BITS AND PIECES 04/08 Part 1
PUSSSYKATT
--Michael Jackson is telling Sotheby's to "beat it" in court papers filed
yesterday, claiming he won't pay for $1.3 million worth of 19th-century
paintings he bought at auction because they were restored. Wacko Jacko snapped
up an angelic portrait of Cupid by French artist William Adolphe Bouguereau for
$504,500, and another oil painting depicting a woman holding a baby and a sheep
for $724,500, at a New York auction last October. But when it came time to pay
up, Jackson told Sotheby's the paintings no longer fit into his collection, the
prestigious auction house said in a $1.7 million suit filed two months ago.
NY POST/DON KAPLAN
--TV could become a whole lot more Cosmopolitan soon. Execs at Hearst Corp. are
developing a new cable channel based on Cosmo, the magazine for young women,
according to the industry trade magazine Television Week. A European version of
the Cosmo channel is already the top-rated women's network in Spain, where it
was launched about three years ago. A second version of the channel was
launched in Latin America last summer. A Hearst exec, calls bringing the
channel to the U.S., "the mother lode," and says the company will decide by
next October if it will launch the channel here. In the U.S., the new Cosmo
channel would tailor its programming to women in their early thirties, as the
magazine does. It's chief competitor would be Lifetime - the highest rated
cable channel.
NY POST/MICHAEL STARR....
--John Turturro is executive-producing "The World Beyond the Wiseguys," a TV
documentary that's scheduled to begin filming today at Brunelli's (East 75th
and York). The documentary tells "the inside story" of Italian-Americans in
Hollywood. Today's shoot at Brunelli's will feature a large group of actors in
an unscripted discussion led by Paul Borghese, who will be joined by William
DeMeo, Vinny Vella, Alex Corrado and Louis Vanaria. Rosanne De Luca Braun is a
co-executive producer, with Steven Fischler and Joel Sucher (Pacific Street
Films) serving as producers.
--"Hairspray" star Marissa Jaret Winokur will co-host "The View" Thursday (11
a.m./ABC). And tickets for the Daytime Emmys, hosted by Wayne Brady, go on sale
Thursday. Call Ticketmaster (212-307-7200) or visit ticketmaster.com.
--Comedy Central is holding an open casting call for little people (4'11" or
shorter) for its new movie, "Knee High P.I.," today (8-10 a.m.) at the Carnegie
Deli (854 Seventh Ave.).
--Disney Channel has renewed the popular "That's So Raven" for a second season.
The show stars Raven Symone.
--Thesmokinggun.com now says "Bachelor" contestant Christina Sztanko only "put
some caps in the grass" from a .25 caliber automatic back in 2000. She was
never arrested, and her record was wiped clean in 2001.
NY POST/PAGE SIX...
--YOU'D think that with Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins as his parents, their
handsome 13-year-old son, Jack, would be a lock for the starring role in the
school play. But he's not even in it. Sources claimed the eighth-grader at a
private school downtown was a tad ticked when he didn't land the lead in the
show and quit rather than accept a smaller role. Not true. A spokesman for
Sarandon and Robbins said, "Jack wanted to be in the production, but when he
signed up, he didn't realize he was going to be out of town during crucial
rehearsal periods, so they let him out of the production."
--LAURENCE Fishburne and Philadelphia Eagles QB Donovan McNabb in New Orleans
for the Final Four at Coyote Ugly in the French Quarter . . . . . .
--ETHAN Hawke reporting for jury duty at 111 Centre St.
--HOLLYWOOD party boy Brandon Davis was arrested for drunk driving last
weekend. The grandson of Beverly Hills billionaire Marvin Davis was busted in
the early hours of Saturday morning after two motorcycle cops stopped his
swerving Mercedes GL 500 near Hollywood's hip White Lotus club. Witnesses say
Davis spent the night in jail after he fell down during his roadside sobriety
test. It had been quite a night for the 21-year-old bon vivant - he had five
young ladies in his car when he was pulled over, and was spotted earlier
chatting up Christina Aguilera at another club, Deluxe. "I can't talk about
it," Davis told us yesterday. "I have no comment." An LAPD spokeswoman said
Davis was released on $15,000 bail.
--WHEN James Gandolfini told friends he'd been asked to name a newly discovered
Tanzanian flower, he got plenty of sarcastic suggestions. "Some of the
suggestions were the 'Gandolpansy' and the 'Gandylion,' as well as some others
I can't even repeat here," Gandolfini said at Saturday night's African
Rainforest Conservancy fund-raiser. The burly "Sopranos" star settled on naming
the flower after the scientist who discovered it, Chamaecrista "Moses"
Mwangokae. Perhaps realizing that naming a flower could tarnish his tough guy
image, Gandolfini swung into Tony Soprano mode at the end of the night. When
the event at the new David Rockwell-designed space at 24 Fifth Ave. ran past
its 10 p.m. contracted time, ARC staffers were told they would be charged more
to pay the staff. (Owners the Glazier Group rented out the space at cost.)
