December 4, 2005
REWRITING HISTORY; DEAL WASSERSTEIN ONCE BRAGGED OF IS NOW HIS TARGET
ONE of Wall Street's top deal-makers, "Bid 'em up" Bruce Wasserstein, now wants to break up what he once helped create. Wasserstein, the head of investment bank Lazard, prompted snickers...
HOLIDAY GALAS BOOMING
Lavish corporate holiday parties are back in style - with some companies spending upwards of $500 per employee, or $1.5 million for a 3,000-employee year-end bash. And the corporate cash...
IMAGINE THAT: LENNON'S MUSIC ONLINE
Yoko Ono has finally decided to give downloading a chance. After years of resistance, the wife of the late John Lennon, and the guardian of his estate, relented to prodding...
CABLE TV IN CHAOS ; FCC PLAN COULD KILL KIDS' NETS
The much-ballyhooed "family-tier" programming package floated by the FCC last week could financially cripple kids networks such as Nickelodeon, the Cartoon Network and ABC Family, analysts and industry insiders said....
CAN FIDELITY'S TROUBLES HURT MY PORTFOLIO?
Dear John: You recently wrote about an investigation of Fidelity Investments. Should people whose pension and IRAs are managed by Fidelity be concerned? P.S. Dear P.S.: There's been a lot...
CANNAVALE AND CO.STUFF YOUR XMAS STOCKING
IF you 're the kind of viewer whose heart is warmed by stories of holiday unity,with the occasional song thrown in, then you 've got a busy week ahead.We 've...
'SLEEPER CELL' IS BOGGED DOWN IN PROPAGANDA
JUST because a topic is hot,it doesn 't necessarily follow that a 10-hour miniseries on the subject will be a rewarding experience. To illustrate,Showtime Sunday launches "Sleeper Cell," a 10--part...
THE DON 'T MISS LIST
COMEDY Christmas lies EARL 'S (Jason Lee) been crossing sins off his list.He 's up to No.74 - "always ruined Joy 's Christmas." So he and his buddies,Randy (Ethan Suplee)...
ABC CAN 'T TAKE CREDIT FOR 'FOOTBALL '
SOMETIMES,it seems,a myth can be worse than a lie. A lie is often refuted,firmly, decisively.A myth,on the other hand,can float on the wind until it settles,slowly but forever,into history. One...
REEL GOOD - LINDA STASI PREVIEWS THIS WEEK 'S BEST MOVIES
SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004) Monday 10 p.m., MAX Giving new meaning to "grateful dead," this is one of the weirdest movies of '04, has a slacker (Simon Pegg )...
DECK THE HOWLS; GIFT IDEAS FOR THAT DOG OR CAT ON YOUR LIST
With the holidays on the way, it's time to outfit your pet in style. Skip the reindeer antlers: four-legged holiday gear shouldn't be humiliating. A festive antler alternative that won't...
YEN FOR ASIA FILM
CALL it the little movie that could. "Taking Father Home," a charmer from China made for less than nothing by an unpaid cast and crew of the director's friends and...
GM IGOR IVANOV DEAD AT AGE 58
RARELY has a single game affected a player's life as did a 42-move Sicilian Defense won by Igor Ivanov in 1979. At age 32, Igor had achieved modest success in...
HOT LIST - WHAT WE'RE OBSESSED WITH THIS WEEK
1 Royal' ripoff The author may have named her baby after the Magnolia bakery, but there's good buzz on Galt Neiderhoffer's debut novel, "A Taxonomy of Barnacles" - a "Royal...
HOLY HOLLYWOOD!
Is "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" one big ad for Christianity? Depends on who you ask. The film's source, C.S. Lewis' 1950 novel, is acknowledged to be a...
THE 'WORLD' THAT 'MEMOIRS' FORGOT
Welcome to the "World of Geisha," the sexy alternative to Hollywood's "Memoirs of a Geisha." Director Rob Marshall's much-hyped new film about Japan's comfort women has no sex or nudity....
