August 27, 2006
YOU MADE THE DEAL - YOU'RE STUCK WITH IT
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amDear John: I have a substantial amount of money in a bank CD that expires in early 2007. The bank gives me the brush-off when I plead to get my...
LITTLE MAESTROS INKS $5M LICENSING DEAL
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amYou'll never go broke, it seems, selling cutting-edge educational concepts to Manhattan moms. Little Maestros, a performance-based pre-school music class that is all the rage among urban parents who believe...
BATTLE OF THE BLONDES - SIMPSON SISTERS FIGHT FOR SALES
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amA new chapter in the sibling rivalry between Jessica and Ashlee Simpson is about to be written. On Tuesday, big-sister Jessica, 26, will release her latest CD, "A Public Affair,"...
TENNIS BOSS' HARD SERVE
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amArlen Kantarian may be the best sports executive no one has heard of. The man in charge of the U.S. Open, Kantarian, over his six years on the job, has...
NONPROFIT BOSS' PAST RAISES EYEBROWS
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amRufus Paul Harris, the CEO of Conversion Solutions Holdings Corp., a small Georgia-based holding company, recently predicted his company's stock would soon soar to $15 a share. Quite a boast...
THE SUMNER WIND - REDSTONE WORDS OUTFLAKE CRUISE
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amSumner Redstone created quite a stir last week, spewing vitriol against Tom Cruise, citing the star's flaky behavior. But in the wake of last week's clash, Hollywood insiders and Wall...
OLD-TIME PASTIME - BOUTON BRINGS BACK 'VINTAGE BASE BALL'
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amJim Bouton, the ex-Yankees hurler who penned the classic insider account of a big league season with the book "Ball Four," is turning back the clock. Bouton, who is persona...
TIVO WIN POINTS TO PROFITS
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amSubscriber-challenged TiVo Inc. appears to be in position to record some hefty profits. Fresh off its legal victory against EchoStar Communications, TiVo stands to put cable operators on the hook...
'JUSTICE' - HAVEN'T WE MET SOMEWHERE BEFORE?
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amTHE world of high-stakes criminal defense trials comes under the slick scrutiny of Jerry Bruckheimer, in the new Fox series "Justice." Bruckheimer is the clever guy behind the "CSI" franchise....
WATCH OUT FOR JONBENET BITES
August 27, 2006 | 4:00am'Dr. Morrison says JonBenet's parents were in on the murder.' IT doesn't matter if it makes much sense; it doesn't even matter if it makes no sense, at all. If...
LAST CALL - 'DEADWOOD,' 'ENTOURAGE'AND 'RESCUE ME'SUMMER SIGNOFFS
August 27, 2006 | 4:00am'Deadwood fans should be 'ready for blood,' as Swearengen would put it.' THEY'RE the three shows that saved the summer. Fans of quality TV shows had few places to go...
WHY TV'S DRIVING ME CRAZY RIGHT NOW
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amA "FALL" season that starts in summer, a cable news personality doing a desperation dance, and reality shows that aren't real - these are some of the things that are...
REEL GOOD - LINDA STASI PREVIEWS THIS WEEK'S BEST MOVIES
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amPIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL (2003) Sunday, 7 p.m., ABC The first of the monster hit Johnny Depp films adapted from tales of bloodthirsty killers who...
CREATIVE SOLUTION FOR 'PROBLEM PIECE'
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amIN certain openings, one unfortunate chessman gets a reputation as a "problem piece." Black's queen bishop in a French Defense or Queen's Gambit Declined, for example, often becomes the focus...
MIRACLE GROW - PLANTS MAY CURE WHAT AILS YOUR FURRY ONE
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amLAST week's column, on an astonishing new plant medicine that offers hope in the fight against animal cancer, generated many reader questions, chiefly: What other natural plant wonders work to...
