopping early. Some of the hottest toys on the younger set's lists will be nearly impossible to buy after...

JACKO ATTACKO VS. EMINEM

Michael Jackson's angry, high-pitched voice echoed in Times Square yesterday, blasting rapper Eminem for ridiculing him in a new video and demanding MTV to stop airing it. "It's demeaning and...

TIME CAN'T EASE RAGE

As mourners braced for the emotional third anniversary today of the tragic American Airlines flight that crashed in the Rockaways killing 265 people, controversy still raged over where a permanent...

MINOR MOURNER IS A 'DISS' OF DEATH

The Bush administration is sending a low-profile veteran diplomat to today's funeral of Yasser Arafat - while other countries are sending their heads of state or senior officials. Assistant Secretary...

'HE TALKS TO TREES' - H'WAY SLAYER UNFIT FOR TRIAL: ATTORNEY

A homeless former security guard was hallucinating and "talking to the trees" when he allegedly shot and killed a kindhearted father of three under a Queens overpass this week, his...

CELEBS HAVE A STAR IN THEIR 'BUYS'

Star Jones' freebie-filled wedding weekend, which is being brought to you by Continental Airlines, kicked off yesterday in a temple of consumption, Saks Fifth Avenue. Some 100 guests gathered in...

-SILENCING 'PVT. RYAN' - COWARD STATIONS NIX FILM (M, S)-SILENCING 'PVT. RYAN' - PLUG PULLED BY FCC FEAR (LCF)

A group of ABC stations refused to air last night's Veterans Day broadcast of the gritty World War II flick "Saving Private Ryan" - fearful of incurring indecency fines from...

-CHUCK EYED AS DEM MONEYMAN (M, S)-D.C. DEMS PLEAD WITH CHUCK: $TAY (LCF)

WASHINGTON - Democrats are leaning heavily on Sen. Charles Schumer to stay in D.C. to raise money for fellow senators - even if it means forgoing a run for New...

PATAKI RIPS OWN GURU FOR ANTI-W. REMARKS

Gov. Pataki rebuked his longtime political adviser Arthur Finkelstein yesterday for saying President Bush had allowed the "Christian right" to take over the Republican Party. "Arthur Finkelstein's assessment of the...

CLASH WITH GOP NEARLY NIXED MIKE'S SPEECH

After doing everything he possibly could to land the Republican National Convention, Mayor Bloomberg almost didn't deliver the opening-day speech after a senior GOP operative demanded he drop two lines...

TRUMP JR. IS THE CHEAPEST GAZILLIONAIRE - HEIRHEAD PROPOSES WITH FREE 100G RING

Donald Trump Jr. obviously learned the art of the deal from his billionaire father. Unfortunately, the 26-year-old scion also appears to have picked up his dad's tackier traits. Yesterday, in...

AGENT HINTS UNIT WANTS OUT OF 'ZONA

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - Brian Cashman yesterday insinuated that he was told Randy Johnson wasn't available. That's very interesting, because Johnson's agent now has publicly insisted that the Big Unit...

COULD BE WORSE ; CARTER BETTER THAN MANY BACKUP QBS

QUINCY Carter is not Chad Pennington - no-brainer there. No huge problem, either, for a few weeks, as long as the sub quarterback uses his brain to grasp the essential...

FISHING IS A BREEZE

THEY call it the hawk in Chicago, but here the wind is a pain in the rear when you are trying to go fishing and you know the fish are...

NETS TO SIGN ARMSTRONG AS MERCER REPLACEMENT

NET NOTES A familiar face should be re-joining the Nets today. Guard Brandon Armstrong, the third first-round pick from the 2001 draft night trade that also netted Richard Jefferson and...

RIGHT THIS WAY ROLLS HOME

Right This Way, trained by Barclay Tagg with Edgar Prado riding, rallied to win yesterday's feature, the $60,000 Soaring Softly on turf for 3-year-old fillies that hadn't won a stakes...

DOCTOR: H2O KEY FOR ALONZO ; DOCTOR: H2O KEY FOR ALONZO

The minutes are higher than expected, higher than anyone realistically could have desired. But Alonzo Mourning is running no medical risk toward his transplanted kidney playing unexpectedly heavy minutes -...

STICKING WITH IT ; WARNER WORKING HARD TO ELIMINATE FUMBLES

If he hasn't broken the bad habit by now, will he ever? That's the lingering question swirling around Kurt Warner, who admits he needs plenty of work on securing the...

CONCUSSION A BLOW FOR BIG BLUE, PETITGOUT

GIANT NOTES With all the focus and concern centered on their injury-riddled defensive line, the Giants are preparing for the possibility that their most valuable offensive lineman might not be...

GO FOR THE GREEN ; COUNT ON CARTER TO LEAD JETS PAST RAVENS

OF all the numbers one can look at regarding the Jets and Ravens, this is the most important - 1½ - as in the spread. If there's something that will...

