February 15, 2007
G.R. Update: L.A. Chimes In, Via Providence
Just as the "Ghost Rider'' screening gets under way in Gotham City (Kyle is there), the Providence Journal has posted what's apparently the first U.S. newspaper review of the $120...
Carl Pavano still doesn't get it
By GEORGE KINGIn addition to promising to rehab his creaky body this past winter, Pavano decided it was time to make nice with the media that covered the team. Rightfully...
Updates. . .
By MARK HALESome more Mets arrived in camp today, which is officially reporting day (physicals are tomorrow, along with Willie Randolph's opening meeting with the media). Here are some quick...
Too predictable
By MARC BERMANLAS VEGAS - In my Golden State game story today, and in many past references this season, I've called the club "the unpredictable Knicks''. But that's no longer...
The Verdict From Down Under
"Ghost Rider'' is "extremely proficient and visually dazzling,'' claims the first major review I can find -- from The Age in Australia, where it's not only Friday already but at...
'Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?'
That famous line delivered by a deadpan Peter Graves in "Airplane!'' comes to mind when reading Todd McCarthy's entertaining review in Variety of "300,'' Zack Snyder's new film about the...
HELP DAVID WRIGHT
By KEVIN KERNANBefore I zipped across Florida and the tight two-lane roads from Port St. Lucie to Ft. Myers and the west coast â believe me, you havenât seen road...
Frankie Laine
Here's a shout-out and a link to my old friend Leonard Maltin, who pays a fitting tribute to the recently-deceased singer Frankie Laine (whose sonorous voice looms large under the...
EVENTS: So you think you can aria
courtesy of Chicago Opera Theater Tired of watching those no-talents whining their way through "Unbreak My Heart" on American Idol get props, while actual trained singers get laughed out of...
Critic Proof?
According to early predictions, "Ghost Rider'' has a shot at the best-ever opening for a movie without opening-day reviews in major newspapers. Currently, that title is apparently held by "Alien...
Lo Duca Arrives
By MARK HALEPaul Lo Duca just spoke to the media and said that he wants to be a Met in 2008 and beyond. Lo Duca's contract is up after the...
You know she's no good
While music and fashion hipsters continue to worship Lily Allen, I'm hoping for another British invasion: Amy Winehouse. At 23, she has the voice of a blues singer who spent...
DAY 6: Projecting the Met Roster
Met camp opens today, so letâs play the same game with them that we did earlier in the week with the Yankees by projecting a 25-man roster.Here is our best...
Jiggle and Flow
"Ghost Rider'' isn't the only movie debuting this week that's been shielded from critics. "Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls'' opened cold yesterday, which is somewhat unusual for a Wednesday opening,...
WIZARDS OF ODDS
WHILE sports analysts meticulously pore over stats, injury reports and game footage, trying to determine the line for this weekend's games, there's another group of analysts who get to sit...
JUDGMENT GAY
IF the characters in every single city woman's life are straight out of Central Casting (and they must be, for the purposes of easy and entertaining categorization), then the Gay...
HAUTE LIST
FOUNDED in 1912 by Madeleine Vionnet, the house of Vionnet was most famous for popularizing the bias-cut dress, revolutionizing curvaceous gowns and giving us something to watch before every Academy...
OLD JOKES, SO YOU'LL GET THE DRIFT
THE genre peaked more than a half-century ago, but for some reason film noir continues to inspire an endless number of parodies. "Adrift in Macao" - the new musical by...
LUSTY GROWS RUSTY
YOU'D think that listening to attractive women describing their sexual fantasies in explicit detail would be pretty exciting. But "My Secret Garden" would prove you wrong. The theater piece that...
NIXON EXPOSED
THERE are simply no TV documentaries as good as those made by The History Channel when The History Channel does what it does best - straight-on history documentation without the...
STARR REPORT
K. Mathers as the ex So you're Keith Ablow and your show's been cancelled. But you still have to produce new material - and it's February sweeps. Well, Ablow is...
MOVING OUT
AT least we know these six survived the earthquake that shook "The O.C." last Thursday on Fox. While it's also likely that others not pictured here are still alive following...