Gandolfini went into the kitchen for a sit-down with venue reps, who agreed to
waive the extra fee. Other notables at the $500-a-plate benefit included George
Plimpton, Jay McInerney and Bret Easton Ellis.
--Lorraine Bracco will present awards to makeup artist Bobbi Brown and
plus-size model Emme at the Dress for Success gala at the Grand Hyatt tonight .
. .
--Oliver Stone - in a race against Baz Luhrmann to direct the first Alexander
the Great epic - has shot background footage in the Himalayas. He has Colin
Farrell in the lead, while Luhrmann has Leo DiCaprio.
--SYLVESTER Stallone is closer to his dream of bringing "Rocky" to Broadway.
The action star has hired Thomas Meehan, who penned the books for "The
Producers" and "Hairspray," to write "Rocky" as well, which Sly is producing as
a musical. Stallone was nominated for an Oscar in 1977 for his "Rocky"
screenplay. Friday night, Stallone and his wife, Jennifer Flavin, saw
"Hairspray," where he was mobbed by fans, then hit Elaine's with pals Leonard
and Wendy Goldberg and master flack Bobby Zarem. The kitchen staff rushed to
the newsstand next door for a disposable camera, then had a panhandler take a
picture of them with Stallone out front.
--RICHARD Gere is ready to go to jail to free his beloved Tibet from Chinese
domination. "If I heard from a credible person, a high lama, that I'd be much
more effective going to prison for 10 years than doing what I'm doing here, of
course I'd go to prison," the surprise singing star of "Chicago" told Men's
Journal. "I don't think there would be any question about it."
NY POST/CINDY ADAMS...
--NATALIE COLE's the star attraction on May 7 at Christopher D. Smithers
benefit at the Waldorf . . .
--One gift in the Oscars goody bag was a Mortons Steakhouse freebee dinner
invite up to $1,500. Nia Vardalos of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" collected it.
Came with her whole family . . .
--Anna Nicole Smith, still wrangling about the estate of her 90-year-old
husband: "Next time I'll marry somebody who's already dead."
--CHIPPENDALES, the operation that displays semi-naked beautiful men,
celebrates its 25th year this month. Kevin Cornell, one of those who takes it
off, called from Germany to talk about it: "I love what I do. I enjoy taking my
clothes off. I'm my own version of a rock star because groupies follow me.
Whereas a rock star gets a 35 percent male audience, I get a 100 percent female
audience. "We strip down as far as the hand can cover. People ask are we gay.
Absolutely not. We have to be straight or we wouldn't enjoy pleasuring all
these females. Girls follow us all the time and rock stars are jealous of us
and we go out and party all the time. So much that if we're not careful we can
be nearly out of control. See, after doing this for a whole show we're still
wired when it's over." Right. Fine. OK by me. So what's he do to keep his body
beautiful? "Shave our chests, have careful diets, go to the gym, shampoo every
night and I personally do cocoa butter all over my body." And down the road
when his crock of cocoa butter someday turns rancid, then what? "My dream is to
open my own bar."
--HIS semi-disheveled, unkempt, unshaven, undisciplined Irish lad Colin Farrell
who's so hot, who's in "Phone Booth," who's the new Tom Cruise-lite is also
known to notch babes on his belt if not his bedpost. Well, he missed out on
one. He'd trained his sights on stunning Sophie Dahl, who's a hot model, who's
a successful book writer, who's granddaughter of actress Patricia Neal and
author Roald Dahl, who lives in London, L.A. and NYC and is running as big-time
as he is. She said thanks but no thanks and is continuing down life's highway
with actor Dan Baker - even more handsome than Colin.
--JANE Seymour's daughter Katie, studying journalism at Columbia, wants to be a
writer. Somebody told her another actress, Liv Ullmann, has a daughter named
Linn, who's also a writer. Katie looked unimpressed. Did not know Liv Ullmann.
Told Linn was Ingmar Bergman's daughter, Katie stayed unimpressed. Did not know
Ingmar Bergman.
NY POST/LIZ SMITH....
--PEOPLE ARE talking about a shuttle flight between D.C. and New York wherein
two figures on board were Queen Noor of Jordan and the recently deposed from
CNN Connie Chung. The Queen is suddenly a hot property with her book "Leap of
Faith," making it high up on the best-seller list in the white-hot focus of war
with Jordan's neighbor, Iraq. But Connie, spying her, reportedly kept calling
her, "Princess . . . princess . . ."
--SOME SURPRISES and some not-so- surprises await in Premiere mag's 2003 Power
List on the stands April 15. ("The Matrix" man Keanu Reeves is on the cover.)
Steven Spielberg is numero uno after being No. 6 last year. According to editor
Peter Herbst, Spielberg "is the Tiger Woods of the movies . . . playing a
different game than everyone else." The top 20 include many behind-the-scenes
movie makers and only four stars - Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, Julia
Roberts. The list is heavily dominated by - surprise! - women. Reese
Witherspoon jumps from 96 to 32 . . . Nicole Kidman from 83 to 31 . . . Renée
Zellweger from 97 to 63 . . . Jennifer Lopez from 76 to 47. Colin Farrell and
Kate Hudson join the list.
