March 20, 2005

RUNNING ON FUMES; SPUTTERINGCARMAKERS PULL IN TO AUTO SHOW

Detroit heads to Manhattan this week on a tank that is running low on gas. The New York International Auto Show gets under way just as General Motors announced a...

TRICKLE-DOWN THEORY OF STYLE AND CACHET

This week's auto show isn't just for buyers, it's for dreamers as well. High-aspiration (read: pricey) cars such as the $565,000 Saleen S7 Twin Turbo, the $165,000 Bentley Continental Flying...

WHO LOVES YA, BABY? 'KOJAK'S' BACK - AND THIS TIME, HE'S BLACK

TELLY who? Don 't look too closely at the new "Kojak " trying to find the similarities between the new -but still bald - Theo Kojak,played by Ving Rhames,and the...

'OFFICE' A GOOD FIT IN AMERICA

YOU would think NBC would be done with British sitcoms,following the embarrassment of "Coupling " in 2003.. That show,adapted studiously from a British comedy series of the same name,was billed...

REALLY BIG SHOW - 'A CURRENT AFFAIR' - TRAILBLAZING TABLOID NEWSMAG RETURNS

IN television terms,never before have so few given so much to so many with so little. "Plans,planning?There were no plans and not much planning," says Peter Brennan,ramrod of the old...

'CHASING FARRAH': DECAY OF AN ANGEL

Before you know it,the world 's dullest security-camera footage will be presented as a reality TV show. And I don 't mean the kind of footage that security systems capture...

THE DON'T MISS LIST

MADE FOR TV DID MOM AND DAD NEED TO DO THIS? REAL-LIFE couple Josie Bissett and Rob Estes (remember how young they were on "Melrose Place "?)co-star in "I Do,They...

REEL GOOD: LINDA STASI PREVIEWS THIS WEEK 'S BEST MOVIES

JFK (1991) Monday, 1 a.m., TNT Kevin Costner stars as crusading New Orleans D.A.Jim Garrison who tried to prove that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone. Duh.A great Oliver...

LIZZIE'S SHOW ANOTHER PAINFUL REALITY

Welcome back, Tibor. Tibor is a fictional cultural exchange student from an underdeveloped country.He has returned to continue his study on why American society is superior to the one to...

'GAMBLING' GAME FACES BAGHDAD BAN

THE Iraqi elections may have a surprise result - the banning of chess. An alliance backed by the country's leading Shiite cleric, the Grand Ayatollah Sayid Ali Huseini Sistani, is...

THE HOT SEAT WITH OZZY OSBOURNE

IT'S been four years since the mumble-mouthed and perpetually befuddled Ozzy Osbourne and his family of anti-Waltons first let MTV cameras into their Beverly Hills mansion and "The Osbournes" became...

HOT LIST - WHAT WE'RE OBSESSED WITH THIS WEEK

1 Farrah's back You wouldn't think Farrah Fawcett would be that hard to catch, given her proclivity for erratic behavior and high heels - but we'll still DVR her new...

KING OF BLING: THE CITY'S HOT NEW FASHION ACCESSORY - COME OUT AND PLAY - SONY'S PSP AIMS TO BE THIS YEAR'S IPOD

I knew I was hooked on the most anticipated gadget of the year, the PlayStation Portable - or PSP to its friends - when, riding the subway home, I tore...

COLOR CHANGE - PARTS GET SWITCHED FOR A HIP RACE MIX

Bernie Mac is the new Spencer Tracy. James Earl Jones is the new Henry Fonda. Ving Rhames is the new Telly Savalas. And Denzel Washington is the new Laurence Olivier....

THIS WEEK'S MOVIES

NAKED FAME Porn star Colton Ford quit that biz to pursue his real dream - no, not directing - music. This is his story. NINA'S TRAGEDIES A 14-year-old Israeli boy...

