Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                

January 7, 2007

IN 2007, I ACCEPT TV'S ABSURDITIES

It took a second - literally one second -- to be reminded that TV, in 2007, will be no less absurd than it was in 2006. This column twice before...

THE DON'T MISS LIST

DRAMA When they were good Back in 1999, we all thought "The Sopranos" would save television from itself. During that amazing and revelatory first season, the show stunned with its...

BAUER BACK WITH A VENGEANCE

For all its "Perils of Pauline" moments, the "no, Mr. President, I'm a patriot!" speeches, the amnesia, the cougars, the "bomb/virus/assassination is going to happen today," "24" is, above all...

SOULFUL 'LINCOLN' HITS THE HEIGHTS

Finally, someone's making a family drama for television that actually stands for something. That someone is a producer/writer named Kathleen McGhee-Anderson, who is an executive producer (along with Kevin Hooks)...

NEW YEAR, NEW SEASON

TV programmers have shuffled their lineups again for the new year, trying to save critical darlings such as "Friday Night Lights" and prevent ratings catastrophes elsewhere ("Lost" moves out of...

DAY BREAK

Just when it looked as if Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) was finally going to get a much-needed break after finally exposing President Logan (Gregory Itzin) as the mastermind behind the...

REEL DEAL

WEST SIDE STORY (1961) Monday, 8 p.m., TCM The dancingest, singingest movie about racial hatred and gang warfare, based on Broadway musical. Natalie Wood is Maria, the sheltered sister of...

ADOPT ME

Indy, a young male snowshoe Siamese kitty with a gentle and friendly purrsonality, loves belly rubs. Meet him and give him some from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the...

CHEATING SCANDALS ARE BOUND TO BOOM

ChessCOMPETITIVE chess faces a serious chal lenge in 2007 and years to come from new technology - the technology of cheating. In 2006, there were cheating scandals involving devices like...

BULLY TACTICS

ON the day after Christmas, Queens City Council member Peter F. Vallone Jr. called for a citywide ban on pit bulls, explaining that the dogs pose a threat to public...

THE CAT LADY

AFTER the holiday season comes the flu season. I hope you haven't started your new year laid up in bed with a cold. But if you have, I know what's...

HOT SEAT

DAVID Lynch can be as inscrutable as he is brilliant. He refuses to offer commentary tracks for the DVDs of his films, such as "Blue Velvet" and "Mulholland Drive," or...

UNHAPPY HOLIDAYS

I cannot wait to celebrate "If the Coffee Shop Waitress Touches Your Palm When She Gives You Your Change, She Totally Wants It Day!" Of course that's not until May...

HOT LIST

1. Picture books Chic boutiques from Beverly Hills' Chateau Marmont to London's Comme des Garcons are stocking Malcolm Venville's "Lucha Loco," photographs of Mexico's masked wrestlers. See it at luchaloco.com2....

THIS WEEK'S DVDS

IDIOCRACY 3 STARS Fox, $27.98 SNAKES ON A PLANE 1 ½ STARS New Line, $28.98 Both of these films have something in common: They're seriously flawed messes that fail to...

BEHIND THESE WALLS

Fish: A Memoir of a Boy in a Man's Prison T.J. Parsell 4 STARS Carroll and Graf, $24.95 This is a beautiful memoir detailing one man's experiences being a young,...

REQUIRED READING

"Dark Magus: The Jekyll and Hyde Life of Miles Davis" (Backbeat Books, $24.95) is a biography of the great man by his eldest son Gregory, writing with Les Sussman. Gregory...

JABBERJAW

WE live in an era in which stars go pantyless, call each other a "firecrotch" and have no qualms about hurling telephones at their underlings. No wonder gossip has become...

HERO BY NATURE

IN a career spanning five decades, Peter Beard has captured the beauty and deterioration of Kenya, elevated the practice of journaling to an art form, discovered the model Iman and...

LIGHTS! ACTION! SHOW TUNES!

CAN we just go ahead and consolidate all the Broadway theaters into one giant multiplex already? These days, there's pretty much nothing on the stage that hasn't been adapted from...