'NIGHTLINE' TO STAY IN HALF-HOUR TIME SLOT
ABC has no plans to expand "Nightline" by a half-hour and move "Jimmy Kimmel Live" to 12:35 a.m., network officials insisted yesterday. They were reacting to a story published in...
'STUDIO' CLOSES DOORS
IT could be curtains for "Studio 60." Aaron Sorkin's low-rated NBC drama is being yanked off the schedule Feb. 26 to accommodate the premiere of "The Black Donnellys," NBC announced...
THE 'DIRT' ON THE KISS
THE "kissing scene" on an upcoming episode of "Dirt" between "Friends" Courteney Cox and Jennifer Aniston will be more of a peck-on-the-cheek. "There is no tongue," Cox told "Access Hollywood"...
BLAND AMBITION
DID Tyler Perry lend his fat suit to Eddie Murphy? Madea gets benched in "Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls," the writer-director-mogul's third big-screen soap, and America gets a break from...
BLACK PRIDE
Just this morning, I was listening to radio host Luisito Vigeroux talking about a movie project that I am working on which co-stars Mayra Santos Febres and he was saying,...
GREATNESS REMEMBERED
Numbers never lie, but they often don't tell the whole story. Roberto Clemente's career stats - 3,000 hits, 12 Gold Gloves and two World Series rings - guaranteed the late...
VALENTINE'S DAY
MARGARITA MADNESS Customers swear that the bartenders at Zarela spike their margaritas with a special aphrodisiac - what else can explain all the couples that fall madly in love at...
50 LATINOS LOOKING FOR LOVE
We scoured the city and beyond to find the hottest latino and Latina singles and the results are in. We found a stylish Mexican DJ, a hunky chef who wants...
IF IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY
Never doubt that you are special. Never doubt that you will do something worthwhile with your life. You may feel that the past 12 months or so were a bit...
QUINN-TESSENTIAL IDEA: RENT REBATES
After years of homeowners getting $400 rebate checks from Mayor Bloomberg, many renters may get some money in their pockets if City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has her way. Council...
BIG PLANS FOR RED HOOK WATERFRONT
City officials have inked a pact that could dramatically cut back dock workers and cargo facilities on the Brooklyn waterfront in favor of beer gardens and possibly apartments. It will...
PRACTICE CELL-IBACY: DRIVER GAB BUSTS SOAR
Talk is not cheap for motorists caught on hand-held cellphones - and last year, cops snared an average of 422 drivers a day chatting away on the road, officials reported...
PAUL'S EX KICKS A$*
Maybe high-kicking Heather Mills was practicing her moves for a likely appearance on "Dancing with the Stars" when a photographer's rear end happened to get in the way. Cops in...
SCHOOL CRIME JUMPS
A huge increase in grand larcenies - in cluding thefts of laptop computers - boosted the overall rate of major crimes in city schools a whopping 21 percent, of ficials...
BLOOMY'S BIRTHDAY BARGAIN
Mayor Bloomberg celebrated his 65th birthday yesterday with cake, congratulations - and a half-price senior-citizen MetroCard. Aides to the billionaire media mogul presented him with the card, encrypted with his...
10 HRS. ON JETGLUE
We've heard of jet lag, but this was ridiculous. Hundreds of JetBlue passengers at Kennedy Airport yesterday spent the most romantic day of the year trapped on at least seven...
CORRECTION
Due to an editing mistake, a small number of copies of yesterday's Post carried a headline referring to "Osama" over a story about Sen. Barack Obama on Page 2. The...
'SMOTHER' MA SUES LANDLORD
A Bronx mother has filed an $80 million lawsuit against her landlord, saying her apartment was so infested with rats she was forced to sleep with her infant son, causing...
'PUPNAP' PUNKS DID IT FOR MOM
A tail of intrigue led cops to collar a BB-gun-toting teen dognapper - who then confessed he helped his pal steal a New Jersey couple's beloved cocker spaniel for his...