POWER COUPLE - FOR THIS CIRCUS PAIR, SPARKS FLY (LITERALLY)

LIKE any successful married couple, Brian and Tina Miser spend a little quality time together every day. Only they spend theirs being shot out of a cannon. The world's only...

CRYING 'WOOLF' - ALBEE'S FAMOUS PLAY TAKES THE STAGE AGAIN

As phrases go, "hump the hostess" is pretty hard to forget. But it's hardly Edward Albee's favorite line from "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" "I would think the line 'The...

NEW & EXCITING

ONCE upon a time, Steven Spielberg was an unknown. Then he made "The Sugarland Express," a Texas chase saga. It was shown at the New Directors/New Films festival in 1974...

REQUIRED READING

"Saturday" is 303 pages, but the story by Ian McEwan takes place in the course of a single day. A London brain surgeon collides with a group of muggers while...

SPRING CLEANING - FIVE WAYS TO BEAUTIFY AFTER THE LONG WINTER

If you're ready to break out of winter doldrums and get a whole new look for spring, take your cues from the catwalk. This season, it's all about radiance, health...

HEAR THIS

IN CONCERT At Irving Plaza: Backstreet Boys are back (all right!) tomorrow and Tuesday. Classic rock legend Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation on Thursday. Boston punks Dropkick Murphys, with...

THIS WEEK'S CDS

LOUIS XIV "The Best Little Secrets Are Kept" 4 Stars Atlantic SELF-absorbed, sexually needy and addicted to excess, San Diego's Louis XIV understands rock 'n' roll. On the quartet's major-league...

GET PUNK'D - HENRY ROLLINS MAY BE OLDER, BUT HE HASN'T MELLOWED

He may be 44, and he may spend more time on movie sets than playing punk rock, but get Henry Rollins started, and he becomes the same vein-popping screamer his...

MOBY DELIVERS SIMPLE COOKBOOK, CD

Chrome-domed Moby has ditched his signature style for stripped-down art of the music and culinary kind. This week he has both a CD ("Hotel," V2, 2 ½ Stars) and a...

QUICK BITES - THE TASTIEST EVENTS THIS WEEK

SAY CHEESE: Sniff your way through artisanal cheeses Saturday when the Baum Forum and Slow Food NYC present "Northeast and Raw Milk Cheese: Back to the Future." Discussions and guided...

MEET MARKET - THE PLACE WHERE THE POST HOOKS YOU UP AND SENDS YOU OUT

MEET Lev, a 29-year-old urban designer who claims the three things he could not live without are friends, family (including his dog) and "pants - I get cold without pants."...

HE'S STILLER NOT FUNNY

Ben Stiller better watch his back. The actor, who normally plays it for laughs in his movies, is onstage at the Public Theater as a covert racist in Neil Labute's...

FLASH-FLOOD VICTIMS $LAM CITY

One very wet day last summer could end up costing the city $2.4 million. A drain-busting rainstorm on Aug. 11 backed up sewers so badly that many Queens residents were...

DEATH IN THE AIR ; B'KLYN MAN RESTRAINED IN FLIGHT AFTER GOING BERSERK

A Brooklyn man who went berserk aboard a JFK-bound airliner died after being handcuffed and held down by seven male athletes who had come to the aid of a flight...

CHEATIN' STRAHAN'S BIG SLIP-UP

Workers renovating Michael Strahan's New Jersey mansion recently learned he was cheating on his wife when one overheard him cooing endearments to someone called "Cupcake" in a clandestine phone call,...

SAMARITAN STABBED IN HEART - TRIED TOBREAK UP A BRAWL

A man walking home from work tried to break up a fight on a Queens street corner and ended up getting stabbed in the heart yesterday. James Winkler Jr. was...

LIRR TRAIN KILLS DAREDEVIL TEEN

A risky prank cost a Long Island teen his life yesterday afternoon when he was struck by a train at a crossing near his home. Lucas Svoboda, 15, of Bayport,...

