Danny Shea of the Huffington Post is reporting that David Gregory has been chosen as the next moderator of NBC News' Meet the Press.

Mr. Gregory's name has been reportedly on a short list of possible replacements for the esteemed position since Tim Russert passed away of a sudden heart attack this past June.

When reached by Media Mob, an NBC News spokesperson said that the network "has nothing to announce."

Likewise, when contacted by phone, Mr. Gregory’s agent, Richard Leibner of N.S. Bienstock, said he could neither confirm nor deny the report.

The National Bureau of Economic Research officially announces a U.S. recession; the Dow drops 680 points. [NY Times]

A bus driver is stabbed to death in Bed-Stuy after denying a passenger a transfer. [City Room]

Jersey City’s City Council votes against naming a street by the Trump Plaza after The Donald. [Jersey Journal via Curbed]

Greenpoint actually likes Dean Palin’s idea for a 40-story waterfront tower?! [Curbed]

New York retailers like Tiffany and Barnes & Noble pull back on expansion plans as the economy nosedives. [TRD]

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition files a civil rights suit against two Wall Street ratings agencies on behalf of minority subprime mortgage holders. [TRD]

The Edge is opening its lofty doors to low-income and middle-income New Yorkers—but act now! They shut again on Dec. 3. [Williamsburg is Dead]

Two Queens residents pushing to transform Flushing Airport from 26 acres of abandoned wasteland into a “light recreation facility” with baseball fields and a driving range. [Queens Crap]

The EDC bows to common sense and agrees to open the Essex Street Market on Sundays… but only for December. [Racked via BoweryBoogie]

Crain’s poll shows 40 percent of New Yorkers fear losing their jobs. [Crain’s via Gowanus Canal]

Once mighty 20 Pine renting units on the (relatively) cheap. [Streeteasy via Curbed]

Project Runway contestant Christian Siriano has signed a deal with Payless to design a line of affordable shoes and handbags. [NY Post]

Designer Roberto Cavalli has been cleared of all tax evasion charges brought against him in Italy in 2002 when he attempted to write off taxes on renovations to his Tuscany home. [Vogue UK]

Louis Vuitton is re-releasing Marc Jacobs' collaboration with graffiti artist Stephen Sprouse for a new limited edition collection that the designer will advertise by posing nude painted in Mr. Sprouse's graffiti. [WWD]

Heidi Klum's father, Gunther Klum, who also acts as her manager, has sent a $275,000 bill to a German party promoter who used the supermodel's image on a flyer and on his Web site. [Vogue UK]

Italian video artist Francesco Vezzoli has created a fake ad for a perfume he named Greed, starring Natalie Portman and Michelle Williams filmed by Roman Polanski. [NY Mag]

Project Runway contestant Christian Siriano has signed a deal with Payless to design a line of affordable shoes and handbags. [NY Post]

Designer Roberto Cavalli has been cleared of all tax evasion charges brought against him in Italy in 2002 when he attempted to write off taxes on renovations to his Tuscany home. [Vogue UK]

Louis Vuitton is re-releasing Marc Jacobs' collaboration with graffiti artist Stephen Sprouse for a new limited edition collection that the designer will advertise by posing nude painted in Mr. Sprouse's graffiti. [WWD]

Heidi Klum's father, Gunther Klum, who also acts as her manager, has sent a $275,000 bill to a German party promoter who used the supermodel's image on a flyer and on his Web site. [Vogue UK]

Italian video artist Francesco Vezzoli has created a fake ad for a perfume he named Greed, starring Natalie Portman and Michelle Williams filmed by Roman Polanski. [NY Mag]

Via The Guardian: Import socialite, Brooklyn resident, model, clothing designer, Nylon columnist, and possibly desperate housewife Peaches Geldof will continue to expand her inorganic hipster brand with the release of Disappear Here, a new magazine she co-edits with James Brown (the GQ editor fired for including "the Nazis" in his list of the 200 most stylish men of the century).

Described by the pair as a "women's mag that appeals to men," the first issue--which will be distributed for free this Thursday at 50 record shops, bars, boutiques and clubs in London and New York--includes a column by British Socialist Tony Benn, prank ("wind-up" in British!) calls to the right-wing British National Party, Ms. Geldof's interviews with Vivienne Westwood and Pete Doherty, fashion shoots, and "lots of new bands." Composed of 120 pages and no advertising, Issue 0 is meant to be a "taster" for the quarterly, ad-funded Issue 1, which is due in March 2009.

As for her inspiration, Ms. Geldof cites a bunch of European magazines we don't know (Heat? Dazed & Confused?) along with Vice (uh-o) and NME.

"This is basically my job," she told the newspaper. "This is the main focus of my energies...I want it to be a blank canvas for young talent - whether that's writers, photographers, graphic designers, artists or the bands and designers that we cover."

But don't let that fool you into thinking that the precocious Ms. Geldof doesn't know her indie history! Mr. Brown told the interviewer "My main criterion was - if I've heard of it, it probably shouldn't go in. I had doubts about interviewing Billy Childish because he's been around for such a long time, but Peaches said he was Kurt Cobain's big influence and we should feature him, so we did." 

The weakened state of the print industry was clearly not a deterrent for the two, who explained that "This first issue cost less than three first-class flights to New York." As if that comparison weren't enough to remind you of who you're dealing with, The Gaurdian was sure to point out that "Geldof, Brown, and [manager and partial owner Andy] Varley have plenty of other work and are not relying on the magazine for their income. Brown is understood to have made a fortune from the sale of IFG and works as a consultant, while Geldof makes money modelling and laughs at her agent's £300 haircuts."

Via The Guardian: Import socialite, Brooklyn resident, model, clothing designer, Nylon columnist, and possibly desperate housewife Peaches Geldof will continue to expand her inorganic hipster brand with the release of Disappear Here, a new magazine she co-edits with James Brown (the GQ editor fired for including "the Nazis" in his list of the 200 most stylish men of the century).

Described by the pair as a "women's mag that appeals to men," the first issue--which will be distributed for free this Thursday at 50 record shops, bars, boutiques and clubs in London and New York--includes a column by British Socialist Tony Benn, prank ("wind-up" in British!) calls to the right-wing British National Party, Ms. Geldof's interviews with Vivienne Westwood and Pete Doherty, fashion shoots, and "lots of new bands." Composed of 120 pages and no advertising, Issue 0 is meant to be a "taster" for the quarterly, ad-funded Issue 1, which is due in March 2009.

As for her inspiration, Ms. Geldof cites a bunch of European magazines we don't know (Heat? Dazed & Confused?) along with Vice (uh-o) and NME.

"This is basically my job," she told the newspaper. "This is the main focus of my energies...I want it to be a blank canvas for young talent - whether that's writers, photographers, graphic designers, artists or the bands and designers that we cover."

But don't let that fool you into thinking that the precocious Ms. Geldof doesn't know her indie history! Mr. Brown told the interviewer "My main criterion was - if I've heard of it, it probably shouldn't go in. I had doubts about interviewing Billy Childish because he's been around for such a long time, but Peaches said he was Kurt Cobain's big influence and we should feature him, so we did." 