TERRIER IN DEATH 'SHOCK'
A Boston terrier died on a downtown street yesterday from what witnesses feared was an electric shock. But Con Ed said it couldn't find electricity leaking from equipment anywhere near...
MYSTERY TERROR SPY COPS PLEA
A Brooklyn man with reported ties to Iraqi terrorists, who conned his way into a job as an Arabic translator for the Army, pleaded guilty yesterday to illegally possessing classified...
$1M HOBO HEAVE-HO SUIT DROPPED
An Upper East Side antique dealer is giving new meaning to the term "bum deal" by dropping his $1 million suit against a homeless man he said was chasing off...
$52M FIELD DAY
The city approved a 20-year deal yesterday to let 20 private schools have exclusive use of several Randalls Island ballparks on weekday afternoons in exchange for $52 million. The deal,...
COP FAKED PCT. CRIME STATISTICS
An NYPD sergeant has been punished for cooking the books in his Queens station house by misclassifying reports and signing other officers' names to the documents, The Post has learned....
GREAT COVER-UP
The Big Apple's official subway-themed condoms hit the streets yesterday - Valentine's Day - making New York the first city in the nation to distribute its own brand of contraceptives....
'V-J' KISS GIVES 10G V-DAY BLISS
It's an iconic kiss - and a photograph that captured the famous Times Square smooch went for 10,000 smackers yesterday at a Valentine's Day auction. It was Aug. 14, 1945,...
'FINISH HER OFF'
Dangling $20,000 like a carrot in front a phony hit man he wanted to kill his wife, a Long Island businessman warned his hire not to bungle the job because...
HOWARD AGAIN AN ALTAR-NATIVE JOCK
He said he was never getting hitched again, but satellite-radio shock jock Howard Stern is heading to the altar. The lesbian-loving "King of All Media" said he will make his...
TEACHER 'BOOKED'
A teacher was arrested at her Queens middle school yesterday for throwing a book at a 12-year-old student who refused to stop talking in class, police said. Gale Dragone, 52,...
ICY MAIN BREAK ON W. SIDE
A miserable combination of snow, sleet, rain, ice and subfreezing temperatures made for treacherous conditions, including an Upper West Side water main break last night, authorities said. The break occurred...
THREAT SCARES IMETTE 'KILLER'
The bouncer accused of torturing and killing Imette St. Guillen refused to appear in a courtroom yesterday on a Queens kidnapping charge because of a threat he'd received while on...
'SEX SLAVE' HAD OWN SICKO SITE
A woman who claimed she was tortured and photographed against her will for a sick S&M Web site admitted to jurors yesterday during cross-examination that she started her own bondage...
KIDS SHOVEL OFF
A winter storm that blanketed the city with snow, ice, freezing rain and sleet yesterday made roads tough to clear and had parents scrambling to get their kids to school...
STRIPPER SAID 'SLAYER' GAY
Tragic throat-slash victim Catherine Woods had told her parents she felt completely safe around her accused killer, Paul Cortez - because she believed he was gay. "She said she had...
'NASTY' JUDGE NIXED IN BID TO STOP PROBE
A politically connected Bronx judge under investigation for excessive "meanness" tried and failed to block a state investigation, documents released yesterday show. Family Court Judge Marian Shelton allegedly made rude...
ELIOT, PLEASE BE MY VALENTINE
ALBANY - The "spirit of love" briefly brought Gov. Spitzer and Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno together yesterday, as Bruno personally delivered a Valentine's Day bouquet of roses to...
DEM'S 9G JOB A JOKE
Disgraced former Democratic boss Clarence Norman squeezed $9,000 from a Brooklyn judicial candidate in 2002 under the guise of campaigning - even though it wasn't used to print any literature...
L.I. NANNY-CAM ABUSE BUST
A nanny has been arrested after the parents of a 2-year-old boy recorded her molesting the tot, authorities said yesterday. The parents, who live on Long Island, were first alerted...
TIMES SQUARE GATOR AIDER
A fearless hotel doorman gives a taxi assist yesterday to Cliff, a gator guest from Florida in town for today's Orlando Beach Oasis in slushy Times Square.