COPS RAID SUSPECT'S HOME

SIMMS, Mont. - Federal investigators searching for a ransom note stormed the house of a painter charged with plotting to kidnap TV funnyman David Letterman's son, and seized a computer...

B'KLYN BIKER SPRAYS BULLETS; FIRES OFF BARRAGE AT PROJECT

A motorcycle-riding gunman was busted for firing a barrage of bullets at another man in Brooklyn yesterday - prompting return fire from a cop, police sources said. The shooter, riding...

STAY WITH THE STADIUM

When bidding for the planned West Side stadium site closes tomorrow at 5 p.m. and New Yorkers learn just who bid what, one thing's certain: There'll be fresh calls to...

VICTIM RIPS HALF-COCKED TRIBUTE

When Brooklyn gunshot survivor Yolanda Taylor was invited to a recent Mothers Against Guns gala as an honoree, she never dreamed she'd be stiffed out of her complimentary commemorative journal...

MIKE CRIES FOUL; DENIES STADIUM THREAT

The fight over the proposed West Side stadium is getting dirtier. The mayor's office yesterday vehemently denied published reports that Mayor Bloomberg warned Cablevision CEO Jim Dolan that the stadium...

RAPIST VOICE CLUES; BLIND GAL COULD I.D. HIM

Police yesterday desperately hunted for the Queens jackal who raped a 19-year-old blind student in a subway elevator - but investigators may be stumped because of a lack of eyewitness...

DEAR SCOTT: SAN QUENTIN INMATE: YOU'LL HAVE TO PAY

Scott Peterson, get ready to pay. "As for killing his wife, that's his business - but for killing that child, well, he gots to suffer for that." So says a...

WHERE EAGLES ERR ; MILWAUKEE'S BEST SEND BC PACKING

CHICAGO REGION Wis.-Mil. 83 Bost. Coll. 75 CLEVELAND - Seconds after Wisconsin-Milwaukee had beaten Boston College, just after the 12th seed had pulled off its second upset in as many...

DEATH IN THE AIR; MAN DIES AFTER BEING RESTRAINED ON PLANE

A Brooklyn man who went berserk aboard a JFK-bound airliner died Friday night after being handcuffed and held down by seven athletes who had come to the aid of the...

JUDGE TIED TO 'SANTA'; CONFLICT IN AUTHOR SUIT

Federal Judge Kimba Wood, who has been presiding over a suit against author James Patterson, failed to disclose that she was once a neighbor of the super-successful scribe, The Post...

QNS. 'FENCE NAZI' ; RESIDENTS RAGE AT 'HOOD 'RAT'

They say good fences make good neighbors - but not if your neighbor's the "Fence Nazi." That's the moniker angry Jackson Heights residents have given longtime resident Jeffrey Saunders, 51,...

ME WEIGHS IN ON DISABLED MAN'S CHOKE DEATH

The city medical examiner has ruled a mentally disabled man in the care of a local group home - who was allegedly left unmonitored in the back of a van...

'BAD BOY' DIDDY SUED IN OWE WOE

Sean Combs is one deadbeat Diddy, a lawsuit by a ticked-off movie studio charges. Columbia Pictures slapped P. Diddy and his Bad Boy Records company with a federal lawsuit for...

KID-SEX FIEND 'COULDN'T STOP'

He just couldn't stop himself. That's what Michael Flory, 48, said in a written statement to police Friday night after being arrested for molesting at least seven children in Queens,...

'HARASS' COP HAS A HISTORY OF COMPLAINTS

A housing cop who filed a sexual-harassment lawsuit against the NYPD and his former boss has a long track record of taking on supervisors. "This is his M.O.," a retired...

COMPUTER-VOICE OPERATOR JUST CAN'T GET IT RIGHT

Reaching out to touch someone has never been harder. New Yorkers have been feeling clueless lately after AT&T recently changed its 411 service. Not so long ago, a human picked...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

A Louisiana man is accused of killing his twin brother over a hamburger. A grand jury indicted Jermaine Booker, 31, a security guard, on manslaughter charges in the shooting of...