The weakened state of the print industry was clearly not a deterrent for the two, who explained that "This first issue cost less than three first-class flights to New York." As if that comparison weren't enough to remind you of who you're dealing with, The Gaurdian was sure to point out that "Geldof, Brown, and [manager and partial owner Andy] Varley have plenty of other work and are not relying on the magazine for their income. Brown is understood to have made a fortune from the sale of IFG and works as a consultant, while Geldof makes money modelling and laughs at her agent's £300 haircuts."

6 p.m. to 8 p.m. How can New York and New Jersey take advantage of their ample waterfronts to better serve their communities and jumpstart a stalled economy? Find out at “On The Waterfront: Finding the Balance for Development and Communities” hosted by the Center for New York City Affairs and Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy. Opening remarks by Port Authority executive director Christopher Ward. Eugene Lang Building, 65 West 11th Street, Wollman Hall, 5th floor. Free. Reservations required. Call 212-229-5418 or email centernyc@newsschool.edu.

6 p.m. to 9 p.m. “The 4th Annual Latina Leadership Summit: Building Your Future in Uncertain Times,” hosted by the New York chapter of the National Society for Hispanic MBAs. American Express Headquarters - World Financial Center, 200 Vesey Street. Free for members; $15 for non-members. Register online or call 212-318-3296 or email vpmembership@newyork.nshmba.org.

It's been a busy week for Sean Penn. In theaters, the actor is generating Oscar buzz for his starring role in Milk and on the newsstand, he wrote the cover story for The Nation. If the Mr. Penn has his way, he just might bring an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba.

In the December 15th issue of the magazine, Mr. Penn interviews Hugo Chávez and Raúl Castro, an assignment that seems designed to infuriate his critics on the right who despise the actor for his 2004 and 2005 fact-finding trips to Iraq and Iran, his attention-grabbing attempts to save survivors of Hurricane Katrina, and his friendship with Cindy Sheehan.

For his journeys to Venezuela and Cuba, Mr. Penn invited along to two old friends, Douglas Brinkley and Christopher Hitchens (the latter a former Nation columnist), whom he describes as follows:

These two were perfect complements. Brinkley is a notably steady thinker whose historian's code of ethics assures adherence to supremely reasoned evidence. Hitchens, a wily wordsmith, ever too unpredictable for predisposition, is a wild card by any measure who in a talk-show throwaway once referred to Chávez as an 'oil-rich clown.' Though I believe Hitchens to be as principled as he is brilliant, he can be combative to the point of bullying, as he once was in severe comments made about saintly antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan. Brinkley and Hitchens would balance any perceived bias in my writing. Also, these are a couple of guys I have a lot of fun with and affection for.

This is beginning to sound like the best buddy film ever made...

Here's a little bit from Mr. Penn's conversation with Mr. Castro:

'What about Guantánamo?' I ask. 'I'll tell you the truth,' Castro says. 'The base is our hostage. As a president, I say the US should go. As a military man, I say let them stay.' Inside, I'm wondering, Have I got a big story to break here? Or is this of little relevance? It should be no surprise that enemies speak behind the scenes. What is a surprise is that he's talking to me about it. And with that, I circle back to the question of a meeting with Obama. 'Should a meeting take place between you and our next president, what would be Cuba's first priority?' Without a beat, Castro answers, 'Normalize trade.'

You've come a long way, Mr. Spicoli.

ALBANY—David Paterson said a list of nominees to replace retiring Chief Judge Judith Kaye, the state's top judge, was "disturbing" on first impression.

"I haven't gotten a chance to look at the list other than a couple of preliminary, just, comments that were made to me, that have seen the list, that it's disturbing," Paterson said in response to a question by Joel Stashenko of the NY Law Journal. "That was my reaction."

Paterson did not explain his comment, and a local television reporter changed the subject of questioning. After the Monday afternoon press conference ended, Paterson spokesman Errol Cockfield explained what the governor meant: "The list of initial appointees that was presented to the governor doesn't reflect the diversity he would like to see on the court."

Cockfield said that included gender as well as race. There are currently three women besides Kaye sitting on the court and one African-American, but no one of Hispanic descent. All of the nominees are men.

Under the state constitution, Paterson is obligated to chose from among the nominees presented by the screening commission (which is jointly appointed by Paterson the governor, the chief judge and legislative leaders). The appointment must be confirmed by the Senate.

CORRECTION: This post was changed to reflect that Paterson has only made one appointment to the judicial nominating commission since taking office.

Here’s an invitation to an event for recently ousted Bronx Democratic leader Jose Rivera, who, it seems, wants to seek re-election to his Assembly seat. Rivera had come under criticism for using this year's county fund-raiser as a way to generate money for his own political efforts.

Rivera's replacement, Assemblyman Carl Heastie, said he hadn't known about the event before I contacted him. He didn't say whether he was going to attend, but did say, "I wish him well. He is still a member of the Assembly and since he told me is staying in the Assembly, he is doing what he has to do."

Here’s City Councilman Kendall Stewart's nomination of a certain mayoral candidate for Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat.

Apparently, Britney Spears took a stroll on the streets of New York last night while her newsless, yet somehow touching documentary For the Record aired on MTV.

She updated her Twitter just a few minutes ago:

britneyspears I enjoyed a relaxing walk last night around NYC. Even though it was raining, it was a lot of fun! ~Britney

This might actually be the real Britney too. Her assistant Lauren, usually signs off on posts she writes, and Brit has been updating as herself for awhile now.

Apparently, Britney Spears took a stroll on the streets of New York last night while her newsless, yet somehow touching documentary For the Record aired on MTV.

She updated her Twitter just a few minutes ago:

britneyspears I enjoyed a relaxing walk last night around NYC. Even though it was raining, it was a lot of fun! ~Britney

This might actually be the real Britney too. Her assistant Lauren, usually signs off on posts she writes, and Brit has been updating as herself for awhile now.

Apparently, Britney Spears took a stroll on the streets of New York last night while her newsless, yet somehow touching documentary For the Record aired on MTV.

She updated her Twitter just a few minutes ago:

britneyspears I enjoyed a relaxing walk last night around NYC. Even though it was raining, it was a lot of fun! ~Britney

This might actually be the real Britney too. Her assistant Lauren, usually signs off on posts she writes, and Brit has been updating as herself for awhile now.

ALBANY—He'd no longer be speculating on speculation, but David Paterson still won't say much about who he might appoint to Hillary Clinton's senate seat, except to praise her as she moves toward becoming secretary of state.

"She probably was thought at first as someone who had been placed, to someone whose place can't be taken," Paterson said this afternoon. "And I think that's really, for today, the issue. I'm not leaving the state. I'll be around. We can go through all of this again tomorrow. But today, I thought was such an apex of service to this country."

Standing next to him at a press conference in the Red Room was Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, the chairman of the Commission on Property Tax Relief, as they unveiled the commission's proposals. Paterson was asked if he thought Suozzi would do a good job as senator.

Paterson turned to Suozzi.

"Would you?" He asked. Suozzi turned a shade of crimson.

As the two walked to the podium, Paterson began his remarks by saying "I have an important announcement for the State of New York. Tom Suozzi," he paused, pregnantly, as those gathered laughed, "has done an excellent job working with the New York State Commission on Property Tax relief, and I want to thank him..."