25 SEXIEST NEW YORKERS - THEY'RE NOT BOLD-FACED NAMES YET - BUT THEY'RE HOT, THEY'RE COOL AND SOME MIGHT EVEN DATE YOU
August 27, 2006 | 4:00am25 Sexiest new yorkers Sure, Giselle and Jeter are hotties. But these folks are also the city's coolest, most gorgeous denizens - the ones you might actually share a cab...
SONNY ROLLINS
August 27, 2006 | 4:00am'COLOSSUS." That word's most frequently been used to describe Sonny Rollins over the past 50 years. It recalls his 1956 masterpiece, "Saxophone Colossus," fits his still-commanding physical stature at 75,...
HOT LIST - WHAT WE'RE OBSESSED WITH THIS WEEK
August 27, 2006 | 4:00am1) 'Band World' Long Island punk band Patent Pending (and Benny the Whale) created this YouTube fave, a hilariously bizarre spoof of MTV's "Real World." Part four leads up to...
BEYOND TV - MTV PUSHES THE VMAS INTO NEW TERRITORY, NEW SOUNDS
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amON the outside looking in at the MTV's Video Music Awards, the network's annual flagship event looks like it's in trouble - and not because Bono said the F-word, again,...
THIS WEEK'S DVDS
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amSouth Park: Season 8 [*** 1/2] (Three and one-half stars) Paramount, $49.99 THINK "South Park" has slumped in its old age? Season 8 is here to prove you wrong. "The...
BAG MANIA - DOWN UNDER WONDERS ARE GREAT FOR GADGETS
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amAS if my love life isn't complicated enough, I recently fell in love with an Australian. She's colorful and well-built, and when she's next to me, we fit perfectly together....
DYLAN AT HIS BEST
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amBOB DYLAN "Modern Times" [****] (Four stars) Columbia YOU can appreciate a Bob Dylan album for lyrics, melodies, musicianship - even his nasally rasp of a voice, so distinct it...
VMA'S ARE PHONEY
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amMOVE aside, music video of the year! The VMAs will debut a brand spankin' new category this Thursday - "Ringtone of the Year." Yes, that's right. They're giving out shiny...
SLICKER 'WICKER'
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amWARNER Bros. is heavily promoting its remake of "The Wicker Man," featuring Nicolas Cage and directed by Neal LaBute. It opens on Friday, but don't go looking for reviews in...
LONG IS. 'BOOZE' BROTHERS - CRASH INTO EACH OTHER
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amMaybe these guys should answer to the names Drunk and Drunker. Two brothers from Brentwood, L.I., tied on a few at separate parties, Suffolk County cops said - then got...
WALKER KILLED IN CAR SMASH
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amA Morningside Heights man was hit and killed by a pair of cars just a block from the building where he grew up, police said. James "Smokey" Rucker, 47, was...
DRUNKARD SURVIVES 5-FLOOR SPILL
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amAlcohol really does limber up the body. A 60-year-old man, apparently drunken, fell five stories off the roof of his Hell's Kitchen apartment at about 10:30 last night and was...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amMANHATTAN * Police are asking for the public's assistance in identifying this woman (above), wanted for pulling heists at a Harlem bank this month. The thief first struck a Chase...
GARDEN-VARIETY B'KLYN - PARK PLAN A WATERFRONT WONDER
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amThe scenes seem more Greenwich than Greenpoint: pedestrians strolling along a shorefront esplanade, kayakers paddling through placid waters, people gathering at an outdoor performance shell. But if city park planners...
BETRAYER HILL IS STILL A PAL: JOE
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Sen. Joe Lieberman has "no bones to pick" with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton even though the former first lady is loaning her top political operative and fund-raising machine...
BOAT SALE, LITTLE BUDDY! - MINNOW YOURS FOR ONLY 99G
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amTake your own three-hour tour - the S.S. Minnow is up for sale. The famed "Gilligan's Island" boat - which took the seven castaways for a tour gone horribly wrong...
BIG EASY BOY'S SONG - BRAVE TRUMPETER UPBEAT ONE YEAR AFTER KATRINA
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amOn the eve of one of the most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history, Glenn Hall III fled his New Orleans neighborhood. The 11-year-old and his family made their way to...
