December 25, 2007
Scene
Elle editor Megan Deem wears a vibrant Tracy Feith dress with a feathered Prada bag. She describes her look as, "Colorful!"Photo by Elizabeth Lippman ©12-17-07
'An Ultimatum Was Put In Front Of Me':Daly
Carson Daly deserves a little slack from the picket-line protesters. The late-night host revealed that NBC gave the former "TRL" host an ultimatum to return to TV.Click here for the...
Christmas gifts
By MARC BERMANHere's some holiday presents for the Knicks that Santa didn't have in his sack.Eddy Curry: A 4-footer. And not a hero.Zach Randolph: A manual on ball movement.Quentin Richardson:...
Box Office: A Glut of Choices
The second half of what amounts to a six-day holiday weekend -- concluding tomorrow, the day after Christmas, traditionally one of the biggest moviegoing days of the year -- continues...
Merry Christmas, Jean Shepherd
I'm sure the late Jean Shepherd, who I once interviewed, would say "bah, humbug'' if he knew that "A Christmas Story,'' a modest success on its theatrical release, has become...
SPEARS 'GREAT MOM': DR. PHIL
SAY what? "Dr. Phil" McGraw thinks Lynne Spears, mother to Britney Spears and her knocked-up younger sister, "Zoey 101" star Jamie Lynn Spears, is doing a fine job as a...
COCO PUFFED
SHIRLEY MacLaine will chan nel Chanel in her next proj ect. MacLaine will play great fashion designer Coco Chanel in a two-part Lifetime miniseries. MacLaine will share the role with...
OFF BROADWAY
NOBODY occupies more par allel universes than Bob Saget. The wholesome "Full House" dad-turned-Tourette's poster child - thanks to obscenity-laced turns on HBO - was ready to add Broadway to...
WARY NESS MESS
'THE Water Horse" re tells the tale of that strangely antisocial archaic mutant figure often spotted in the vicinity of Loch Ness: the Scotsman. One wee li'l Scots boy finds...
IT'S EASY TO BE DRAWN INTO PERSIAN TALE
AT first glance, Marjane Satrapi's two graphic novels about growing up in Iran seem unlikely candidates for a film, let alone an animated one. But, lo and behold, the books...
GREAT? IT'S DEBATABLE
DENZEL Washington is usually better when he plays bad characters - as in "American Gang ster" - than when he dons a halo, as in "The Great Debaters," an achingly...
TWO GOOD MEN
'THE Bucket List" is about vomiting blood, skull surgery, night chills, chemotherapy and catheters, and it begins and ends with people dying. In other words, it's a feel-good movie. Jack...
IF IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY
A Mercury-Saturn aspect on your birthday will focus your mind on what is truly important, as opposed to what others say should be important. Have the courage of your convictions...
DA FACES SUBPOENA OVER SPITZER E-FILES
ALBANY - The Senate Investigations Committee may soon subpoena Albany District Attorney David Soares in an effort to determine whether Gov. Spitzer's administration destroyed computerized records relating to the Dirty...
FEDS GIVE SHARPTON MORE TIME ON PROBE
The Rev. Al Sharpton got a small Christmas reprieve from federal authorities. Investigators from the IRS and the FBI granted aides to the firebrand activist a three-week extension to turn...
BIG-SCREEN TV
It's almost as large as many Big Apple living rooms - or even studio apartments. To the delight of some couch potatoes, Panasonic has produced a gi-normous, 150-inch TV set...
'NEW NINJA' STRIKES ON STATEN IS.
Is he a ninja wannabe? A Staten Island woman made a startling discovery when she returned home yesterday morning - there was a masked man dressed all in black, police...
JUROR'S STRAIN, HIS GAIN
A holdout juror's claim that he was bullied into convicting a Long Island black man in the shooting death of a white teen could form the basis of the defendant's...
TWO MIRACLE FAMILIES IN KIDNEY SWAP
Two families, strangers until a heart-tugging meeting last week, are each thanking the other for giving them the best Christmas present in the world - the gift of life. Jodi...
JOLLY OL' MIKE
Mayor Bloomberg spent the day before Christmas spreading good cheer to a group of shelter-bound children who got to enjoy a holiday spread in lower Manhattan. "Look at their faces,"...
'SANTA' BROS SHARE $PIRIT
Shoppers at Long Island's Sunrise Mall were looking for last-minute bargains - but they didn't expect this. Two unidentified brothers handed out $100 bills in the parking lot near the...