'WILLY-NILLY' STORM NEED RESPECTABILITY

St. John's coach Norm Roberts has used one of his favorite sayings at least once a day in practice. "He tells us we're willy-nilly," said point guard Daryll Hill. That's...

MARTIN NEARS MARK

NFL Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett has been keeping his eye on Curtis Martin since the day Martin put on a University of Pittsburgh jersey. And within the next few...

DON'T EXPECT METS TO DEAL REYES

MET NOTES KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - Even though today's GM meetings will almost assuredly end without any trades involving the Mets, they continued to talk with other clubs yesterday, meeting...

RED SOX MAKE ; VETS DAY SPECIAL

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - After they played a World Series no one in New England will ever forget, the Red Sox remembered yesterday. They remembered the veterans who served our country....

HENDERSON REVVED UP FOR RAVENS

Donnie Henderson is a volcano on 24-hour alert for eruption. That's in a normal week. This week, if it's possible, everything about Henderson is ratcheted up a notch, because he's...

RAHMAN'S SEEKING REVERSAL OF FORTUNE

Boxing isn't a swimsuit contest, but you can tell a lot about a fighter by looking. And listening. And at yesterday's weigh-in for tomorrow's heavyweight bonanza at the Garden, Hasim...

JETS TARGET RAVENS' CAN'T-MISS ROOKIE

If there's a punt in the air, B.J. Sams is going to field it, whether it's going to land in the middle of the Giants Stadium field or in the...

AGUIRRE NOT AWAITING HEAD-COACHING CALL

KNICK NOTES It has been speculated that Knicks assistant coach Mark Aguirre could be Lenny Wilkens' successor as head coach because of his childhood friendship with Isiah Thomas. But Aguirre...

EX-BULL ROBINSON OKS KNICKS DEAL

Knicks president Isiah Thomas flew to his hometown of Chicago yesterday to bring back another athletic piece for the club's ever-changing puzzle. According to his agent, 6-9 free agent swingman...

ARTEST'S 'CRIME' NOT WORTH TIME

ANYBODY with a child or who once was one surely is familiar with the book, "Henry & The Ant." A guy's cooking a nice dinner, spots the little creature crawling...

PAY THE PRIZE ; SUITORS BEGIN TO LINE UP FOR BELTRAN

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - If you heard a ringing sound at 12:01 this morning, there's a simple explanation. It was the cash registers of 30 major league teams ready to...

CASH: NO ACES IN DECK

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - Brian Cashman doesn't think the Yankees need a true No. 1 starter. But it doesn't matter, because Cashman told reporters yesterday that no real ace is...

YANKS AIM TO ARM STAFF

As they tried to console each other after the Red Sox did the unthinkable in the ALCS on their way to a World Championship, Joe Torre and George Steinbrenner agreed...

JORGE: PEDRO NO PROBLEM

If George Steinbrenner wants to sign Pedro Martinez, Jorge Posada has no problem with The Boss bringing the Yankees' biggest villain/favorite son to The Bronx. "No doubt about it, I...

MLK BOOTERS IN TITLE GAME

Kemalie Preston's header off a John Alvarez throw-in with 12 minutes left gave Martin Luther King a 1-0 win over Aviation to lead the school to its ninth straight PSAL...

SOSA MAY STILL MEET WITH METS

MET NOTES KEY BISCAYNE, FLA. - Although they are not embroiled in serious discussions just yet, the Mets again talked to the Cubs about a deal involving Sammy Sosa yesterday....

H.S. COACH: THAT'S NOT ARTEST I KNOW

Bill Aberer last saw Ron Artest in September at the Five-Star Basketball Camp in Pennsylvania and didn't see anything that indicated the Pacers star's passion for the game had waned....

PAY THE PRIZE ; METS, YANKS LEAD SUITORS FOR BELTRAN

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - At exactly 12:01 this morning, checkbooks opened around the league, as teams were officially allowed to start talking dollars with any free agent. And already there...

TRADE WINDS HIT BOOTH - YANKS VOICES MAY SWITCH PLACES

A trade between Yankee radio and TV is in the works. Suzyn Waldman could be headed to the radio side to be John Sterling's analyst, while Charley Steiner would move...

MARCHAND'S MATCHUP OF THE WEEK

Shannon Sharpe vs. Deion Sanders (Who is a better analyst?) CBS' Shannon Sharpe isn't as showy as the man he replaced, Deion Sanders. With suits flashier than a Canon camera,...

5 QUESTIONS FOR JILL ARRINGTON

This week, NYP TV Sports' Andrew Marchand spoke with ESPN's Jill Arrington. The 32-year-old Arrington is in her first year with the network. Q: A couple of years ago [while...

JETS STARRING IN 'SURVIVOR' - THEY'RE IN GOOD HANDS WITH CARTER AT QB: EXPERTS

Sunday Ravens at Jets 1 p.m., CBS With Quincy Carter filling in for the injured Chad Pennington, the Jets' season is far from over. Just listen to the TV football...