COPS OFF HOOK IN '99 SLAYING
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amGideon Busch's mother has dropped a lawsuit against the cops who shot dead the hammer-wielding, mentally disturbed man in 1999. Doris Busch Boskey wrote a letter to federal Judge John...
ARTBREAKING - PAINTER SUES OVER SUNLIGHT 'BLOCKER'
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amIt's the classic battle of light vs. darkness. A world-renowned quadriplegic artist is fighting a downtown developer that threatens to block his high-tech studio's natural sunlight. Chuck Close, whose work...
GANG FANTASY DROVE PSYCHO QUEENS RED CAR 'KILLER'
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amThe crazed Queens gunman who allegedly killed one man and wounded five in a drive-by rampage against red vehicles was in the throes of drug-induced delusions that he was being...
GUNMAN'S PHONE PAUSE
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amMatthew Colletta took a timeout from his deadly shooting spree across Queens Friday night to phone a lifelong friend and complain, "Things ain't going good right now." Jason Perry, 34,...
THE WATCHDOGS - KEEP UP HUNT FOR VIVI 6 MOS. LATER
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amTalk about dogged. Kind-but-kooky Queens animal lovers believe they are hot on the tail of the runaway show dog that eluded rescuers six months ago after escaping its travel carrier...
EX-CON KIM A LIL' PLAGIARIST: DIVA - HIP-HOPPING MAD REGGAE STAR SUES
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amJust when raunchy rap diva and ex-con Lil' Kim's legal woes seemed behind her, a Jamaican reggae singer has charged her with ripping off lyrics for her last album. Kim...
MODEL TV SHOW'S A POSH-IBILITY
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amPosh Spice is coming to American reality TV. Soccer star David Beckham's better half is set to star in a show billed as a mix between "America's Next Top Model"...
DRUG-FUELED GANG FANTASY DROVE QUEENS PSYCHO'S RAMPAGE
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amThe crazed Queens gunman who allegedly killed one man and wounded five in a drive-by rampage against red vehicles was in the throes of drug-induced delusions that he was being...
QNS. HOLY SCHOOL IN 'MOLEST' FUROR - SHEIK PROTECTS PERV: SUIT
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amThe ex-principal of a Muslim school in Queens is accusing the religious community's spiritual leader, a sheik from Iraq, of covering up his daughter's sexual assault at the hands of...
SECT COULD 'SET' UP CRUISE - INSIDE SCIENTOLOGY'S SECRET FILM LOT
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amIf Tom Cruise is in the market for a new moviemaking home, he need look no further than his wacky place of worship - which owns a $41 million media...
ISRAEL'S WAR AT SEA
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amTHE Israeli navy rarely gets the spotlight, but it briefly drew attention in July when a Hezbollah antiship missile surprised a command vessel, killing four sailors. Then the coverage turned...
THE 5TH ANNUAL LIBERTY MEDAL AWARDS - LET'S HONOR CITY'S BEST
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amTheir reward is not fame or fortune, but simply the knowledge that they've made life better for countless other New Yorkers. We are seeking candidates for the fifth annual New...
WALKER KILLED IN DOUBLE-CAR SMASH
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amA Morningside Heights man was Iraq tribal bigs ink unity pact hit and killed by a pair of cars just a block from the apartment building where he grew up,...
KARRS' PHOTO 'PROOF' - FAMILY'S PIX PROBED
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amProsecutors in JonBenet Ramsey's decade-old murder are poring over eight photographs that John Mark Karr's brother says prove he was in Georgia at the time of the slaying - even...
PUSH FOR CITY'S OWN BAR-LICENSE FORCE
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amA Queens lawmaker wants to establish a New York City Liquor Authority, saying the state's version failed New York by allowing a glut of nightclubs to take over West 27th...
'SOPRANO' TRIES OUT A NEW RACKET: BX. POLITICS
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amCRIME and politics some times intersect, but never like they're going to at the Bronx Board of Elections next month when an actor from "The Sopranos" takes a job as...