THIS WEEK'S MOVIES
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger play kissing cowboys in the Ang Lee-directed, Larry McMurtry-penned screenplay of Annie Proulx's sensitive Western. DIAS DE SANTIAGO Tale of an ex-soldier trying...
'GEISHA' A GO-GO - ASIA'S BIGGEST FEMALE STARS SELL 'MEMOIRS'
WHEN Chinese actress Gong Li makes her American film debut in "Memoirs of a Geisha" this Friday, it'll be in a role some see as deliciously close to real life....
HEAR THIS
IN CONCERT At the Nokia Theatre: Ohio emo-punk band Hawthorne Heights headlines tonight. England's sexy electronica singer/keyboardist Goldfrapp tomorrow. Clay Aiken, he of the frosted highlights, sings his heart out...
DIVA DIARY - LINDSAY LOHAN GETS 'PERSONAL' ON 2ND CD
Lindsay Lohan A Little More Personal (Raw) 3 STARS Universal THERE isn't a trace of goody-goody Mouse House movie aura in Lindsay Lohan's sophomore CD "A Little More Personal (Raw)."...
INDIE COMBO PLATTER - TWO GREAT BANDS THAT TASTE GREAT TOGETHER
Iron & Wine's Sam Beam is a gentle soul - and a gentle giant. A bearded man who can quiet a rowdy crowd at the Bowery Ballroom with his hushed...
CATCH THESE GERMS - LOS ANGELES PUNK ICONS REUNITE 25 YEARS AFTER SINGER'S DEATH
BACK in the late '70s, the Germs were one of the most influential punk bands in L.A., blending ferocious riffs with stage antics bordering on performance art. Exactly 25 years...
MEET MARKET - THE PLACE WHERE THE POST HOOKS YOU UP AND SENDS YOU OUT
E.R. stud sks sexy, fun hippie chick MEET Jackson, an extremety cute 24-year-old emergency-medicine research assistant. When he's not solving medical mysteries, he says he likes to "go out a...
REQUIRED READING
It never hurts to read about the Emancipation - you never know when you may learn something from the Civil War. In "Forever Free," Columbia University history professor Eric Foner...
CELEB DOC AND EX AT WAR; HE'S A 'CHEAT' & SHE'S 'NUTS' IN UGLY CONN. TUG OF LOVE
Anti-aging guru Dr. Nicholas Perricone and his ex-wife are locked in an ugly custody battle - the doctor accused of being a cheat who has fits of rage and used...
N.J. BUS CRASH TRAGEDY
A weekend shopping trip to Manhattan turned tragic yesterday when two tour buses from Albany collided at a New Jersey stoplight, critically injuring one driver and sending 25 passengers to...
BABY-RESCUE DRAMA; FIREMEN HEROES IN B'KLYN TRAGEDY
An FDNY veteran clambered three stories up a ladder to a smoke-filled Brooklyn apartment and broke through a window to grab a baby yesterday, in a fire that left a...
HAMPTONS DRIVER SLAIN
A Long Island man was found shot to death in his car near a Hamptons golf course yesterday morning. A Southampton Town police officer looked inside a parked 2000 Dodge...
'FIRE FAKE' HUNT ON; OHIO SOUNDS ALARM - RAPE FUGITIVE'S HERE!
Accused sex attacker Peter Braunstein was spotted repeatedly in Cleveland in the days following his alleged assault on a Chelsea woman, and cops fear he may have been there scouting...
TWU PLAYS TERROR CARD IN BLAST AT MTA
The transit union blasted the MTA for reducing the number of employees on trains and in stations. The criticism came after a federal judge commented in a ruling about bag...
'UNSAFE' TRUCK EYED IN FIRE FALL
The fire union blasted the city yesterday, charging that an antiquated FDNY rig contributed to a Bravest's near-fatal East Side road tumble - as sources told The Post the door...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
MANHATTAN *** A man in his 30s was struck by a subway train at an Upper East Side station early yesterday in an apparent suicide, police said. The victim, whose...