Last week, Scott Heiferman, C.E.O. of Meetup, announced when and where candidates could announce their interest in replacing him as organizer of the New York Tech Meetup. So far, several candidates have stepped forward, including Greg Magarshak, founder of social media company Lucky Apps; Joe DiPasquale, founder of CollegeWikis.com and self-described Meetup fanatic; Rich Hecker, an organizer of Bootstrapper.com and co-founder of The Connectors Group, a new angel investment group, and Groupable.com, a site that works a lot like Meetup; Joshua Sherman, an organizer of Personal Democracy Forum and founder of BuycottForChange.org; among others.

What does the tech community think so far? The blogs are abuzz.

"[T]hose who answered the call came new ideas ablazin', writing manifestos, blog posts, etc... and the theme was the same... more, bigger, structure," wrote Charlie O'Donnell, C.E.O. of Path101 and founder of NextNY, in his blog today. "This is typical. No one ever wins this type of thing by promising more of the same. Change is sexy, as are big visions. However, as we should know from the web, focus and reduction are more likely to improve the quality of a product than adding more features."

Smaller groups with focused attention on community needs, Mr. O'Donnell wrote, work better than bloated organizations. "Have we not learned anything from AOL and Yahoo? Kludging disparate factions of a community together in an attempt to be its center never works. In fact, it goes against the very essence of Meetup itself--a loose collection of groups centered around focused interests, with lots of cross pollination but no central hub." Mr. O'Donnell proposes keeping the NYTM as it is or simply disbanding it before it becomes a disaster.

Nate Westheimer, an "entreprenuer in residence" at Rose Tech Ventures and tech community evangelist, wrote in his blog today that New York needs a "Power Alley." "We don’t need more great ideas or new great investors — we need more coordination!" Mr. Westheimer wrote. He proposes that the new organizer not necessarily create a big, "new" organization, but rather help the existing programs in the community have better communication. Every organization should know about every other organization, entreprenuers and VCs should know about government tax benefits and programs and most of them should be meeting up at big conferences together.

"Unless the next Organizer’s rallying cry — and only rallying cry — is to coordinate, she or he will flail and flounder, drunk with ideas of 'bigger' and 'new.'"

According to Mr. Heiferman, a new organizer will be elected on Dec. 11th, after candidates give a five minute presentation at the Dec. 9th Meetup. "Then, with the new Organizer, Dawn [Barber] and I will establish a Board for the NYTM made mostly of other NY tech-related group Organizers," Mr. Heiferman wrote on the New York Tech Meetup's message board. "If the new Organizer wants to make it a full-time paid gig, it's up to her and the Board to figure out how to do so. Self-organized, baby!"

Last week, Scott Heiferman, C.E.O. of Meetup, announced when and where candidates could announce their interest in replacing him as organizer of the New York Tech Meetup. So far, several candidates have stepped forward, including Greg Magarshak, founder of social media company Lucky Apps; Joe DiPasquale, founder of CollegeWikis.com and self-described Meetup fanatic; Rich Hecker, an organizer of Bootstrapper.com and co-founder of The Connectors Group, a new angel investment group, and Groupable.com, a site that works a lot like Meetup; Joshua Sherman, an organizer of Personal Democracy Forum and founder of BuycottForChange.org; among others.

What does the tech community think so far? The blogs are abuzz.

"[T]hose who answered the call came new ideas ablazin', writing manifestos, blog posts, etc... and the theme was the same... more, bigger, structure," wrote Charlie O'Donnell, C.E.O. of Path101 and founder of NextNY, in his blog today. "This is typical. No one ever wins this type of thing by promising more of the same. Change is sexy, as are big visions. However, as we should know from the web, focus and reduction are more likely to improve the quality of a product than adding more features."

Smaller groups with focused attention on community needs, Mr. O'Donnell wrote, work better than bloated organizations. "Have we not learned anything from AOL and Yahoo? Kludging disparate factions of a community together in an attempt to be its center never works. In fact, it goes against the very essence of Meetup itself--a loose collection of groups centered around focused interests, with lots of cross pollination but no central hub." Mr. O'Donnell proposes keeping the NYTM as it is or simply disbanding it before it becomes a disaster.

Nate Westheimer, an "entreprenuer in residence" at Rose Tech Ventures and tech community evangelist, wrote in his blog today that New York needs a "Power Alley." "We don’t need more great ideas or new great investors — we need more coordination!" Mr. Westheimer wrote. He proposes that the new organizer not necessarily create a big, "new" organization, but rather help the existing programs in the community have better communication. Every organization should know about every other organization, entreprenuers and VCs should know about government tax benefits and programs and most of them should be meeting up at big conferences together.

"Unless the next Organizer’s rallying cry — and only rallying cry — is to coordinate, she or he will flail and flounder, drunk with ideas of 'bigger' and 'new.'"

According to Mr. Heiferman, a new organizer will be elected on Dec. 11th, after candidates give a five minute presentation at the Dec. 9th Meetup. "Then, with the new Organizer, Dawn [Barber] and I will establish a Board for the NYTM made mostly of other NY tech-related group Organizers," Mr. Heiferman wrote on the New York Tech Meetup's message board. "If the new Organizer wants to make it a full-time paid gig, it's up to her and the Board to figure out how to do so. Self-organized, baby!"

Last week, Scott Heiferman, C.E.O. of Meetup, announced when and where candidates could announce their interest in replacing him as organizer of the New York Tech Meetup. So far, several candidates have stepped forward, including Greg Magarshak, founder of social media company Lucky Apps; Joe DiPasquale, founder of CollegeWikis.com and self-described Meetup fanatic; Rich Hecker, an organizer of Bootstrapper.com and co-founder of The Connectors Group, a new angel investment group, and Groupable.com, a site that works a lot like Meetup; Joshua Sherman, an organizer of Personal Democracy Forum and founder of BuycottForChange.org; among others.

What does the tech community think so far? The blogs are abuzz.

"[T]hose who answered the call came new ideas ablazin', writing manifestos, blog posts, etc... and the theme was the same... more, bigger, structure," wrote Charlie O'Donnell, C.E.O. of Path101 and founder of NextNY, in his blog today. "This is typical. No one ever wins this type of thing by promising more of the same. Change is sexy, as are big visions. However, as we should know from the web, focus and reduction are more likely to improve the quality of a product than adding more features."

Smaller groups with focused attention on community needs, Mr. O'Donnell wrote, work better than bloated organizations. "Have we not learned anything from AOL and Yahoo? Kludging disparate factions of a community together in an attempt to be its center never works. In fact, it goes against the very essence of Meetup itself--a loose collection of groups centered around focused interests, with lots of cross pollination but no central hub." Mr. O'Donnell proposes keeping the NYTM as it is or simply disbanding it before it becomes a disaster.

Nate Westheimer, an "entreprenuer in residence" at Rose Tech Ventures and tech community evangelist, wrote in his blog today that New York needs a "Power Alley." "We don’t need more great ideas or new great investors — we need more coordination!" Mr. Westheimer wrote. He proposes that the new organizer not necessarily create a big, "new" organization, but rather help the existing programs in the community have better communication. Every organization should know about every other organization, entreprenuers and VCs should know about government tax benefits and programs and most of them should be meeting up at big conferences together.

"Unless the next Organizer’s rallying cry — and only rallying cry — is to coordinate, she or he will flail and flounder, drunk with ideas of 'bigger' and 'new.'"