SMALL CHANGES AHEAD

Michael by Michael Kors coin purse with studded leather trim, $58, similar styles at michaelkors.com

WINTER SCHEDULE: NIGHT-BY-NIGHT

7 P.M./ 7:30 P.M. CBS: 60 Minutes ABC: America's Funniest Home Videos CW: Local programming/ Reba: Locked and Loaded 8 P.M./8:30 P.M. NBC: Grease: You're the One I Want FOX:...

TIMB BANDIT

WE'RE pretty forgiving here in America (you're welcome, Miss USA), but there are certain transgressions from which you never really recover. Bankrupting Enron, for instance. Or killing your neighbors and...

HOODS IN THE BOYZ: THE REAL 'ALPHA DOG'

ALPHA Dog" nearly got neutered. Justin Timberlake fans have a federal judge to thank for a chance to watch their heartthrob walk around shirtless and smoke ganja. The long-delayed crime...

WILDER'S 'HOLE' IN ONE

SURE, Billy Wilder directed fluffy comedies such as "Some Like It Hot" and "The Apartment." But he also helmed dark mov ies like "The Lost Weekend," "Sunset Blvd." and "Double...

STRANGERS IN STRANGE LAND

WHEN Sudan descended into its brutal second civil war from 1983 to 2005, the conflict killed 2 million people. It also orphaned more than 25,000 boys, who fled the slaughter...

GRAND 'STAND'

HE made sushi sexy at Bond Street. He practically coined Meatpacking as a district with APT. And he deemed the communal table the place to sit at Republic. Yet Jonathan...

GRIGOLI, 30, AND SALVATORE, 25

OCT. 27 - Thanksgiving is a day to give thanks, but in 2004 Josephine Salvatore was thankful for a special reason. "What are you doing on the floor, Ant?" Salvatore...

SILVERMAN, 36, AND ASHTON, 36

NOV. 18 - Unlike most newlyweds, Keir Ashton and Stefanie Silverman believe their wedding went off without a hitch. "Everything actually went really well," says Silverman. "Since Keir is British,...

ROSENBERG, 33 AND BROWER, 31

OCT. 8 - If the only thing that goes awry on your wedding day is having the wrong song played for your first dance, you're pretty lucky. "It was supposed...

MARINO, 31, AND MENDELSOHN, 24

NOV. 5 - People say that, when they're in love, they want the world to share in their happiness. When John Marino proposed to Jana Mendelsohn on Nov. 19, 2004,...

SESLOWSKY, 31, AND GREEN, 36

NOV. 4 - For newlyweds Jill Green and Alan Seslowsky, their special day went especially well. "I have to say that our wedding went off without a hitch!" says the...

AIRLINE IN-SECURITY

Lost in the holiday shuffle was this announcement from the Transpor tation Security Administration: In the wake of the six imams kicked off a U.S. Airways flight for acting like...

DEATH-PENALTY DECEPTION

The nine men now on death row in New Jersey's prisons will soon be spared if, as expected, the state's Legislature enacts a ban on capital punishment - a proposal...

THE PERILS OF A SURGE

AS the president contemplates a "surge" of U.S. troops into Baghdad, a Vietnam analogy is pertinent. A surge might merely intensify a policy that is akin to Defense Secretary Robert...

HANGING HYSTERIA

I DIDN'T support the Iraq war and I oppose the death penalty - but the nonstop outrage and criticism of the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein is puzzling. Somehow,...

THE EMPIRE STATE EXODUS

THE ISSUE: New York's high cost of living and its effect on the business climate. As an economic refugee, I do miss living on Long Island, but see no way...

IRAQ'S BURNING ISSUE: HOW TO PUT OUT THE FIRE

THE ISSUE: New strategies in Iraq, including changes in military leadership. John Podhoretz writes, "When a building is on fire, you don't stand around talking about how best to rebuild...

HAMMER TIME

Investors, retail watchers and home-improvement specialists believe Home Depot, with its current management team, couldn't smash the malaise of the Robert Nardelli-era if it used a wrench off its shelves....