COVER GIRLS ALL; 4 SECONDS OF TIMES SQ. FAME
Bill Clinton's done it, Rudolph Giuliani's done it, and now even you can be on a Time magazine "Person of the Year" cover - but only for a moment. Random...
BEHIND SAD MYSTERY OF HEIRESS' NYU SUICIDE
SHE was the Paris Hilton of South Korea. But in New York City, she was just another lonely, anonymous co-ed at NYU's graduate school, struggling with the pressures of school,...
HAVE YOU SEEN THESE BX. THUGS?
Cops have released sketches of a man and a woman wanted for posing as homebuyers to gain entry to a house and then tying up, beating and robbing the seller,...
CRASH-FERRY CAPT. SUING FOR HIS JOB
The captain of the Staten Island Ferry that crashed and killed 11 people in 2003 has aimed a lawsuit at the city, saying they made him a scapegoat - and...
FIRST SNOW MAY PROVE A WASHOUT
The city's first real snowfall of the season could be just a tease, with fluffy flakes turning to soggy rain before noon today. Just in time for the holiday lights,...
STRIPPER HAD 'BAD ENERGY' ; SUSPECT'S COMPLAINT TO GURU BEFORE SLAY
Paul Cortez - the No. 1 suspect in the slaying of stripper Catherine Woods - told an Indian guru he was concerned about the "bad energy" surrounding his estranged lover...
'NEW FACE' DONOR WAS A SUICIDE
The woman whose lips, nose and chin were donated for the world's first face transplant died by committing suicide, it was revealed yesterday. The donor was a 38-year-old woman who...
FRANKLIN'S LAMENT; A LITANY OF RACIAL SLIGHTS
MIRROR TO AMERICA: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN BY JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN FARRAR STRAUSS GIROUX 416 PAGES, $25 IT is said that those who forget the past are doomed...
BRAVEST TEAM DELIVERS
A frightened Brooklyn woman with an early-arriving bundle of joy got some special-delivery help from New York's Bravest yesterday. Jonathan Gonzalez was born a mere five minutes after firefighters from...
B'KLYN WOMAN HIT BY BUS
A woman is clinging to life after a city bus struck her last night as she crossed a Brooklyn street, police said. The victim, described only as a woman in...
MORE TRUCK TROUBLES FOR EAST SIDE FIRE COMPANY
A day after a firefighter's skull was cracked in a fall from an aging replacement firetruck, his Upper East Side company experienced a vehicle malfunction with yet another replacement rig....
GIFT IDEA: SOUR GRAPES IN PARIS
JUDGMENT OF PARIS: CALIFORNIA VS. FRANCE AND THE HISTORIC 1976 PARIS TASTING THAT REVOLUTIONIZED WINEBY GEORGE M. TABER SCRIBNER, 336 PAGES, $26.00 LOOKING for a holiday gift in good taste?...
'GOTTI' TO PRAISE LORD WITH JUROR
Irv "Gotti" Lorenzo will be singing hallelujah today with one of the jurors who acquitted him on money-laundering charges Friday. Lorenzo said he planned to attend services at a Queens...
FAKE BY THE LAKE; CLEVELAND SOUNDS ALARM: FUGITIVE'S HERE!
Peter Braunstein was spotted repeatedly in Cleveland in the days following his alleged sexual assault of a Chelsea woman - and cops fear he may have been there scouting for...
BAD-NEIGHBOR POLICY: RAGE OVER EAST VILLAGE BUILDER'S PLAN
Meet the most hated man on East Second Street - a tough-minded physicist whose East Village condo plans have touched off a bitter feud with tenants in a row of...
RIDE'S OVER FOR FUN-PARK FAMILY
After a roller-coaster ride of nearly four decades, a Brooklyn family is sadly stepping away the popular Bensonhurst kiddie park it founded and steered to local fame. "It's a very,...