According to Mr. Heiferman, a new organizer will be elected on Dec. 11th, after candidates give a five minute presentation at the Dec. 9th Meetup. "Then, with the new Organizer, Dawn [Barber] and I will establish a Board for the NYTM made mostly of other NY tech-related group Organizers," Mr. Heiferman wrote on the New York Tech Meetup's message board. "If the new Organizer wants to make it a full-time paid gig, it's up to her and the Board to figure out how to do so. Self-organized, baby!"

Bruce Ratner has drawn resentment and scorn in the Brooklyn community surrounding his planned $4 billion Atlantic Yards project, but now he’s inspired cultural enrichment. Sort of.

A local theater company has created a production, running this week, on the fight over and the effects of the Atlantic Yards project, for which Mr. Ratner’s firm plans to build a Frank Gehry-designed arena for the Nets and more than 6,000 housing units.

Brooklyn at Eye Level, put on by The Civilians production company, will run from Thursday through Sunday at the Brooklyn Lyceum, exploring the debate around Atlantic Yards.

From the show’s Web site:

This lively performance of THEATER, DANCE, and MUSIC takes its inspiration from interviews with the real life players in the story of Brooklyn: residents both old and new, community activists, developers, politicos and others.

Marion Friedman, managing director at The Civilians, told us earlier today that actors and urban planning students from the Pratt Institute have spent the last six weeks doing interviews in the community and with others involved in the project, representing the production’s “investigation” process.

This week’s show, Ms. Friedman said, is not the end of the project for The Civilians, as the company hopes to commission a full-length play on the topic.

Atlantic Yards has also spawned Brooklyn Matters, a documentary critical of the project that had numerous showings for months in Brooklyn.

So does Brooklyn at Eye Level have a stance on the controversial project?

“We are trying desperately not to,” Ms. Friedman said. “Officially, we have no particular stance, and we’re trying to present as many opinions as we can."

We dropped on you this morning the gong-rattling pronouncement that Manhattan is now a tenant's market by the two most important measures: rents (they're dropping across the board) and vacancies (they're up and climbing).

But there's more to the math.

According to The Real Estate Group New York, which released its November report just before sun-up (PDF here), the number of Manhattan apartment vacancies may be higher than signified. Why? Because some owners of higher-end rentals don't want everyone to know about all their vacancies: "[V]acancies, may actually be even higher than reported, particularly in doorman buildings, as many landlords are not releasing their full vacancy list."

Why would some landlords play their vacancies so close to the chest? More empty apartments might further drive down rents and demand of landlords ever more concessions and incentives to lure tenants.

ALBANY—Representative Kirsten Gillibrand's name is persistently circulating--along with many others--as a possible replacement for Hillary Clinton in the Senate, but the idea may dissolve if Democrats think that would mean sacrificing a congressional seat.

Gillibrand's district, the 20th, is spread across 10 upstate counties from Columbia to Essex and was represented by conservative Republicans from 1978--when Republican Gerald Solomon defeated Representative Ned Pattison, a Troy Democrat (the district no longer includes Troy)--until 2006.

Republicans still hold a 70,000 voter enrollment edge in the district and it was considered a safe seat until Gillibrand defeated scandal-damaged incumbent John Sweeney, a race was as much lost by Sweeney as won by Gillibrand.

She handily earned re-election this November over Republican Sandy Treadwell, who never mounted a significant challenge in the district for his "blue dog" opponent, who got an "A" rating from the N.R.A. this year.

Naturally, Republicans are eyeing the possibility of moving right back in if she leaves.

"If it's an open seat, we will have a very strong position to fill," said Jasper Nolan, longtime chairman of the Saratoga County Republican Party. "I think we just have to work that much harder, and maybe things will have changed a bit by then."

Nolan said he had already been contacted by multiple people--he would not name names--who said they would be interested in the seat if it becomes available. If Gillibrand were to leave, the seat would be filled in a special election and candidates for each party would be chosen by an agreement of the involved county party chairs--in this case, ten of them.

The district is trending bluer, but the odds would still be against a non-incumbent Democrat.

"They'll never win it back, even with the counties it comprises leaning more blue," said Alan Chartock, a political science professor at SUNY Albany and radio host. "But we're not talking about a House of Representatives that will be controlled by one vote anymore, so that dynamic is less important than it used to be."

Despite Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 5-year-old ban on smoking in bars, patrons are still lighting up after hours. If you've ever been to the Beatrice Inn or Rose Bar at Gramercy Park Hotel last at night, this isn't exactly news. But rarely is it pointed out—with 1,800 or so words devoted to the topic—as it is in this week's Page Six Magazine.

A spokesperson for the Rose Bar told the magazine, "The Rose Bar is extremely vigilant in preventing smoking by our patrons. There is a full-time staffperson whose sole responsibility is to monitor and prevent smoking within the bar." But Page Six's Sara Cardace, visiting the bar on a Thursday, spotted several patrons puffing, and quoted other sources pointing fingers at celebrity-hosting places like Citrine, SubMercer, and GoldBar.

Mayor Bloomberg is either clueless or willfully ignorant, Ms. Cardace concludes:

It's been five years since Mayor Mike Bloomberg banned smoking in bars. And no offense to Hizzoner, but if this is the best the city can do to put an end to nightlife cigarette culture, we can kiss all hope of a balanced budget goodbye. In his defense, maybe the mayor has no idea. We're guessing he doesn't hit the Beatrice Inn very often—and that he wasn't at Citrine last month, when Page Six spotted Shannen Doherty smoking like a chimney at a private party.

But a rep for the mayor's office contacted via email by Daily Transom, had this to say:

Despite the assertions of page 6 magazine [sic], compliance with the smoking ban has gotten better over time, not worse. Overall compliance with the smoking ban is 94%. Department of Health inspectors are conducting more late night inspections targeting food service establishments and areas with higher risks for smoking violations.

(We increased our late night inspections because we found bars are more likely to let people smoke late at night because they do not expect inspections to occur.)

Despite Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 5-year-old ban on smoking in bars, patrons are still lighting up after hours. If you've ever been to the Beatrice Inn or Rose Bar at Gramercy Park Hotel last at night, this isn't exactly news. But rarely is it pointed out—with 1,800 or so words devoted to the topic—as it is in this week's Page Six Magazine.

A spokesperson for the Rose Bar told the magazine, "The Rose Bar is extremely vigilant in preventing smoking by our patrons. There is a full-time staffperson whose sole responsibility is to monitor and prevent smoking within the bar." But Page Six's Sara Cardace, visiting the bar on a Thursday, spotted several patrons puffing, and quoted other sources pointing fingers at celebrity-hosting places like Citrine, SubMercer, and GoldBar.

Mayor Bloomberg is either clueless or willfully ignorant, Ms. Cardace concludes:

It's been five years since Mayor Mike Bloomberg banned smoking in bars. And no offense to Hizzoner, but if this is the best the city can do to put an end to nightlife cigarette culture, we can kiss all hope of a balanced budget goodbye. In his defense, maybe the mayor has no idea. We're guessing he doesn't hit the Beatrice Inn very often—and that he wasn't at Citrine last month, when Page Six spotted Shannen Doherty smoking like a chimney at a private party.