MEDIA DEALS HIT RECORD LAST YEAR

A record number of transactions led to the most lucrative year in media deal-making since 2000, according to a report to be released tomorrow by boutique investment bank DeSilva &...

THIS WEEK'S WINNERS AND LOSERS

WINNERSRICHARD CLARK Merck CEO sees company shares post a solid week on the strength, in part, on reports that it wants to sell its generic drug division.ANN SHOKET Hearst stays...

UPSCALE AFTER-SCHOOL HOOPS SCORES WITH NYC PARENTS

Big Apple parents, always on the prowl for new and better ways to help separate their kids from the pack, have found a new addiction: a designer after-school basketball program...

STUPID PAPER TRICKS

SEEMS every one had a little fun at the redesigned Wall Street Journal's expense last week. Even sardonic funnyman David Letterman, more at home poking fun at rail-thin models, had...

LOOK WHO'S BACK: MIZRAHI PLOTS RETURN TO COUTURE

Fashion trends are recycled, so why not fashion designers? Isaac Mizrahi, the bandana-wearing darling designer of the early '90s, who last made headlines with a 2006 breast grope of a...

FORCE SEC'S HAND

HERE'S a New Year's resolution for Congress: Don't waste one penny of taxpayer money to launch an investigation into Robert Nardelli and his $210 million golden goodbye from Home Depot....

CONRAD'S SNOOTY WORDS TO HAUNT HIM

Disgraced and dethroned newspaper baron Conrad Black, facing a long prison stretch when he goes on trial in March on charges he looted millions from shareholders, is vowing to take...

E-MORTGAGES OFFER A LEG UP

Dear John: I am a retired senior who wants to buy property and build a home. I want to rent out the home I currently own.. I will be seeking...

EARLY BIRD TAX BENEFIT

SURE, you have 98 days to make that 2006 tax year con tribution to your tax-deductible IRA. But why wait? Making your IRA contribution early, like in the first few...

SEVEN FOR '07

Here's a New Year's resolution for you: Don't make any. Just commit to things that will improve all aspects of your life. Stuck? Here are seven suggestions on how to...

CIRCUS VS. CIVICS IN WEST SIDE PIER WAR

It's playgrounds versus performance arts in the battle for the future of Pier 40. Two vastly different proposals for the West Side pier - located just north of West Houston...

SPITZER'S UNFINISHED 'CABINET'

ALBANY - In the time between his election and first week in office, Gov. Spitzer has only managed to appoint a handful of commissioners in the sprawling state government, leaving...

72 DEGREES

It's the winter of our total content. Temperatures hit a record-smashing 72 degrees in Central Park yesterday, as thousands filled beaches, boardwalks and parks from Midtown to Coney Island. The...

PRO THUGS MADE ME ROB BANK: GIRL

The teenage girl who robbed a bank in Queens Friday claims she did the dirty deed only after two pro bank robbers took her ID and threatened to kill her...

KIN TO SUE IN GRAFFITI RAIL DEATH

The devastated family of a teen hit by a train while spraying graffiti blamed the MTA and the city yesterday for the boy's death - and they are now planning...

PLANES BUMP ON JFK TARMAC

A China Air plane carrying 215 passengers clipped the tail of a parked Delta jetliner with its wing as it backed out of a gate at JFK Airport yesterday, a...

SWEEP VS. CLUB-KID 'FAKERS'

Police are cracking down on teens using fake IDs to get into nightclubs, arresting 106 kids in Chelsea's clubland since August. A high-level police source said cops in the 10th...

VILLAGE SHOP A FLAGRANT FORGERY MILL

Cops were stymied in their effort to bust a brazen body-piercing shop in the Village that peddles fake Delaware driver's licenses - but a Post reporter easily bought one there...

TEENAGE CARD TRICKS

Scores of teenage drinkers seeking fake IDs are going to a cheap, easy and reliable source - the state of New York. They log on to the state Department of...

MOM SUES OVER SCHOOL SEX MOLEST

A 12-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by a middle-school classmate and later forced to re-enact the event in front of her classmates, a bombshell lawsuit alleges. The girl was then...