NYC'S KILLER STEAM; BREAKDOWN COULD MEAN DEADLY EXPLOSIONS ACROSS CITY
LONG before Hurricane Katrina's flood waters receded from New Orleans, the "I told you so's" - about the years of warnings of a coming killer storm - surged in. Well,...
BILLY WAGNER'S KIN-SLAY ANGUISH
New Met star Billy Wagner was a minor leaguer, waiting for that hard-earned call to the majors, when he received a phone call he'd never wanted. His sobbing wife was...
MIKE HOLDS ACE IN ALBANY $$ GAME
THE political turmoil in Albany is about to provide Mayor Bloomberg with his best hand yet in trying to win concessions from the state for New York City. "Does a...
CITY'S ETHICS PANEL PLAYS PARTY POOPER
They insist they're not being party poopers, but the city's ethics watchdogs have warned municipal workers to get permission before attending holiday shindigs sponsored by anyone with business before the...
FEEL LUCKY, PUNK? CBGB MAY BE BETTING ON VEGAS
Famed punk-rock club CBGB may be trading in the Bowery for the blackjack table. The New York institution - which will be evicted from its current location on the Bowery...
STERN: YOU AIN'T @#$%ING HEARD ANYTHING YET
Howard Stern has crowed for months about how he'll get as filthy as humanly possible when he jumps to censorship-free Sirius Satellite Radio next month - and now he's revealing...
BRAVEST BROOKLYN HEROES SAVE TOT
A 27-year FDNY veteran clambered three stories up a ladder to a smoke-filled Brooklyn apartment and broke through a window to grab a 23-month-old tot while trying to remove the...
UNION RIPS MTA TERROR 'LUNACY'
The transit union blasted the MTA for reducing the number of employees on trains and in stations after a federal judged ruled that the best way to stop terrorists is...
B'KLYN GAL IN HOSP AFTER BUS HITS HER
A woman is clinging to life after a city bus struck her last night as she crossed a Brooklyn street, police said. The victim, described only as a woman in...
CELEB DOC AND EX AT WAR - HE'S A 'CHEAT' & SHE'S 'NUTS' IN UGLY CONN. TUG OF LOVE
Anti-aging guru Dr. Nicholas Perricone and his ex-wife are locked in an ugly custody battle - the doctor accused of being a cheat who has fits of rage and used...
We were there on the awful night John Lennon was shot
It was a warmer than usual December day in New York, up in the 50s on Dec. 8, 1980. But the city was buzzing, as usual - "Stir Crazy" stars...
HOBBLING ISLES HIT THE ROAD
Fresh off blowing a two-goal lead to the Flyers at home, the ailing Islanders open a three-game road trip today in Detroit. With Shawn Bates, Petteri Nokelainen and Oleg Kvasha...
MEET MARKET; THEY'LL BE CHANGING SOX IN DALLAS
In the not so distant past, the Winter Meetings delivered all the excitement of reading your lease. Tired of agents using their stage to shop their clients, MLB scaled back...
JAYS TAKE FLIGHT ; SET TO COMPETE FOR AL EAST CROWN
EVEN though the Red Sox are trying harder to get that World Series baseball back from Doug Mientkiewicz than hiring a GM, this was another week where key arms slipped...
COLLINS CAN'T BUY A FREE THROW
NET NOTES Against Detroit on Wednesday, Jason Collins shot 1-of-2 from the foul line, 50 percent. And his season mark went up. "I don't know why," offered Collins, a 71.6-percent...
YANKS SWITCH DUNCAN TO FIRST
His path to the big leagues blocked by Alex Rodriguez at third, Eric Duncan is moving across the diamond. The Yankees' first-round draft pick in 2003 out of Seton Hall...
CHAPTER 11 POSSIBLE ; NYRA NEEDS $20M LAND SALE TO STAY AFLOAT
Shutting down Aqueduct this winter in the face of a financial crisis is not an option, New York Racing Association president Charles Hayward said yesterday, vowing NYRA will continue to...
ROLE REHEARSAL ; MCINNIS STILL TRYING TO FIT IN WITH NETS
Jeff McInnis is still figuring out his role. When he comes off the bench with strictly the second unit, McInnis senses the need to shoot first, ask questions later. But...