But a rep for the mayor's office contacted via email by Daily Transom, had this to say:

Despite the assertions of page 6 magazine [sic], compliance with the smoking ban has gotten better over time, not worse. Overall compliance with the smoking ban is 94%. Department of Health inspectors are conducting more late night inspections targeting food service establishments and areas with higher risks for smoking violations.

(We increased our late night inspections because we found bars are more likely to let people smoke late at night because they do not expect inspections to occur.)

The Man Who Owns The News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch
By Michael Wolff
Broadway Books, 446 pages, $29.95

Among people in what’s called “traditional media,” a genre that today ranges in intellectual and commercial standing from the indifferent to the near-extinct, it’s a commonplace to think of Rupert Murdoch as the Great Satan—as a cur, a pig and monster of the lowest order, a vulgarian whose acquisition of The Wall Street Journal in 2007 may have been the greatest tragedy ever to befall the saintly business of Anglophone journalism. This prejudice disregards the perception held by many (myself included) that The Journal has become a much more interesting and essential paper than it was—notwithstanding that a form of clinical insanity still holds sway in its editorial pages.

That said, consider the following from The Man Who Owns the News, Michael Wolff’s eccentric, irritating, wacky, indiscreet, outspoken, utterly enjoyable and engrossing, really quite wonderful disquisition on Mr. Murdoch’s life and personality:

(1) “[I]t is a Murdoch strategy or character note that he is easy to get on the phone. … Rupert would take phone calls from people that he has no idea who they are. … The shoeshine boy called him up and he would take his phone call.”

(2) “However, the present [New York Times] scion, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. … more than once has tried to call Murdoch to complain about something the New York Post said about him—Murdoch doesn’t take the calls[.]”

You’d have to say, wouldn’t you, that such a person has the right priorities, and in the right order—or, as is said of persons hating dogs and small children, that such a chap can’t be all bad.

CERTAINLY THAT WAS MY conclusion when I put down Mr. Wolff’s book. There was a time, long, long ago—before I put aside childish things—that I too viewed Mr. Murdoch as a bad guy, but then I feel that way about anyone who employs Howard Rubenstein (whose muzzling hand lies heavy on Mr. Wolff’s book, I sense, in the comparative non-appearance of arch-competitor Mort Zuckerman, another Rubenstein client, whose New York Daily News Mr. Murdoch’s Post took joy in pillorying as the Daily Snooze for much of the past decade).

After reading Wolff on Murdoch, I have to say that the Antipodean Anarch’s interestingness quite overwhelms his badness, as far as I’m concerned. This is definitely a book that encourages readerly side-taking. There can be no doubt that in his day Mr. Murdoch has done any number of low, underhanded things, but in Mr. Wolff’s telling, these are in large part offset by intelligent consideration of who it was that Mr. Murdoch did them to.

Be warned, though: This is neither a conventional biography nor a corporate history. It’s only glancingly about deals and lines of credit and exchange ratios. In return, there’s a lot of good inside stuff about people and their foibles and pretensions and what so-and-so thinks about so-and-so, all catnip to the readers of this paper. It’s great, great fun. (Indeed, no little part of this reader’s pleasure consisted in delectable speculation about who’s going to hate this book, and how much.)

What Mr. Wolff does is to put on display, in a swift, conversational and contentious style—he really is a very good writer—a man who’s so complex and self-contradictory, so Protean and unpredictable, so this way and that and t’other, so wonderfully, seductively, irresistibly awful, that any reader willing to set aside knee-jerk preconceptions cannot help but be fascinated (even if it’s the kind of fascination the rabbit finds in the rattlesnake).

This isn’t a biography so much as a psychological study. It’s anecdotal, opinionated and unapologetic in its interpretative claims. Now and then there shines through the fluid prose, like a glittering pebble in a stream bed, an unmistakable hint that the author considers himself and his ruminations quite as worthy a subject for serious consideration as, say, Rupert Murdoch. Don’t let this put you off. It takes this kind of writer to write this kind of book (unflinching, certainly no puff piece)—the kind that gives “judgmental” a good name.

THE MAN WHO OWNS the News is organized as a double helix: alternating narrative and expository strands, intercoiled and connected in a nucleic fashion. The first is the story, essentially chronological, of Mr. Murdoch’s negotiation for and ultimately successful purchase of Dow Jones from the descendants of its founders, whose hands-off style had let the company’s management, mainly in the form of Peter Kann (imagine Mr. Pooter married to Lady Macbeth), blow a commanding early lead in business journalism and information services to Bloomberg and Reuters.

The second might be called “Childe Rupert’s Pilgrimage,” in which we see our well-born, well-bred hero bound from peak to peak, from the apex of Australian power and social circles to his present position atop Manhattan’s media and residential (the old Laurance Rockefeller apartment on Fifth Avenue: $44 million) Everest, where he doth bestride the world. He’s a dynast—and so there’s lots of stuff about marriages (three) and children. He has great ambitions for his children, and doubtless great love—but he can’t help messing with their heads and affections.

The opening bars of the book are about change-making, and that’s the key to which the tale again and again returns as theme and variation. No sooner does he seem to attain some sort of personality grounding than it’s as if he’s consumed by a need to become someone else, and he’s off again. Same with his business interests. The people who work for him are hard-put to keep up; the pressure to upgrade and stay current with what the boss wants, what he’s thinking, must be horrific. This is a man who’s always in the moment, whatever, whenever, wherever he sees that moment to be. He’s always halfway out the door.

On the basis of what Mr. Wolff has written, to understand Mr. Murdoch, one needs to grasp the following: The guy’s a true aristocrat. He was born, bred and schooled at the top, and he’s never left the top. He chooses his own friends. He doesn’t give a damn what lesser mortals think (an imperviousness confirmed by the recent dye job). In Mr. Murdoch’s world, I infer from Mr. Wolff’s account, everyone is a lesser mortal save three whom he fears: one man (Roger Ailes) and two women (his mother and his wife, Wendi).

HE SPEAKS HIS MIND, goes his way, does what he pleases and that’s that. His trust and confidence in his instincts, mainly about people, is absolute, even if now and then these let him down. His loyalties are strong—and mainly to individuals (none of that New York Times “public trust” bullshit for our lad). He’s a gambler, a real one, who knows that the point of the exercise is to end up with the other players’ stakes. He has a passion for gossip. In these ways and many others, Rupert Murdoch truly represents old-time aristocratic values as opposed to postmodern House of Lords buffoonery. I think he would have done well in Regency times, hanging out with the likes of Byron.

Obviously, he has an innate, you might say vocational, gift for newspapering (his main love) and its media kin. Take two passages from Mr. Wolff that I’ve conflated: “It is this strange combination of lack of doubt, impulsiveness, high-risk behavior, a striking capacity to ignore everyone else, and a disinclination to seek cover that makes him ... the Sun God. He’s got dark, magical powers—insidious powers that border on mind control. For a person who is suspicious of the abstract, he himself is largely an abstraction—a media nerd, if you will, always with the mental wheels spinning, his variables … in constant motion: audience behavior, competitor advantages … the cost of content, the complication of distribution, the difficulties of production, how to do everything more cheaply and simply. … He’s containing this in his head.”