CAR KILLS QNS. WOMAN, 86

An elderly woman was struck and killed by a car as she crossed a Queens intersection yesterday, police said. Eula Clairborne, 86, of Victoria Drive, was crossing Bedell Street when...

BUST IN YONKERS DOC SLAY

A Bronx man was arrested in the murder of a doctor in his Yonkers home - a killing that may have been over real estate, police said. Samuel Saunders, 59,...

MUG THUGS SING ABOUT SPREE: DA

Two teen thugs were arraigned yesterday after investigators said they admitted in detail to a savage string of attacks in Queens in which one man was beaten into a coma...

'BABY NEW YEAR' RETAINS TITLE

It's victory for the Big Apple's embattled Baby New Year. Toys "R" Us did an about-face and announced they would award a Chinese-American infant - whose mom isn't a legal...

SECURITY FIRM 'CHEATED' GUARDS

It's payback time for 720 private security guards cheated out of more than $750,000 while putting in shifts at city offices. An investigation by city Comptroller Bill Thompson's office revealed...

NABBING THIEF UZI AS PIE

Cops yesterday nabbed an Uzi-toting bandit who held up the same Brooklyn Laundromat two days in a row last week, authorities said. Jesse Stuckey, 20, of Riverdale Avenue, brought the...

B'KLYN FIRE HERO SAVES MAN, 92

A courageous firefighter ran into a burning third-floor apartment in Brooklyn last night to rescue a 92-year-old man who had passed out at the kitchen table, the FDNY said. Lt....

EARLY TOILET

Diapers are so over for little Eden Schwartz. At just five weeks old, Eden was dangled over a toilet by her busy Manhattan mom, and - voila! She peed. Practically...

SONY UNIT NAILED FOR 'BIAS' AX

Sony BMG, the star-studded music giant, discriminated against black employees by laying them off from a Manhattan sales office while keeping all the white employees, a federal agency has found....

MOLD LAWYER SUES BIANCA

Bianca Jagger's apartment isn't the only thing with mold on it, according to her former lawyer. Jagger, who has been in a high-profile battle with the landlord of her Park...

PROBE OF '91 SLAY 'BLOODY' AWFUL: SUIT

The NYPD botched a cold-case investigation of a brutal 1991 murder, failing to recognize that a "bloody" palm print at the scene was not blood at all, a man once...

CO-OP IN DISABILITY DISS: SUIT

A Fifth Avenue co-op board rejected a Connecticut tax attorney and his wife because he has Parkinson's disease, according to a lawsuit. Martin Albert and his wife of 30 years...

RESURRECTING DI 'SLAY' RUMORS

Princess Diana's death is to be the subject of a formal inquest conducted before the public in London's High Court starting tomorrow. Following the publication of a police investigation report,...

STAR GUIDE TO HEAVENLY BODY

It's one week till the Golden Globes - and only six more 'til Oscar night. Which means that in private gyms all over Hollywood, the hottest stars are hot-footing it...

BROWN'S LAST CALL FOR 'LOVE'

"Godfather of Soul" James Brown left a heart-wrenching cellphone message to the woman who claims to be his widow, confessing his love and complaining of feeling sick and lonely as...

2-FRONT WAR ON BUSH

As President Bush met yesterday with his top security advisers on a new military strategy for Iraq - including an expected troop increase - he took fire from members of...

PARIS' GAS PAINS

Fresh from a date at her favorite hair salon, Paris Hilton does her helpless act behind the wheel of her brand-new Bentley after running out of gas in Beverly Hills...

CHEER SQUAD PUTS ADULTS IN FEAR FROM . . .

They lived in a world where the only thing out of bounds was themselves. A hell-raising clique of cheerleaders for years wreaked havoc on a small Texas town during a...

NYPD BLOTTER

THE BRONX A gunman opened fire on a man standing on a Longwood street early yesterday, police sources said. The 26-year-old victim, whose name was not released, was shot on...