FORWARD THINKING ; KNICKS WAIVE BARNES, EYE SWINGMAN
The Knicks' small-forward position has been in chaos since Tim Thomas was traded in the Eddy Curry deal. Matt Barnes, signed two days into training camp, started on opening night...
KEEP ON DREAMIN'
JUST for the record, Next Town Brown didn't return to De troit, he was recalled. No, he wasn't overcome by the emotion of being embraced by his former starter as...
OFFSEASON AMAZIN', BUT METS AREN'T DONE
The Mets' winter is not even half-over, but it's never too early for a status report on the team's offseason. GM Omar Minaya and his staff will arrive in Dallas...
ALL IT TAKES IS ADRENALINE
SHOOTOUTDevils 3Wild 2 Some old Devil dogs learned new tricks through on-the-job training yesterday, overcoming both the jitters of fresh challenges and the Wild. There was assistant coach John MacLean,...
LILAH CAPTURES THE 'ROSES'
Lilah, 8-year-old mare making 38th start, came from off pace to take lead inside final furlong, then just held off furious late charge of Secret Forest to post 9-1 upset...
SUFFOLK WON'T SKEET THE ISSUE
THE Suffolk County Legislature is considering two bills that would support the opening of a trap and skeet facility. The county's Parks and Cultural Affairs Committee gave a favorable recommendation...
NO POSITIVES FROM THIS DEFEAT
NET NOTES It's one thing to lose to Detroit, the team with the best record in basketball. It's quite another to lose to Toronto, the team with the worst record....
THIS TIME, IT'S UNANIMOUS ; TAYLOR WINS DECISION OVER HOPKINS AGAIN
LAS VEGAS - The rematch wasn't much different from their first fight. When it over Bernard Hopkins thought he'd done enough win, but the judges disagreed, awarding the fight to...
SAILORS' DELIGHT - NAVY MAKES STATEMENT, ROUTS ARMY
Navy 42 Army 23 PHILADELPHIA - On Monday night, the Commander in Chief's Trophy was stolen from its locker-room perch on Navy's Annapolis campus. It was a prank of course,...
COLLINS FT SHOOTING JUST FOUL
NET NOTES Against Detroit on Wednesday, Jason Collins shot 1-of-2 from the foul line, 50 percent. And his season mark went up. "I don't know why," said Collins, a .716...
RAPTORS EAT UP CARTER AGAIN
There is something about Toronto that simply does not agree with Vince Carter. Whether playing for the Raptors or now against them, he just hasn't been at his high-flying best,...
STORM'S SLEEPER
St. John's 64Charlest. So. 50 St. John's coach Norm Roberts said his team played great defense last night in a 64-50 win over Charleston Southern in Carnesecca Arena. And for...
A CAPITAL OFFENSE ; BLUESHIRTS' STREAK ENDS DISMALLY IN D.C.
Capitals 5Rangers 1 WASHINGTON - Whether it's your NHL, my NHL, his NHL or her NHL, it's utterly impossible to win a game the way the Rangers played here last...
RAPTORS DEVOUR CARTER AGAIN
Perhaps the Nets won the war off the court last year when they traded three players and two picks to Toronto for Vince Carter; but the Raptors won the battle...
RUNNING TO STAND STILL ; NO EXCUSES FOR FAILURE TO COUNTER RUSH
FOXBORO - You can learn a lot about people during hard times. Here's the sum of the knowledge Jonathan Vilma - the only Jet worthy of Pro Bowl consideration -...
MUST ROLL BACK DALLAS DEFENSE
GIANT NOTES Unlike any game this season, the Giants' high-octane offense was running on empty back on Oct. 16 at Texas Stadium. The Cowboys, in their 16-13 overtime victory, handled...
SHIPPING OUT; NAVY KEEPS TROPHY WITH ROUT OF ARMY
Navy 42Army 23 PHILADELPHIA - On Monday night, the Commander in Chief's Trophy was stolen from its locker-room perch at Navy's campus in Annapolis. It was a prank of course,...