When I read that, I said to myself, I know this guy from somewhere else, and in a second it came to me: Remember the beginning of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Last Tycoon, when—in reference to Monroe Stahr, the genius studio chief based on Irving Thalberg—the narrator says, “Not half a dozen men have ever been able to keep the whole equation of pictures in their heads”? Change the commercial context and you have a snapshot of Rupert Murdoch.

I think his true genius—his true competitive edge—is for making real mischief, in markets, for competitors, for people he dislikes and, funnily, not unoften for himself and those who sail in him. His mastery of the arts of distraction and discomfiture is sublime; he thrives on chaos. In this area, I think he’s right up there in the Empyrean Hall of Fame, as memorable in his line as Mozart or Einstein or Usain Bolt in theirs.

In that regard, there’s another character in literature whom Mr. Murdoch brings to mind. Fifty years ago, Terry Southern wrote a novel called The Magic Christian. Its protagonist is a billionaire named Guy Grand, who places his energy, money, ingenuity and craftiness in the service of what seems to me a wholly admirable goal: to make it hot for people. I think Guy Grand and Rupert Murdoch would have had a hell of a good time together.

Michael M. Thomas’ next novel, Love & Money, will be published by Melville House in 2009. He can be reached at books@observer.com.

The Man Who Owns The News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch
By Michael Wolff
Broadway Books, 446 pages, $29.95

Among people in what’s called “traditional media,” a genre that today ranges in intellectual and commercial standing from the indifferent to the near-extinct, it’s a commonplace to think of Rupert Murdoch as the Great Satan—as a cur, a pig and monster of the lowest order, a vulgarian whose acquisition of The Wall Street Journal in 2007 may have been the greatest tragedy ever to befall the saintly business of Anglophone journalism. This prejudice disregards the perception held by many (myself included) that The Journal has become a much more interesting and essential paper than it was—notwithstanding that a form of clinical insanity still holds sway in its editorial pages.

That said, consider the following from The Man Who Owns the News, Michael Wolff’s eccentric, irritating, wacky, indiscreet, outspoken, utterly enjoyable and engrossing, really quite wonderful disquisition on Mr. Murdoch’s life and personality:

(1) “[I]t is a Murdoch strategy or character note that he is easy to get on the phone. … Rupert would take phone calls from people that he has no idea who they are. … The shoeshine boy called him up and he would take his phone call.”

(2) “However, the present [New York Times] scion, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. … more than once has tried to call Murdoch to complain about something the New York Post said about him—Murdoch doesn’t take the calls[.]”

You’d have to say, wouldn’t you, that such a person has the right priorities, and in the right order—or, as is said of persons hating dogs and small children, that such a chap can’t be all bad.

CERTAINLY THAT WAS MY conclusion when I put down Mr. Wolff’s book. There was a time, long, long ago—before I put aside childish things—that I too viewed Mr. Murdoch as a bad guy, but then I feel that way about anyone who employs Howard Rubenstein (whose muzzling hand lies heavy on Mr. Wolff’s book, I sense, in the comparative non-appearance of arch-competitor Mort Zuckerman, another Rubenstein client, whose New York Daily News Mr. Murdoch’s Post took joy in pillorying as the Daily Snooze for much of the past decade).

After reading Wolff on Murdoch, I have to say that the Antipodean Anarch’s interestingness quite overwhelms his badness, as far as I’m concerned. This is definitely a book that encourages readerly side-taking. There can be no doubt that in his day Mr. Murdoch has done any number of low, underhanded things, but in Mr. Wolff’s telling, these are in large part offset by intelligent consideration of who it was that Mr. Murdoch did them to.

Be warned, though: This is neither a conventional biography nor a corporate history. It’s only glancingly about deals and lines of credit and exchange ratios. In return, there’s a lot of good inside stuff about people and their foibles and pretensions and what so-and-so thinks about so-and-so, all catnip to the readers of this paper. It’s great, great fun. (Indeed, no little part of this reader’s pleasure consisted in delectable speculation about who’s going to hate this book, and how much.)

What Mr. Wolff does is to put on display, in a swift, conversational and contentious style—he really is a very good writer—a man who’s so complex and self-contradictory, so Protean and unpredictable, so this way and that and t’other, so wonderfully, seductively, irresistibly awful, that any reader willing to set aside knee-jerk preconceptions cannot help but be fascinated (even if it’s the kind of fascination the rabbit finds in the rattlesnake).

This isn’t a biography so much as a psychological study. It’s anecdotal, opinionated and unapologetic in its interpretative claims. Now and then there shines through the fluid prose, like a glittering pebble in a stream bed, an unmistakable hint that the author considers himself and his ruminations quite as worthy a subject for serious consideration as, say, Rupert Murdoch. Don’t let this put you off. It takes this kind of writer to write this kind of book (unflinching, certainly no puff piece)—the kind that gives “judgmental” a good name.

THE MAN WHO OWNS the News is organized as a double helix: alternating narrative and expository strands, intercoiled and connected in a nucleic fashion. The first is the story, essentially chronological, of Mr. Murdoch’s negotiation for and ultimately successful purchase of Dow Jones from the descendants of its founders, whose hands-off style had let the company’s management, mainly in the form of Peter Kann (imagine Mr. Pooter married to Lady Macbeth), blow a commanding early lead in business journalism and information services to Bloomberg and Reuters.

The second might be called “Childe Rupert’s Pilgrimage,” in which we see our well-born, well-bred hero bound from peak to peak, from the apex of Australian power and social circles to his present position atop Manhattan’s media and residential (the old Laurance Rockefeller apartment on Fifth Avenue: $44 million) Everest, where he doth bestride the world. He’s a dynast—and so there’s lots of stuff about marriages (three) and children. He has great ambitions for his children, and doubtless great love—but he can’t help messing with their heads and affections.

The opening bars of the book are about change-making, and that’s the key to which the tale again and again returns as theme and variation. No sooner does he seem to attain some sort of personality grounding than it’s as if he’s consumed by a need to become someone else, and he’s off again. Same with his business interests. The people who work for him are hard-put to keep up; the pressure to upgrade and stay current with what the boss wants, what he’s thinking, must be horrific. This is a man who’s always in the moment, whatever, whenever, wherever he sees that moment to be. He’s always halfway out the door.

On the basis of what Mr. Wolff has written, to understand Mr. Murdoch, one needs to grasp the following: The guy’s a true aristocrat. He was born, bred and schooled at the top, and he’s never left the top. He chooses his own friends. He doesn’t give a damn what lesser mortals think (an imperviousness confirmed by the recent dye job). In Mr. Murdoch’s world, I infer from Mr. Wolff’s account, everyone is a lesser mortal save three whom he fears: one man (Roger Ailes) and two women (his mother and his wife, Wendi).

HE SPEAKS HIS MIND, goes his way, does what he pleases and that’s that. His trust and confidence in his instincts, mainly about people, is absolute, even if now and then these let him down. His loyalties are strong—and mainly to individuals (none of that New York Times “public trust” bullshit for our lad). He’s a gambler, a real one, who knows that the point of the exercise is to end up with the other players’ stakes. He has a passion for gossip. In these ways and many others, Rupert Murdoch truly represents old-time aristocratic values as opposed to postmodern House of Lords buffoonery. I think he would have done well in Regency times, hanging out with the likes of Byron.