BANNER BUMMER FOR SHORTCHANGED TREASURY

THE new head of the city's marketing office has de termined taxpayers aren't getting a fair shake from a program that allows private companies to rent out banners on city-owned...

LOTTERY

NEW YORK Midday Numbers Sat.: 863 Midday Win-4 Sat.: 9781 Evening Numbers Sat.: 388 Evening Win-4 Sat.: 8742 Pick-10 Sat.: 2, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 17, 22, 23, 24,...

PAYTON GREAT, BUT ERIC DESERVED COACH OF YEAR

FOXBOROUGH - Congratulations are certainly in order for Saints head coach Sean Payton, who was awarded the NFL's Coach of the Year honor yesterday. Payton, who took over a 3-13...

COACHES ARE DOGS

THE best part about Gus Alfieri's recently released book about Joe Lapchick isn't Lapchick's story, although it's an important retelling of one of the greatest New York basketball lives ever....

SIMPLY MAV-ELOUS

DON'T try to stop me; I've officially decided the Dallas Mavericks have peaked. Either that or they're unswervingly on course to break the Lakers' NBA '71-72 record of 33 straight...

GET YOUR PLAX STRAIGHT

YOU know what we need from Fox, today? At some point, say late in the third quarter during Giants-Eagles, we could use two or three quick clips showing whether Plaxico...

KINGS OWNER IN ODD ARENA

SO Tim Leiweke, governor of the Los Angeles Kings, an organiza tion that boasts some of the most promising young players in hockey, including 19-year-old Anze Kopitar, 24-year-old Alexander Frolov,...

AUCTION'S A TREASURE FOR HUNTERS

THE Hunting Heritage Trust and the online auction site GunBro ker.com are going to launch Treasures and Traditions, a weekly online auction to raise money to help preserve shooting sports....

CHIEFS D-STROYED

INDIANAPOLIS - Indianapolis' 23-8 AFC wild-card domination of Kansas City yesterday was rife with subplots, from Colts coach Tony Dungy beating best friend and protege Herm Edwards to superstar Peyton...

FEET FIRST

GLENDALE, Ariz. - You would think this was the buildup for the U.S. Track & Field Championships and not the BCS Championship game. Not an interview goes by without coaches...

RUTGERS BEATS OHIO STATE IN BATTLE FOR JERSEY'S DAVIS

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Ohio State might very well win its second national championship in five years tomorrow night when it faces Florida in the BCS Championship game. But yesterday the...

VAC'S WHACKS

Judging by their pictures in The Post the past few days, I'd have to say Jessica Alba is off to a lot better start to 2007 than poor Britney is....

PINSTRIPES STAY GRAY

* I read the news in the papers and I think, hey, the Yankees are actually doing something smart! They're ridding themselves of Randy Johnson. Perhaps a youngster can finally...

THE RUMBLE

Nets' subway-hero hooplaSeason tickets & more for team's Superfan Wesley Autrey, who saved a teenager who fell on the subway tracks last week, turns out to be a huge Nets...

SPORTS SHORTS

BOXING: Peter wins in unanimous decision In Hollywood, Fla., Samuel Peter beat James Toney for the second time in three months, getting a unanimous decision in a WBC heavyweight elimination...

JOCKEY, 71, CHALLENGES, FADES TO LAST

Rocky Balboa may still be throwing punches in the twilight of his years, but he has nothing on Frank Amonte Sr. Yesterday at the Big A, Amonte, 71, became the...

AFTER ALL THE TWISTS AND TURNS, DEFIANT GIANTS ARE...

PHILADELPHIA - No apologies from the Giants for being here instead of where every other 8-8 team in the NFL is and should be, which is home watching. No "We're...

25-YEAR ITCH

FOXBOROUGH - It has been easy to overlook just how remarkable a treat we have in store for us today because of all the sounds and all the furies that...

ON HIS OWN

PHILADELPHIA - His body of work does not inspire New York to believe he will deliver it a championship any time soon. There isn't a Giant fan who longs for...

APPLE SLICED, DICED

TODAY EAGLES (-7; under 461/2) over Giants: Largely on the strength of Tiki Barber's premier statistical performance as a professional, Big Blue collectively pulled the emergency brake and refused to...