TEACHERS SHOW CLASS
Santa was very good indeed to the kids at PS 142. All 542 of the children at the Manhattan elementary got their "Dear Santa" wishes fulfilled with the radios, mini-computers...
HOLIDAY'S 'MASS' APPEAL
The shopping's done, presents are unwrapped, the tree looks great, the sun is out - Merry Christmas, New York. As the buying frenzy ended, religious celebrations took place here and...
HIT-AND-RUN IN CHELSEA
A hit-and-run driver ran down two women in Chelsea last night, seriously injuring them, authorities said. The victims were struck in the intersection of West 17th Street and Eighth Avenue...
TANKLEFF COULD GO FREE THURS.
Martin Tankleff will be able to legally sip champagne on New Year's Eve for the first time if a Long Island judge grants his bail request. Tankleff's lawyers and Suffolk...
RAPPER IS ALL BUSINESS
Jay-Z is retiring - again The superstar rapper - who already has "retired" twice from his lucrative performing career - said yesterday he is giving up his lofty post at...
NAKED AGGRESSION
A naked Brooklyn man waving a knife chased a terrified young teenager and two women into an elevator yesterday, slashing at them as the doors closed on his arm, police...
PUTTIN' $1M BITE ON DOG 'OWNER'
A real-estate agent to the rich and famous is being sued by a handyman at her Upper East Side building for allegedly allowing her "vicious" dog to run free and...
BRAVEST SAVE FAMILY FROM TREE FIRE
Five members of an East Harlem family, trapped in a raging blaze sparked by the lights on their Christmas tree, were saved yesterday by heroic firefighters who fought their way...
HOW DREAM MARRIAGE ENDED IN SLAY
The last days of murdered businessman Michael Forbes were spent filling his waterfront Long Island dream home with expensive gifts for his much younger bride - but their relationship was...
'REAL' SCROOGE
What the dickens! Ebenezer Scrooge, a Christmas-hating, miserly character in Victorian London, may have been inspired by a real-life gravedigger in Holland. "A Christmas Carol" author Charles Dickens may have...
ISRAEL WINS 'NUKE WAR'
A doomsday war between nuclear-armed adversaries Iran and Israel would kill up to 28 million Iranians and destroy their nation, but the Jewish state might survive, according to a prestigious...
TWISTED SISTERS TOGETHER
It's going to be a Spears family Christmas in California. Knocked-up tween idol Jamie Lynn Spears is planning to celebrate the holidays today with older sister and role model Britney...
NEW LOOK FOR A GOOD 'KNIGHT'
The world-famous KITT from "Knight Rider" has been traded in for a newer model. David Hasselhoff's trusty Pontiac Trans Am on the famed '80s TV show has been reincarnated as...
'BIZARRO' BLAST BY MCCAIN
WASHINGTON - As Christmas cheer settled over most of the presidential campaigns, John McCain's battle-hardened operation was having none of it. In an unusually harsh statement for the season, top...
HILL'S CAMP FIRES CROOKED PAIR
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign adjusted its Tennessee steering committee yesterday - removing two convicted felons from the list. The state power-players with prior convictions are Gladys Crain, who was...
RUDY: VOTE, THEN JUDGE
Rudy Giuliani yesterday defended his campaign's strategy of focusing heavily on Super Tuesday voting on Feb. 5 and said everyone will know if it was the right call when the...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
THE BRONX A man was killed and a teenager injured early yesterday when bullets flew in Morris Heights after an argument at a Sweet 16 party spilled into the street,...
LOTTERY
NEW YORK Midday Nos. Mon.: 706; Lucky Sum: 13 / Midday Win-4 Mon.: 1009; Lucky Sum: 10 / Evening Nos. Mon.: 154; Lucky Sum: 10; Evening Win-4 Mon.: 5327; Lucky...
FROM THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE, CHAPTER 2, VERSES 1 THROUGH 20:
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made...
CONGRESS PUNTS
HELL-BENT on driving its approval rating into single digits, Congress adjourned after passing an omnibus spending bill larded with at least 8,993 earmarks costing at least $7.4 billion - the...
PAKISTAN'S FATEFUL ELECTION
AS the Pakistani election campaign enters its final phase, one thing is increasingly clear: This could be a make-or-break moment for the fragile nation-state that emerged from the partition of...