Obviously, he has an innate, you might say vocational, gift for newspapering (his main love) and its media kin. Take two passages from Mr. Wolff that I’ve conflated: “It is this strange combination of lack of doubt, impulsiveness, high-risk behavior, a striking capacity to ignore everyone else, and a disinclination to seek cover that makes him ... the Sun God. He’s got dark, magical powers—insidious powers that border on mind control. For a person who is suspicious of the abstract, he himself is largely an abstraction—a media nerd, if you will, always with the mental wheels spinning, his variables … in constant motion: audience behavior, competitor advantages … the cost of content, the complication of distribution, the difficulties of production, how to do everything more cheaply and simply. … He’s containing this in his head.”

When I read that, I said to myself, I know this guy from somewhere else, and in a second it came to me: Remember the beginning of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Last Tycoon, when—in reference to Monroe Stahr, the genius studio chief based on Irving Thalberg—the narrator says, “Not half a dozen men have ever been able to keep the whole equation of pictures in their heads”? Change the commercial context and you have a snapshot of Rupert Murdoch.

I think his true genius—his true competitive edge—is for making real mischief, in markets, for competitors, for people he dislikes and, funnily, not unoften for himself and those who sail in him. His mastery of the arts of distraction and discomfiture is sublime; he thrives on chaos. In this area, I think he’s right up there in the Empyrean Hall of Fame, as memorable in his line as Mozart or Einstein or Usain Bolt in theirs.

In that regard, there’s another character in literature whom Mr. Murdoch brings to mind. Fifty years ago, Terry Southern wrote a novel called The Magic Christian. Its protagonist is a billionaire named Guy Grand, who places his energy, money, ingenuity and craftiness in the service of what seems to me a wholly admirable goal: to make it hot for people. I think Guy Grand and Rupert Murdoch would have had a hell of a good time together.

Michael M. Thomas’ next novel, Love & Money, will be published by Melville House in 2009. He can be reached at books@observer.com.

Ravi Batra, an attorney who seems to be everywhere something political is happening, said that what New York needs in a new senator is “somebody who can go out and get the bacon.”

He modestly declined to float his own name as a possible senator because, he said, “I don’t have enough hair.”

ALBANY—Responding to the totally expected nomination of Hillary Clinton for secretary of state, David Paterson praised the politician he has long supported, and made it clear he is not going to announce a replacement any time soon.

In addition to calling her a "warrior," "advocate" and "the leader we need," the governor addressed (briefly) the looming next step.

"In order to appoint the best possible candidate to replace Senator Clinton, I am consulting with a wide variety of individuals from all across New York State," Paterson said in a public statement emailed to reporters. "I expect to announce Senator Clinton's replacement when the position becomes officially vacant."

Not that this is a surprise--Paterson said essentially the same thing on the night before Thanksgiving. At the same event, he dismissed the idea of a formal screening panel, saying, "The process becomes more of a problem than the selection because, how many people would you need on a screening panel for everyone in New York to be happy?"

It's a fair bet that Paterson will be pushed for details at his 2 p.m. press conference.

Here's his full statement:

"Since the founding of our nation, New York has often sent our best leaders to Washington where they confronted the great challenges of their day. We are proud that Senator Clinton will join that venerable tradition as Secretary of State. She is the leader we need to partner with President-Elect Obama to confront the international challenges we face today. I can think of no one more qualified for the position at this critical moment in our history.

"New York will lose a powerful voice in the Senate. But the nation will gain a powerful voice in the world. Senator Clinton's wisdom and record of leadership will make her a strong advocate for the cause of liberty, human rights, and the rule of law. Her courage and experience will give our nation a tested warrior in the fight against terrorism and extremism.

"On behalf of all New Yorkers, I want to thank Senator Clinton for her service to this State. I look forward to continuing to work with her in her new capacity.

"In order to appoint the best possible candidate to replace Senator Clinton, I am consulting with a wide variety of individuals from all across New York State. I expect to announce Senator Clinton's replacement when the position becomes officially vacant."

From Curbed: "Legendary Upper West Side landmark, coveted luxury rental building, celebrity-filled hideaway—the Apthorp is/was all of these things, and now thanks to an epic and bitter condo conversion, the 19th-century beauty at Broadway and 79th Street is now on sale. And what timing! Five listings have hit the Elliman website, under its address of 390 West End Avenue, and there are more floorplans available on the Apthorp's website ..."

Somewhere, Nora Ephron weeps.

A couple of interesting, educated takes on what David Paterson might be thinking about when it comes to replacing Hillary Clinton in the Senate:

Rodney Capel, the former executive director of the state Democratic Party, said that the governor should pick a replacement for Hillary Clinton’s senate seat that benefits his re-election chances.

The new senator should be “someone who has ability to raise money and support the election of the governor with white moderates that overwhelmingly supported Eliot in 2006,” Capel, now with Mercury Public Affairs, said in an IM.

But Capel didn't peg that ability to help Paterson to a specific demographic group: “I would say balance is less important than electability and competence. If the replacement is someone that can’t advance the work of the people of this state and can’t assist the Governor with his own re-election, then region and sex are not as important.”

Another consultant, Kevin Wardally with Bill Lynch Associates, said that Clinton would be tough to replace.

"Whenever Hillary Rodham Clinton opened her mouth on behalf of the needs of NYS, it was local, national and international and whomever follows her will not have that ability, at least right away," Wardally said, also via IM.

When asked about whether Paterson needs to pick someone who helps him reach out to various demographic groups or someone who is considered a strong statewide candidate, Wardally said, "The sad part is he needs both and the combination of those two needs are very hard to find currently in New York. Our statewide elected official bench is not deep."

Via Keith Gessen's tumblr, a video of New Yorker literary critic James Wood doing something no one could have guessed he knows how to do.

Via Keith Gessen's tumblr, a video of New Yorker literary critic James Wood doing something no one could have guessed he knows how to do.

Via Keith Gessen's tumblr, a video of New Yorker literary critic James Wood doing something no one could have guessed he knows how to do.

As Madonna embarks on life sans Guy Ritche, she’ll have more than A-Rod to look forward to. NME.com is reporting that Madge’s Sticky and Sweet World Tour is set to become the highest grossing jaunt by a solo artist ever. According to Live Nation—the concert promoter who signed Madonna last year to a multi-platform deal worth a reported $120 million—the tour will have raked in $282 million by the time it winds down in Brazil later this month. (That figure breaks Madonna’s previous record of $194 million—the highest gross ever by a female artist—set by her 2006 Confessions tour.) Sticky and Sweet has already earned $208 million, much of which came from the 550,000 tickets Madonna sold across her 28 U.S. dates. The Material Girl capped off the American leg with two nights last week at Miami’s Dolphin Stadium (where A-Rod was there to cheer her on from the front row.)

While this is certainly good news for Madonna, it also bodes well for Live Nation’s new-fangled “all-rights” deals. After signing contracts with Madonna, Jay-Z, and U2, we wondered if the Beverly Hills-based company’s 360 approach—in which the company sinks massive funds into promoting everything from tours and albums to clothing lines and publishing rights—would pay off. Madge’s success, to say the least, certainly lends some ballast to Live Nation’s approach.