KITTY CAT-NAPPED; STRANGE TAIL: OWNERS HUNT PET CLOSE TO HOME

It's the case of the purloined pussycat. When their beloved 2-year-old kitty went missing last month, Katherine DePasquale and Alex Martinez thought she was just lost somewhere in their Hell's...

'HELL'ICOPTERS RATTLE W. SIDE

The constant whir of helicopters has whipped West Siders into a frenzy. "It's absolutely unbearable. The noise is just unreal," said lower Broadway businessman Arthur Piccolo of window-rattling tour copters...

SHEA HEY! BALLPARK'S 7-FIGURE FACE-LIFT

The New York Mets spent nearly $200 million on superstar free agents this off-season to give their lineup a face-lift - and now the team is spending millions more on...

REDISCOVERING CURIE

OBSESSIVE GENIUS: THE INNER WORLD OF MARIE CURIEBY BARBARA GOLDSMITH W. W. NORTON & COMPANY, 320 PAGES, $23.95 PERHAPS no single woman has inspired more generations than Marie Curie. Born...

POLS WANT TO SMACK HOT 97

Hot 97 may be in hot water again - this time for running a contest in which women smack each other in the face to win big bucks. Six City...

WAR-ANNIVERSARY PROTESTERS PINCHED

Dozens of people were arrested yesterday at demonstrations throughout the city marking the second anniversary of the Iraq war. In Times Square, cops arrested 27 people after they lay down...

CELEB ; KIDNAP JITTERS ; RUSH TO GUARD KIDS AFTER LETTERMAN SCARE

Celebs are wondering if they've done all they can to protect their kids after a painter for David Letterman was busted trying to kidnap the late-night host's son and nanny....

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

BROOKLYN *** Police are investigating the death of a man found inside a burning car in East New York. The victim, whose name was not released, was discovered about 10:15...

BATTLE OF WORDS IN 'GUN' FIGHT

When Brooklyn gunshot survivor Yolanda Taylor was invited to a recent Mothers Against Guns gala as an honoree, she never dreamed she'd be stiffed out of her complimentary commemorative journal...

RUDY GOES LONG - STAR OF STADIUM TV AD

It's Rudy to the rescue. Hours before the New York Jets submit their revamped bid for the air rights above the Hudson Rail Yards, the franchise will release a TV...

REACHE$ FOR THE BEACHES - TOP 10 EAST END RENTALS 'ROUGHLY' SOAR TO HALF-MIL

Has everyone gone mad? Hamptons home owners have tacked hundreds of thousands of dollars onto their summer rental prices for creme-de-la-creme beach spreads. Last week the De Menil family, steeped...

TAKING THE FIRST STEP ; GIAMBI FLASHES SERIOUS LEATHER IN FIELDING DEBUT

SPLIT SQUADYankees 8Indians 5 SPLIT SQUADPirates 5Yankees 3 TAMPA - Lazarus took another step back from the baseball graveyard yesterday at Legends Field. In December, the odds were long that...

PACK'S PUNCH ; HARLEM'S HODGE CAN TALK THE TALK

WORCESTER, Mass. - When Connecticut forward Charlie Villanueva of Brooklyn saw the replay of the college basketball low blow that changed the landscape of the NCAA Tournament, he knew exactly...

CAM'S '05 DEBUT GOES WELL

MET NOTES PORT ST. LUCIE - Call it the biggest step yet for Mike Cameron. For the first time this spring, Cameron - who's recovering from left wrist surgery -...

JUST A BROWN OUT ; LARRY EXPECTED TO MISS ONLY A FEW GAMES

WITHIN the last few days, I heard Larry Brown's condition/bladder surgery is/was worse than admitted. Heard it twice from people who have access to his confidants though neither source claimed...