SHE HOPED TO 'STARVE' BABY
Anna Nicole Smith's former nanny said the model ordered her to underfeed Smith's newborn girl - in order to make the infant look "sexy," according to shocking court papers. The...
D.C. POLS BALK AT $1B FOR 9/11 FUND
WASHINGTON - Congressmen reacted cautiously yesterday to Mayor Bloomberg's call to put $1 billion into a reopened 9/11 victims' compensation fund to pay volunteers and contractors who suffered losses responding...
ALL 'IDOL' HANDS FINALLY ON DECK
Forget about the off-key singers and weirdos - "American Idol" is getting down to business. And now it's personal. After weeks of sifting through the chaff, providing some laughs (and...
SHOCKING 200G HILL DEAL
Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign reached a deal to pay a key South Carolina black leader's consulting firm more than $200,000 just days before he agreed to endorse her run for...
RUDY WILL LET PUBLIC CHECK HIS CHECKUP
Rudy Giuliani, a prostate-cancer survivor who fought the disease seven years ago, will have a "comprehensive" physical exam and release the results, his aides said yesterday. Giuliani and his chief...
WACKY JUDGE DELIVERS 'BODY' BLOW TO SMITH'S KIN
A Florida judge yesterday ruled that Anna Nicole Smith's remains won't be released anytime soon, angering loved ones who fear her body will rot away and not be suited for...
BLACK HISTORY TRADING CARDS
So, I'll trade you an Oprah Winfrey for two Bessie Colemans and a Jimi Hendrix. That's a conversation Luanga Nuwame hopes to promote among kids with his sets of collectible...
HOW ODIERNO TWISTED THE KNIFE
ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Newly free millionaire Ben Odierno turned his sons against their mother before he savagely stabbed her to death, his slain wife's heartsick mom said yesterday. Toward the...
NYPD BLOTTER
BROOKLYN Police say this man shot a teen passer-by outside a Crown Heights barbershop. Dwight Nunes, a k a. "Benji," allegedly busted into Kev's Barber Shop on Empire Boulevard and...
LOTTERY
NEW YORK Midday Nos. Wed.: 285; Lucky Sum: 15 / Midday Win-4 Wed.: 3773; Lucky Sum: 20 / Evening Nos. Wed.: 424; Lucky Sum: 10 / Evening Win-4 Wed.: 1890;...
'THE SYSTEM IS DOWN'
The only thing more chilling than the nor'easter that set the city to slip ping and sliding yesterday was the continued cluelessness of city officials regarding the Department of Education's...
DEMS FOR A TERROR HAVEN
President Bush yesterday was overly generous to House Democrats press ing a resolution that has rightly been called the first step toward a U.S. abandonment of Iraq: "They have every...
MOOK'S SPOOKED
LOOKS like our team won this round of Spook-the- Mook. A best-in-show source in Baghdad confirms that Muqtada al-Sadr took off on a road-trip to Iran. And he wasn't just...
TERROR TURNABOUT: IRAN ATTACKED
A BUS carrying a dozen military officers is stopped in broad daylight by a group of police officers, who ask its civilian driver to disembark. Minutes later, a car bomb...
SCARE SCIENCE
THE highly publicized recent death of re tired New York City police officer and Ground Zero worker Cesar A. Borja has all but cemented yet another junk-science-fueled myth in the...
LIBBY'S 'LITTLE' DISTRACTIONS
ONLY minutes before Scooter Libby rested his case yesterday in the proceeding that has riveted political junkies across America, the world learned something entirely new. We got a glimpse into...
BRUNO AND SILVER'S POL PROTECTION RACKET
I am disgusted and angry that the financial well-being of all New Yorkers is in the hands of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno ("Their Worthless...
ABC'S OF INTERVIEWING DICTATORS
L. Brent Bozell III misses the most obvious reason why Diane Sawyer wouldn't ask the dictators who she interviewed real, honest and hard-hitting questions ("Softy Sawyer's Syrian Suck-Up," PostOpinion, Feb....
IT TAKE'S A THIEF
Ryan Brant, the founder and former chief executive of troubled video-game designer Take-Two Interactive Software, is cooperating with regulators who are looking to expand their case against the company, The...