LAST CALL FOR CLUBLAND BIZ DESERTERS
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amA cop crackdown in clubland is just gearing up - and some owners are thinking of getting out. Police padlocked Spirit on Friday as part of a mobilized effort to...
DIFF'RENT STROKES - FEDERER & NADAL SET UP FOR ANOTHER FANTASTIC FINAL
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amRoger Federer and Rafael Nadal have become Ali-Frazier with rackets - a budding rivalry containing all the compelling contrasts. Their strokes, their playing styles, their body types, their dress, their...
IT'S BEEN A GAS!
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amThe U.S. Open will mark the end of Andre Agassi's career - arguably the most colorful in tennis history. While the sore-backed Agassi might be one-and-done this fortnight, he has...
'HANDLE' SCANDAL - $200 PLAYOFF TICKET TACK-ON AN AMAZIN' ROBBERY STICK 'EM UP!
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amEVERYTHING in sports that once was out of the question - things that would have been impossible to even imagine because they'd be beyond the furthest limits of common sense...
RED BULLS LOOK TO PAST FOR SCORING HELP
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amThe Red Bulls sold off their leading goal-getter last month. Now, after they stopped scoring, they have brought back one of their old homegrown strikers. Staten Island's John Wolyniec was...
PAVANO SUFFERS ANOTHER SETBACK
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES ANAHEIM - Yankees right-hander Carl Pavano is running out of body parts to break down. Following his rehab start for Triple-A Columbus on Friday night, Pavano supposedly complained...
ARR OF SUCCESS - LAVAR BELIEVES JINTS CAN GO FAR
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amIt was not a performance that spurred any of the Giants who play on the offensive side of the ball to sing their own praises. Not after Eli Manning failed...
COFIELD GETS NOSE DIRTY - TACKLE LOOKS TO START
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amGIANT NOTES Rookie Barry Cofield is in the running for the Giants' starting nose tackle spot, and he did not hurt his cause with his performance Friday night in a...
ROUGH OUTING FOR ROOKIE CLEMENS
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amJET NOTES Jets rookie quarterback Kellen Clemens, who looks like the man Eric Mangini wants to back up Chad Pennington, was hard on himself after going 3-for-11 for 24 yards...
BERNARDINI ROLLS IN TRAVERS
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amSARATOGA SPRINGS - Shivers. Goosebumps. Cheers - and a standing ovation when he returned to the winner's circle. These are the emotions 3-year-old supercolt Bernardini evoked from the Saratoga crowd...
A-ROD PLAYING WHIFF-LE BALL - 3 MORE K'S ADD UP TO ANOTHER YANK 'L'
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amAngels 12 - Yankee 7 ANAHEIM - John Wooden's pregame chat with Alex Rodriguez made for nice theater, but the legendary UCLA basketball coach didn't help A-Rod escape Hitter's Hell....
A-ROD PLAYING WHIFF-LE BALL - THREE MORE KS, AWFUL ARMS DOOM YANKEES
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amAngels 12 - Yankee 7 ANAHEIM - Alex Rodriguez stunk again. Not even a pre-game chat with UCLA college basketball legend John Wooden could get A-Rod out of a deep...
PAVANO SUFFERS SETBACK
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES ANAHEIM - Carl Pavano is running out of body parts to break down. Following his rehab start for Columbus (Triple-A) Friday night, Pavano talked of a problem with...
WIZARD FAILS TO WORK MAGIC WITH ALEX
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amANAHEIM - John Wooden won 10 NCAA basketball titles motivating players to greatness. Yesterday, the Wizard of Westwood may have taken on the greatest challenge in his 95 years: Alex...
RED BULLS' SIX-SHOOTERS BLANK SALT LAKE
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amRed Bulls 6 - Real Salt Lake 0 Abject famine became the Red Bulls' biggest feast ever in their first victory for coach Bruce Arena. "You never anticipate a margin...
GLAVINE TARGETS FRIDAY RETURN
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amMET NOTES Tom Glavine took another step toward returning to the Met rotation by throwing off a mound yesterday for the first time since suffering coldness in his left ring...