FIRST-ROUND SCARES INSPIRE 'CATS, GATORS

NASHVILLE - Talk about style this time of year and you'll get dirty looks from those in Syracuse and Kansas and quizzical stares from the likes of Florida coach Billy...

JETER FOOT BRUISE DOESN'T APPEAR FOUL

YANKEE NOTES A game against the Devil Rays - around the Yankees, the spring-training equivalent of the Super Bowl - won't be enough to get Derek Jeter into the lineup...

PAST BACK TO RESTORE THE FUTURE

TAMPA - Thirteen Yankees of the JoeTorre era have left and returned, a number almost as amazing as some of the personalities on the list. "There are people you would...

METS STILL ITCHING FOR ISHII ; DEAL WITH DODGERS CLOSE TO CLOSING

Mets 6 Marlins 0 PORT ST. LUCIE - Jason Phillips stood at his locker late yesterday afternoon. "I'm just waiting," he said. The Mets' backup catcher probably won't have to...

ALOMAR NEVER FULFILLED DREAM OF BEING YANKEE

TAMPA Robbie Alomar retired with everything he wanted except for one thing: a Yankee career. Alomar, who should be a Hall of Fame candidate, regrets not wearing the pinstripes. "That's...

RECORD-SETTING 'K' ; DUKE COACH NEARING TOURNEY VICTORY MARK

CHARLOTTE - Records are made to be broken, but the one Mike Krzyzewski is about to break may soon become untouchable. If No. 1 seed Duke defeats No. 9 seed...

STATE OF MINED; FEW RALLYING FOR SPARTANS

WORCESTER, Mass. - Meet the Wicked Stepsisters of the Worcester sub-regional. The Michigan State Spartans find themselves reprising a familiar role - the team almost no one wants to see...

ARROYO IS TAKEN DOWN AGAIN

2ND RACE - Shades of Manny Ycaza! For third time in last two weeks, Norberto Arroyo Jr. was focus of inquiry for horse coming out in stretch; stewards are losing...

DOLEAC: BOGUT CAN PLAY

KNICK NOTES MIAMI - Ex-Knick Michael Doleac is about to lose his mantle as the University of Utah's best-ever center. Doleac, Shaquille O'Neal's backup in Miami, has watched the NCAA...

MOUNTIES PUT DEACS IN WAKE

2OT / ALBUQUERQUEWVU 111W. Forest 105 CLEVELAND - Pat Beilein heaved the ball as far as he could, nearly to the rafter of Wolstein Center, as the blue-and-gold horde that...

BOSTON STOPS; MILWAUKEE'S BEST BANISHES BC

CHICAGO REGIONWis.-Mil. 83Bost. Coll. 75 CLEVELAND - Seconds after Wisconsin-Milwaukee had beaten Boston College, moments after the 12th seed had pulled off its second upset in as many games to...

CTK COMES FULL-CIRCLE IN STRUGGLE VS. BLAZERS

CLASS AA GIRLS CTK 66 Bergtraum 59 GLENS FALLS - For 11 straight years, Christ the King reigned over girls basketball in New York, winning the state title each season....

N.J. ANGLERS BATTLE REEF MADNESS

JUST when the folks from the New Jersey Reef Program thought it was safe to put things back in the water, it looks like they're going to face another battle....

SIZZLIN' SHUG ; MCGAUGHEY BREAKS SLUMP WITH 3 WINS

Hall-of-Fame trainer Shug McGaughey, after suffering through a winter meet from hell - 19 starts, no winners - at Gulfstream Park, wasted no time getting off the schneid back at...

XAVERIAN OVER THE FALLS

CLASS AA BOYS Niagara Falls 68 Xaverian 65 GLENS FALLS - Levance Fields backed away from the basket, arms aloft as he watched the shot he hoped would send Xaverian...