TV LAND, COMEDY CENTRAL HEAD DOWNTOWN
Sumner Redstone's Viacom is planning to move its MTV Networks Entertainment Group, which includes cable channels Comedy Central, Spike TV and TV Land, into new digs on Hudson Street as...
THIS PLAY ON OPTIONS WILL MAKE YOU MONEY
THE stock market has a strong tendency to stage impressive rallies during the five trading days before options and futures contracts expire, according to research conducted for The Post. In...
ST. VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE
It was a heartless day for Wall Street to try and break off its once-hot love affair with 1-800-Flowers. The Valentine's Day downgrade of the flower seller's stock yesterday by...
EMI'S STOCK TANKS
Investors turned their backs on EMI Group Chairman Eric Nicoli yesterday, sending shares in the music company he leads tumbling 12 percent after the company issued its second profit warning...
SAFETY AT HOME DEPOT SACRIFICED FOR SAVING$
On the morning of Oct. 8, a gunman walked into a Home Depot in South Central Los Angeles, took three employees hostage, including the store manager, forced them to their...
A PIRATE FIGHTER'S BOON
A move by the music industry toward unprotected MP3 files would be a goldmine for Artistdirect.com, which has a corner on the piracy protection market via its MediaDefender software. With...
PAPER CUTS
The New York Observer's redesign hit yesterday, the most radical overhaul in its nearly 20-year existence, and the verdict from a cross-section of New Yorkers was, well, underwhelming. That might...
MONSTER BIG FACES PROBE
The New York Times' announcement yesterday of a new co-branding pact with Monster.com quickly got overshadowed by headlines late in the day that a former top executive at the online...
FORMER AIDE BRIT-SLAPS SPEARS
The Good Ship Britney is sinking fast and the rats are jumping off. Former pop princess Britney Spears' latest leak is an open letter from her former assistant describing how...
FELICIA SPEAKS
Felicia Culotta's letter to Ruben, the editor of a blog called That Other Blog, in response to a "Why Britney is Asking for it" post: Ruben, Once again-I commend you...
HOUSES OF THE WEEK
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn $899,000 Bedrooms: 5 Bathrooms: 3 1/2 Square feet: 4,000 Currently configured as an owner's duplex with two additional full-floor apartments, this four-story Decatur Street brownstone "has it all"...
YOU GOAT GIRL
The woman who sold me her house loved chickens. She kept three dozen hens and gave neighbors fresh eggs. The birds lived in a wooden coop but roamed around during...
SAND GRAB
PRESIDENT'S Day weekend has traditionally been the time many New Yorkers start looking for their Hamptons summer rental. So when city dwellers head out on Route 27 this weekend -...
JUST SOLD!
Manhattan CHELSEA $3,450,000 456 West 25th St. Two-family townhouse, 3,520 square feet, with two-bedroom, two-bath owner's duplex with formal dining room, parlor, three fireplaces, office and garden access below two-bedroom,...
EXTRA, EXTRA!!
A Hamptons summer rental can definitely take a bite out of your wallet, but did you know that the costs don't end there? Renters are responsible for all maintenance costs...
HEAVE HO-WARD
HOWARD Stern is going to have to find a new love shack this summer, now that the sprawling Hamptons home the newly engaged shock jock is leasing has been sold...
DREAM HOMES
NoHo $3.1 million Plowing through piles of real-estate listings, we see plenty of the same phrases over and over, even among the dreamiest of Dream Homes. However, we must say...
BIG SCREEN HOME MACHINES
The floor isn't sticky. The popcorn doesn't cost $6.50. And you don't have to watch those silly cell-phone ads. These are just a few perks that come with having your...
DIBELLA BOXERS PLOT B'WAY HIT
Right around the corner from the Manhattan Center, there's an Irish pub Lou DiBella often frequents on the nights when DiBella Entertainment hosts one of its Broadway Boxing cards at...
JOHNNIES CRANK UP FOR BIG FINISH
There are defining moments in every season, and for a St. John's team that has been steadfastly trying to make its way back to respectability, there have been two. The...