TROPHY'S SAFE IN THE FORT
Ft. Hamilton 46Lehman 22 Jeff Legree was going to be a high school quarterback before he was even born. "That's what's expected of you when you're my son," said his...
SWAMP STINKER - NETS WRETCHED AS LOWLY RAPTORS PREVAIL IN JERSEY
RAPTORS 95 NETS 82 Lawrence Frank, after showing visible disgust during his postgame comments last night, slammed the door to his office, registering a 7.3 on the coaching Richter scale....
NO NEED TO THROW A PITY PARTY FOR THORNTON
WASHINGTON - So let me get this straight. We're supposed to have empathy for Joe Thornton, "blindsided" by GM Mike O'Connell. We're supposed to wonder how the trade is going...
HEAD-ON COLLISION - GIANTS & 'BOYS KNOWTHIS ONE'S FOR EAST TITLE
In any huge game there are two options, and don't even try mentioning one of them to Antonio Pierce. The Giants' no-nonsense middle linebacker has already considered winning today against...
SPOIL-ENT GREEN - DECIMATED JETS TRYING TO RISE UP, RUIN PATRIOTS
FOXBORO - That they're much more a part of the chase for the No. 1 overall draft pick than they are a part of the playoff race doesn't mean the...
SIX IS ENOUGH - CLASSY HARRISON LETS HIS TD SPEAK FOR ITSELF
IT WAS the weirdest thing. On the Colts' first play from scrimmage Monday night, Peyton Manning, off a play fake to Edgerrin James, threw a TD bomb to WR Marvin...
KENDALL'S GOT MARTIN'S BACK, IF NOT HIS BLOCK
JET NOTES Jets center Pete Kendall, weighing in on whether or not Curtis Martin is "done," as former NFL coach Jimmy Johnson proclaimed last week, said he couldn't disagree more...
KNICKS FORWARD THINKING
The Knicks' small-forward position has been in chaos since Tim Thomas was traded in the Eddy Curry deal. Matt Barnes, signed two days into training camp, started on opening night...
CARTER FEELS FOR RAPTORS
Vince Carter's trade to the Nets a year ago this month was drowned in acrimony and shrouded by controversy, with many whispering the Raptors had given up Carter too cheaply,...
RAHMAN: SIZE WILL MATTER
LAS VEGAS - Hasim Rahman believes his size (6-2, 225 pounds) and strength will wear down James Toney should they meet for the WBC heavyweight championship in February. "It will...
BRING ON 'THE BUBBA' - CROSBY'S BETTER THAN RIP-OFF DEAL FOR CENTER FIELDER
THERE'S no other patch of real estate quite like it in all of American sports. It's only a couple hundred square feet in area. It's groomed perfectly for most of...
MEET MARKET - THEY'LL BE CHANGING SOX IN DALLAS
In the not so distant past, the Winter Meetings delivered all the excitement of reading your lease. Tired of agents using their stage to shop their clients, MLB scaled back...
IT'S G-MEN AGAINST 'BOYS - BIG BLUE VS. BIG D - ANOTHER CHAPTER IN A YOUNG-BUT-POTENT RIVALRY
The seeds of the rivalry were planted on Dec. 27, 1959 when Clint Murchison Jr. and Bedford Wynne signed Giants defensive coordinator Tom Landry to be the coach of their...
BENCH STRENGTH - STORM'S GRAY, JACKSON: STARTERS TO SUPER-SUBS
Forget the losing the St. John's basketball team went through last year for a second if that's possible. Imagine coaching a team that has no personnel issues. None. No griping...
SORELY KNEEDED - MCL PAIN KEEPS RUCINSKY OUT OF LINEUP
WASHINGTON - During a discussion on Friday about the diminished importance of line-matching in the zero-tolerance, offense-friendly NHL, Tom Renney reiterated his belief in rolling four lines and in using...