ANOTHER MET DISASTER JUST A FEW INJURIES AWAY

Steve Trachsel's season-threatening injury was upsetting both to the Mets' psyche and their chances at contention. The club had invested in new doctors and trainers in the offseason hoping to...

SHARING'S NOT PART OF PLAN

THE hard-cap offer to the union was reduced, and so, as a matter of course, the NHL's projected revenue-share pool shrank. Understand this in its entirety: The league has no...

THE SHAQ FACTOR - O'NEAL MAKES WADEMORE LETHAL WEAPON

MIAMI - Jamal Crawford said he did not mean to diminish the accomplishments of Miami's second-year star guard Dwyane Wade. Wade beat the Knicks Tuesday night at the Garden with...

NETS REV UP ENGINES FOR A FINAL PUSH INTO PLAYOFFS

The Nets begin a crucial home-and-home series with the Pacers this afternoon in a clash dripping with playoff implications for Lawrence Frank's club. The teams, both winners of four of...

PEARL GLEAMING: COACH MAKING MILWAUKEE SHINE

CLEVELAND - Last night may have been a first for Bruce Pearl. A graduate of Boston College, Class of 1982, he has always cheered for the Patriots, Red Sox and...

WVU ON BEILEIN TO MORE SUCCESS

CLEVELAND - John Beilein is from Burt, N.Y., and broke into coaching in New York, but he'd played at Wheeling Jesuit, and knew how much West Virginians lived, ate and...

SAME TOM, SAME PLACE - COUGHLIN WON'T ALTER RULES OR PERSONA AFTER 6-10 DEBUT

"(I'm) really not interested in this continuous negative perception of who I am." TOM COUGHLIN Those looking (or hoping) for changes in the Tom Coughlin who gathers the Giants tomorrow...

THE HOUSE THAT ROARED! SELIG GIVES POLITICIANS A GOOD NAME

THE bottom lines are grotesque. In the end, Jose Canseco, the bashed brother, has now done more to clean up baseball than Bud Selig, to Selig's lasting shame. In the...

THE MAGIC IS BUCK! NCAA STUNNERS WAKE SPORTS FROM 'ROID COMA

MAN, did we ever need a night like this. Did we ever need a reminder that these games in which we invest so much of our soul, so much of...

NO COOPERSTOWN FOR YOU? HALL OF FAME VOTERS SOURING ON SPEAK-NO-EVIL MCGWIRE

MARK McGwire turned reticent in public Thursday and he should hold that thought - and continue to hold his tongue. Because all signs are now he will not need to...

HEAD TO HEAD- GREATEST SHOW IN SPORTS

Lenn Robbins' contention that the NCAA Tournament is the best sporting event of them all meets with resistance from five other Post writers Lenn Robbins: I've walked on air down...

SHAME ON BIG MAC FOR DUPING MARIS FAMILY

TAMPA - There Mark McGwire stood, proud and tall, a baseball god. I remember so clearly because I stood only a few feet away from Big Mac, back in the...

REGIS GOES OUT ON TOP

CLASS B BOYS Regis 64 Palmyra 48 GLENS FALLS - Andrew Calcagno doesn't know where he will attend college in the fall, but he's fairly certain that he won't be...

SUCCESS IMMUTABLE FOR MURRAY

H.S. NOTEBOOK GLENS FALLS - There are no more Jamal Mashburns at Cardinal Hayes and Tom Murray won't win any more CHSAA AA titles, but that doesn't bother the longtime...

SHUG'S SIZZLING - MCGAUGHEY BREAKS SLUMP WITH 3 WINS

Hall-of-Fame trainer Shug McGaughey, after suffering through a winter meet from hell - 19 starts, no winners - at Gulfstream Park, wasted no time getting off the schneid back at...

ONE-TWO PUNCH - SHAQ (33) & DWAYNE (30) KAYO KNICKS

Heat 97 Knicks 82 MIAMI - The Knicks had no new plan to limit Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade, the NBA's newest magical marriage. As a result, they were never...