--IF YOU watched the "Designing Women" re-runs as I did religiously, you'll be
happy to hear that cable's Lifetime network has put a batch of money into a
reunion of Linda Bloodworth Thomason's hit starring Dixie Carter, Delta Burke,
Jean Smart, Annie Potts, Meshak Taylor, Alice Ghostley, et al. I can't wait for
the women to return, with their men. And they must return with Ms. Ghostley as
the wacky Bernice. Alice is one of the great second bananas in show business.
--SPEAKING OF Tiger Woods as Premiere does - Mr. Numero Uno will host "Tiger
Jam VI" at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on April 19. This fund-raiser benefits the
Tiger Woods Foundation's youth-driven charities. There'll be a day of celebrity
golf, silent and live auctions, and a concert headlined by Bon Jovi. One item
to be auctioned off is the World's Largest Trading Card, which is almost as
tall as Tiger himself and signed by Tiger himself.
NY DAILY NEWS/RUSH AND MOLLOY....
--Is Liz Hurley ready to wed? Textile heir Arun Nayar has proposed to the
37-year-old actress, according to British reports. The two have been dating for
a mere four months. Hurley has supposedly made it clear that Nayar needs to
divorce wife Valentina Pedroni before she's fully committed ...
--Nicole Kidman is boning up on Katharine Hepburn. The new Oscar winner is
considering playing the screen icon, who turns 96 next month, in Martin
Scorsese's forthcoming movie about the young Howard Hughes. On Sunday, Kidman
was at the Promenade Theater checking out Kate Mulgrew in "Tea at Five," the
one-woman show based on Hepburn's life...
--"La Boheme" director Baz Luhrmann and his wife, set designer Catherine
Martin, will be the co-hosts of the New York Academy of Art's Tribeca Ball,
tomorrow night at 7, Gotham Hall on Broadway at 36th St.
USA TODAY....
--Avon Books has won the scramble to publish the first book about Utah teen
Elizabeth Smart. Held Captive: The Kidnapping and Rescue of Elizabeth Smart
arrives this summer. It will be co-written by investigative reporters Maggie
Haberman and Jeane MacIntosh, who covered the Smart case for the New York Post
and New York Daily News, respectively.
--If every New York waiter really is an actor, NBC's new reality series, The
Restaurant, is offering a two-fer: the chance to wait tables and be on camera.
Chef Rocco DiSpirito is hiring waiters, sous-chefs and busboys to staff a new
Lower Manhattan restaurant that will be the subject of the unscripted drama
from Survivor's Mark Burnett. Experienced candidates can apply by April 18 by
sending a videotape illustrating personality, a picture and a résumé to Rocco
DiSpirito, c/o Restaurant Staffing, 1114 Avenue of the Americas, 18th Floor,
New York, N.Y., 10036.
--Jury selection began Monday in Santa Monica, Calif., in a wrongful-death
lawsuit against former Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee. He is being sued by the
parents of a 4-year-old boy who drowned in Lee's swimming pool.
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Saddam Are Ya Gettin Any Sleep..LOL
From: agcgoss...@aol.com (PUSSSYKATT)
Date: Tue, Apr 8, 2003 6:31 AM
Message-id: <20030408093136...@mb-fv.aol.com>
>>
<< --RICHARD Gere is ready to go to jail to free his beloved Tibet from Chinese
domination. "If I heard from a credible person, a high lama, that I'd be much
more effective going to prison for 10 years than doing what I'm doing here, of
course I'd go to prison," the surprise singing star of "Chicago" told Men's
Journal. "I don't think there would be any question about it." >>
Yeah, b/c these people whom you DON'T know are much more important then your
wife and the children you've brought into the world. Idiot.
-------
"I'm gonna guess it was political science, but I'm not sure, it might have been
history. I'll check. I hadn't thought of that one."
--Presidential hopeful Carol Moseley Braun, when asked what she majored in
during college
Peter J.
>
>--SOME SURPRISES and some not-so- surprises await in Premiere mag's 2003
>Power
>List on the stands April 15. ("The Matrix" man Keanu Reeves is on the cover.)
>Steven Spielberg is numero uno after being No. 6 last year. According to
>editor
>Peter Herbst, Spielberg "is the Tiger Woods of the movies . . . playing a
>different game than everyone else." The top 20 include many behind-the-scenes
>movie makers and only four stars - Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, Julia
>Roberts. The list is heavily dominated by - surprise! - women. Reese
>Witherspoon jumps from 96 to 32 . . . Nicole Kidman from 83 to 31 . . . Renée
>Zellweger from 97 to 63 . . . Jennifer Lopez from 76 to 47. Colin Farrell and
>Kate Hudson join the list.
>
Why is Kate Hudson on the list? Is it because of that recent hit movie of hers
with Matthew McStoner?