LINC IS END OF THE LINE

The playoffs are always dripping with intrigue, but when it's a game pitting two teams from the same division, teams that delight in the other's misery, beware. Giants-Eagles in September...

SET FOR BIRD BLITZ

PHILADELPHIA - It sounds as if the Giants grew just a bit tired of hearing about all that fearsome defensive pressure the Eagles are going to throw at Eli Manning...

SERBY'S SUNDAY Q&A WITH...BRANDON SHORT

The Post's Steve Serby sat down with the starting right outside linebacker two days before the Giants' NFC wild-card showdown with the Eagles: Q: You have two older brothers in...

BEEN THERE DONE THAT

SEPT. 17, 2006 - Giants Stadium New England held off a late Jets rally and handed Eric Mangini his first loss. The Patriots took a 24-0 lead on TD runs...

BAD RECEPTION

The Post's Andrew Marchand surveyed five commentators from four networks, and they all came to the same conclusion - that both the Jets and Giants will lose their wild-card games...

DEE-FENSE! DEE-FENSE!

INSIDE ZONE LEFT WHAT THE EAGLES NEED TO DO ON OFFENSE 1. Three weeks ago at the Meadowlands, the Eagles took the lead on this play when they beat the...

GANG GREEN COPYING THE BLUEPRINT FOR...

FOXBOROUGH - In many ways, as today's AFC wild-card row filled with juicy intrigue between the Jets and Patriots unfolds at Gillette Stadium, the two teams will feel as if...

UPSET? GILLETTE IT BE

FOXBOROUGH - The 12-4 AFC East champion Patriots are the closest thing to an NFL dynasty we've seen in years, having won three Super Bowls and owning an astonishing 10-1...

PETE'S NO PATS FAN

FOXBOROUGH - For sure, there'll be one Boston-area native at Gillette Stadium today hoping to see the Jets bounce the Patriots from the playoffs: Jets left guard Pete Kendall, a...

NO MORE EXCUSES

THIS is the time for the Knicks to show they are worth car ing about, that this isn't another false alarm, that they have finally turned the corner in the...

REVEALING SOFT SPOT, WILLIE HANGIN' TOUGH

LONG after the crush ing final out, that moment in time when Adam Wainwright's backdoor curve ball froze Carlos Beltran with the bases loaded and kept the Mets from going...

TANGLED NETS

CLEVELAND - Late in the second quarter, the Nets were down 16 points. Getting killed on the offensive glass and going to the line and hurling 3-pointers near aimlessly will...

DOUBLE THE PAIN IN LOSING

CLEVELAND - What's worse than losing? Injuries and losing. So it couldn't get worse for the Nets as two starters, Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson, aggravated some nagging injuries last...

PAINFUL VICTORY

MONTREAL - The big scare overshadowed this fourth straight Rangers victory. That was captain and leading scorer Jaromir Jagr who left yesterday's game when it was still in doubt, and...

DEADLINE AT HAND FOR BIG UNIT DEAL

The Randy Johnson trade is edging toward official completion before this afternoon's 5 p.m. deadline. Johnson and the Diamondbacks continued to make progress in their pursuit of a 2008 contract...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

A mother and son stole a snake from a pet store - but were caught when they returned to get books on how to take care of it. Sebrina Hill,...

THE ART OF WRITING IRRESISTIBLE EMAIL

We met on a plane. She was reading a book and I commented how much I liked the author's work, which I had never read. We exchanged business cards. "Can...

DEAR POST MAN

Dear Post Man: I am at a crossroads in my three-year-old marriage and I desperately need some good advice. I am 26 and my husband is 27. We dated only...

MEET MARKET

WITH some people, you have to bribe, beg and blackmail them into going on a blind date. With John? Not so much. "Meeting random people is fun," says the 31-year-old...

OPPOSITES ATTACK

THE Meet Market has seen plenty of one-sided dates ("Oh, he's so dreamy!" "Dude, she was insane!"), but not many where the nose wrinkling was equal for both - and...