GREEN LIGHT - SHAWN (AND ENDY) KEY AMAZIN' COMEBACK
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amMets 11 - Phillies 5 Carlos Beltran tied his career high with his 38th home run last night, the 200th of his career. Carlos Delgado walloped his 33rd home run,...
TURKEY BANDS HIT RIGHT NOTES
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amA FOUR-year study is arming wildlife biologists with information to fine-tune wild turkey management. The Tri-State Gobbler Banding Study, now in its first year, involves statewide research in Pennsylvania, New...
YOU'LL SEE 'EM IN SEPTEMBER
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amWITH pennant races heating up and the roster expansion just five days away, it's hard to figure out who will and won't get playing time. Common sense says competing teams...
SEVENTH HEAVEN - BIG INNING EPITOMIZES AMAZIN' CAPABILITIES
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amYOU KNEW Oliver Perez wasn't going to hold up. The Mets have waited since the beginning of time it seems for someone to pitch the franchise's first no-hitter. And after...
BASEBALL'S BLACKOUT - TUCKER CONCERNED BY SLIDING NUMBER OF BLACK PLAYERS
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amMichael Tucker laughs when he's called an endangered species. It is one of those laughs prompted initially by humor, only to fade at the sobering reality of the statement. Tucker,...
NEXT ANDRE NEEDED, AND FAST - SOMEONE MUST GRAB THE CHARISMA BATON
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amTHERE have been other big farewells at the U.S. Open, of course. Pete Sampras gave us one of the greatest goodbyes in the history of professional sport four years ago,...
COLD CORNER - WILLIE NOT WORRIED BY WRIGHT'S THIRD-RATE PLAY
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amNo homers since July 28, two hits in the past 20 atbats, no multi-hit games in his previous six. Which New York third baseman does that sound like? Although Alex...
LAST DANCE - AGASSI BEGINS EMOTIONAL SWAN SONG
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amAndre Agassi arrived in New York last Sunday for the final time as a pro tennis player, beginning one week filled with nostalgia. When the van would head from a...
LENN ROBBINS' TOP 25
August 27, 2006 | 4:00am1. NOTRE DAME 9-3, lost 34-20 to Ohio State in Fiesta. Coach: Charlie Weis - Part Lou Holtz/part Bill Parcells. Star: QB Brady Quinn. Showdown: Nov. 25 at Miami. Flaw:...
IRISH'S FUTURE IN NAMATH CLONE'S HANDS
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amCalifornia's Jimmy Clausen, the nation's No.1-rated high school quarterback who committed to Notre Dame, was watching a film compiled by QB guru Steve Clarkson when one player's mannerisms beckoned from...
WEIS GUYS FINISH FIRST - COACH WILL LEAD NOTRE DAME BACK TO TOP
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amSOUTH BEND - The spread at Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis' house was fit for national champs - salad, prime roast beef, lasagna, potatoes, corn on the cob, Oreo cake...
TOM TARGETS FRIDAY
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amMET NOTES Tom Glavine took another step toward returning to the Mets' rotation by throwing off a mound yesterday for the first time since suffering coldness in his left ring...
SCORE BIG WITH GOOD GRABS
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amTerrell Owens might be the Barbra Streisand of the NFL. Both come at a high cost thanks to their talent, and both have been deemed high-maintenance. Why is this relevant?...
GRIND'S WORTH IT FOR COMEBACK-KID HINGIS
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amThere are mornings when Martina Hingis, like the rest of us, would rather hit the snooze button than go to work. Hingis launched a comeback this year after a three-year...
MARC BERMAN'S U.S. OPEN PICKS
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amMEN Roger Federer: One thing you won't see in New York this week is Federer and CBS's Mary Carillo sharing a latte and a laugh. As if Federer needed a...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
August 27, 2006 | 4:00amAn Internet surfer sitting in Dallas helped foil a burglary across the Atlantic that unfolded while he was watching a Web cam pointed at an English street, police said. The...