ONLY 'TIME' FOR TYRANTS: PUTIN'S HORRIFIC HONOR
Vladimir Putin: KGB bureaucrat and despot with ties to organized crime ("Time for Putin Now," Liz Smith, Dec. 20). What a wonderful choice for Person of the Year. Paul H....
MERRILL'S MERRY
Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain yesterday made his first significant move to address the firm's ongoing subprime woes by accepting a $6.2 billion cash infusion and selling a majority stake...
CHRISTMAS QUIZ
2007 was a year of highs and lows, from M&As to Fannie and Sallie Maes. Mergers and acquisitions were so commonplace earlier in the year that many weeks began with...
A CHAT WITH SANTA ABOUT HIS RALLY
Christmas humor column So far, the stock market rally that comes at the end of nearly every year is negligible, as I suspected it would be. After all, traders can't...
SPORTS SHORTS
NFL: Parker placed on IR Willie Parker, the NFL's leading rusher when he broke his right leg Thursday night in St. Louis, was officially lost for the season when the...
HEAVE HO-HO-HO!
The initial Christmas Eve plan was to shop for loved ones . . . provided I had any. So, instead, I decided to stay home and wait for the jolly...
10-YEAR PLAN
BASED on the number of friends, family and co-workers I have spoken to who say they're heading to Florida this time of year, I'm guesstimating that 5-10 percent of all...
SITTING BULL
Bad news, Browns fans: The NFL can't make the Colts go all-out Sunday night in their regular-season finale with the Titans. Good news, Browns fans: Treating a regular-season game like...
GIANTS, PIERCE LIKE TOUGH ROAD
The way linebacker Antonio Pierce sees it, what the Giants are better at than any other team in the league is the exact reason why they often are so difficult...
PLAY TO WIN THE DAMN GAME
AS The Great Giant Debate begins to rage, Tom Coughlin tries to walk the treacherous tightrope between defending Giants Stadium from the march of history Saturday night against the 15-0...
RUNAWAY SUCCESS
QUARTERBACKS D Given the terrible weather, the marching orders for Eli Manning (7 of 15, 111 yards) were not to lose the game. He nearly gave it away with five...
BEST FOR TEAM, OR FOR LEAGUE?
Should the Giants go for the throat with an all-out barrage in an attempt to prevent the big, bad Patriots from closing the deal on the first 16-0 regular season...
COTCHERY'S PLAY PLEASES MANGINI
There wasn't much to smile about after the Jets lost their 12th game in 15 tries Sunday in Nashville. But when a reporter brought up Jerricho Cotchery's name to Eric...
GETTING DEFENSIVE
QUARTERBACKS C Chad Pennington (26-32, 264 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT, 85.4 rating) moved the offense between the 20s, but threw a killer pick in the end zone. His first...
CHAD TO SEE A GO
IN the aftermath of the Jets' 10-6 loss to the Titans Sunday, Chad Pennington, who had been sacked six times and hit numerous others behind a musical-chairs offensive line, stood...
MAGIC-AL RETURN OF STEPHON
His bereavement leave finally over, Stephon Marbury is expected to rejoin the Knicks for a third time when they play in Orlando tomorrow night, according to two sources. Marbury is...
FAILED EXPERIMENT
Eddy Curry has made his most detailed admission yet that he and Zach Randolph are a bad combination in the Knick frontcourt because each player needs a lot of touches...
FORWARD SIGNED 'OFF THE STREET'
It was back in 2004-05 when the Nets used 22 players and ran guys in and out with frightening regularity that Billy Thomas received his bizarre team nickname: "Off the...
TRIPLE-THREAT KIDD
If he retains the pace he has fashioned this season, Jason Kidd would rack up 21 triple-doubles. Of course, if the child in the backyard continued digging with a spoon,...
FALL GUY
Like apparently everyone else in the world, you might be able to knock Petr Prucha flying off his skates to the ice, but neither you nor anyone else can knock...
LUXURY LAX
They are still by far paying more in luxury tax than any other franchise in major league baseball, but at least the Yankees can appreciate the fact their bill continues...
BEST OF 2007
I DON'T know which Ilike better - the chance to travel a great deal, or year's end, when I have enough time to sit back, take a deep breath and...
DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE
1) Can a hotel restore your spirit, excite, nourish or indulge your soul? More to the point, can letting a front desk jockey swipe your credit card to the tune...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
Call it meateorology. A North Dakota man claims the internal organs of a pig are better at predicting storms than his local weatherman. Paul Smokov is happy to share his...