SPORTS SHORTS
NASCAR: Waltrip crew chief suspendedMichael Waltrip's crew chief and team director were thrown out of the Daytona 500 and suspended indefinitely yesterday because an illegal substance was found during inspection...
MR. BIG SHOT
Eight months later, the dazed, pained look on his face after he leaked away a U.S. Open victory is difficult to forget. Phil Mickelson stood on the 18th tee at...
LEAKER'S ADMISSION SPARES 'ROID SCRIBES
Two San Francisco reporters were spared from jail yesterday when a defense attorney in the BALCO case admitted he leaked secret grand-jury testimony that implicated athletes to them. Troy Ellerman...
HARDAWAY'S RANT: I HATE GAY PEOPLE
Retired Miami Heat guard Tim Hardaway said yesterday that he hates gay people, but later said he regretted the remarks. "You know, I hate gay people, so I let it...
DEVILS DEVOUR CANADIEN BAKIN'
This Devils bandwagon apparently comes equipped with positraction. They haven't skidded once this winter. It was still autumn, two months ago tomorrow, when the Devils were last held without a...
ISLES BRACE FOR BRUINS
When the Islanders face the Bruins at Nassau tonight, they'll be opening a seven-game homestand that could make or break their playoff hopes. Standing only 13-9-4 at home, the Isles...
JETS GRABBING PATS AIDE
The Jets are raiding Bill Belichick's New England coaching staff, according to multiple NFL sources. The Jets are set to hire Brian Daboll, who has coached the Patriots' receivers for...
STEPH: EDDY'S ALL-NBA CALIBER
OAKLAND - Stephon Marbury is on a new mission for Eddy Curry and it's not about being an alternate selection for Sunday's All-Star Game in Las Vegas, which he missed...
OAKLAND FADERS
OAKLAND - Well, this summed up this wacky season. The unpredictable Knicks played their worst possible basketball for the first 2 ½ quarters last night, then proceeded to stage a...
PELFREY AMONG 9 HOPING TO START
PORT ST. LUCIE - Mike Pelfrey can't put odds on his chances for winning a spot in the rotation. "I don't really know what's going to happen," the 23-year-old right-hander...
TO HEIL & BACK
PORT ST. LUCIE - In regards to whether he's happy as a Met, Aaron Heilman can praise many things. Yesterday, the Mets reliever mentioned his "love" for the other players...
METS SPRING TURNING INTO HUMBER PARTY
PORT ST. LUCIE - Free and easy. That's the way the baseball is coming out of Philip Humber's right hand these days, a feeling he hasn't had in a long...
BACK WOES KO KIDD FOR ALL-STAR GAME
The NBA All-Star Game, of course, can survive without Jason Kidd. The Nets are another matter. Kidd announced yesterday that he will not play in Sunday's All-Star Game because of...
BLUESHIRTS GEAR FOR PLAYOFF PUSH
If the Rangers are going to make the playoffs, they need to win tonight in Carolina. Mathematically, it's not a must-win game, but as the Rangers make their playoff push,...
BERNIE STILL HAS IT IN HIM
TAMPA - Bernie Williams can't delete last year from his head. If Williams can't forget how good a player he was in 2006, he won't accept the Yankees' minor league...
NO ROCKET HINTS FROM PAL PETTITTE
TAMPA - Andy Pettitte will gladly discuss being back with the Yankees, returning to the AL and rediscovering his change-up following elbow problems. However, Pettitte understands the question everyone wants...
MO MONEY - OR ELSE!
TAMPA - If the Yankees don't sign Mariano Rivera by April 2, they can get in line with every other major league team for the Hall of Fame lock's closing...
CAN'T PUT PRICE TAG ON WHAT MARIANO MEANS TO YANKEES
TAMPA - Four young Latin players sat in a semi-circle around Mariano Rivera, hung on his every word. Late yesterday morning, Rivera was not a closer, but an oracle. In...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
The History Department at Vermont's Middlebury College has banned the online encyclopedia Wikipedia as a source for school papers. Students are still allowed to consult the site, where anybody can...