As Madonna embarks on life sans Guy Ritche, she’ll have more than A-Rod to look forward to. NME.com is reporting that Madge’s Sticky and Sweet World Tour is set to become the highest grossing jaunt by a solo artist ever. According to Live Nation—the concert promoter who signed Madonna last year to a multi-platform deal worth a reported $120 million—the tour will have raked in $282 million by the time it winds down in Brazil later this month. (That figure breaks Madonna’s previous record of $194 million—the highest gross ever by a female artist—set by her 2006 Confessions tour.) Sticky and Sweet has already earned $208 million, much of which came from the 550,000 tickets Madonna sold across her 28 U.S. dates. The Material Girl capped off the American leg with two nights last week at Miami’s Dolphin Stadium (where A-Rod was there to cheer her on from the front row.)

While this is certainly good news for Madonna, it also bodes well for Live Nation’s new-fangled “all-rights” deals. After signing contracts with Madonna, Jay-Z, and U2, we wondered if the Beverly Hills-based company’s 360 approach—in which the company sinks massive funds into promoting everything from tours and albums to clothing lines and publishing rights—would pay off. Madge’s success, to say the least, certainly lends some ballast to Live Nation’s approach.

What else do you call a day when the comedic actress and writer is seemingly everywhere all at once?

First up, Vanity Fair, which enlisted The Times' Maureen Dowd to profile Ms. Fey, whom the magazine's cover trumpets as "A New American Sweetheart!" (Punctuation theirs.) The magazine's Web site also features one of those behind-the-scenes videos of Ms. Fey's photo shoot that all magazines' Web Editors are convinced Internet users love. (In an example of too-weird-to -ignore/too-geeky-to -explicate life imitating art, a very Maureen Dowd-like character played by Christine Lahti once wrote a profile of the protagonists' of Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, a show, like Ms. Fey's 30 Rock, set behind the scenes of a sketch comedy show very much like Ms. Dowd's launchpad, Saturday Night Live.)

Ms. Dowd's story was dutifully picked up by The Daily News, The New York Post (whose Page Six also had an item about Ms. Fey today), and The Associated Press, and TMZ. (Apparently a lot of people have been wondering why Ms. Fey has a scar on her face.)

Also out today, The New Yorker's Nancy Franklin's take on Ms. Fey's show, about which she writes:

Fey has surrounded herself with a cast that has one spectacular member and a couple of really good ones, but that averages out to only fair. Her own performance falls into the not-so-great category. It may be that in her effort to keep the show from being a star vehicle—such things have a tendency to crash—she is too generous; although she’s onscreen a lot and is game to do anything for a laugh, I sense that part of her is keeping her distance from the fray. Jerry Seinfeld appeared to do the same thing on his show—make way for his fellow-performers—but then I found him cold, too.

Ms. Franklin also manages to get a quick shot in at Ms. Fey's former 'Weekend Update' co-anchor Jimmy Fallon, whom she calls "a comic nonentity" who "will inexplicably take over the plum Conan O’Brien spot on NBC when O’Brien prematurely takes over the 'Tonight Show' from Jay Leno next year."

Any minute now, we expect The Daily Beast's Tina Brown to call for Ms. Fey to host Meet the Press or become a part of President-elect Obama's cabinet.

What else do you call a day when the comedic actress and writer is seemingly everywhere all at once?

First up, Vanity Fair, which enlisted The Times' Maureen Dowd to profile Ms. Fey, whom the magazine's cover trumpets as "A New American Sweetheart!" (Punctuation theirs.) The magazine's Web site also features one of those behind-the-scenes videos of Ms. Fey's photo shoot that all magazines' Web Editors are convinced Internet users love. (In an example of too-weird-to -ignore/too-geeky-to -explicate life imitating art, a very Maureen Dowd-like character played by Christine Lahti once wrote a profile of the protagonists' of Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, a show, like Ms. Fey's 30 Rock, set behind the scenes of a sketch comedy show very much like Ms. Dowd's launchpad, Saturday Night Live.)

Ms. Dowd's story was dutifully picked up by The Daily News, The New York Post (whose Page Six also had an item about Ms. Fey today), and The Associated Press, and TMZ. (Apparently a lot of people have been wondering why Ms. Fey has a scar on her face.)

Also out today, The New Yorker's Nancy Franklin's take on Ms. Fey's show, about which she writes:

Fey has surrounded herself with a cast that has one spectacular member and a couple of really good ones, but that averages out to only fair. Her own performance falls into the not-so-great category. It may be that in her effort to keep the show from being a star vehicle—such things have a tendency to crash—she is too generous; although she’s onscreen a lot and is game to do anything for a laugh, I sense that part of her is keeping her distance from the fray. Jerry Seinfeld appeared to do the same thing on his show—make way for his fellow-performers—but then I found him cold, too.

Ms. Franklin also manages to get a quick shot in at Ms. Fey's former 'Weekend Update' co-anchor Jimmy Fallon, whom she calls "a comic nonentity" who "will inexplicably take over the plum Conan O’Brien spot on NBC when O’Brien prematurely takes over the 'Tonight Show' from Jay Leno next year."

Any minute now, we expect The Daily Beast's Tina Brown to call for Ms. Fey to host Meet the Press or become a part of President-elect Obama's cabinet.

What else do you call a day when the comedic actress and writer is seemingly everywhere all at once?

First up, Vanity Fair, which enlisted The Times' Maureen Dowd to profile Ms. Fey, whom the magazine's cover trumpets as "A New American Sweetheart!" (Punctuation theirs.) The magazine's Web site also features one of those behind-the-scenes videos of Ms. Fey's photo shoot that all magazines' Web Editors are convinced Internet users love. (In an example of too-weird-to -ignore/too-geeky-to -explicate life imitating art, a very Maureen Dowd-like character played by Christine Lahti once wrote a profile of the protagonists' of Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, a show, like Ms. Fey's 30 Rock, set behind the scenes of a sketch comedy show very much like Ms. Dowd's launchpad, Saturday Night Live.)

Ms. Dowd's story was dutifully picked up by The Daily News, The New York Post (whose Page Six also had an item about Ms. Fey today), and The Associated Press, and TMZ. (Apparently a lot of people have been wondering why Ms. Fey has a scar on her face.)

Also out today, The New Yorker's Nancy Franklin's take on Ms. Fey's show, about which she writes:

Fey has surrounded herself with a cast that has one spectacular member and a couple of really good ones, but that averages out to only fair. Her own performance falls into the not-so-great category. It may be that in her effort to keep the show from being a star vehicle—such things have a tendency to crash—she is too generous; although she’s onscreen a lot and is game to do anything for a laugh, I sense that part of her is keeping her distance from the fray. Jerry Seinfeld appeared to do the same thing on his show—make way for his fellow-performers—but then I found him cold, too.

Ms. Franklin also manages to get a quick shot in at Ms. Fey's former 'Weekend Update' co-anchor Jimmy Fallon, whom she calls "a comic nonentity" who "will inexplicably take over the plum Conan O’Brien spot on NBC when O’Brien prematurely takes over the 'Tonight Show' from Jay Leno next year."

Any minute now, we expect The Daily Beast's Tina Brown to call for Ms. Fey to host Meet the Press or become a part of President-elect Obama's cabinet.

Today CBS News executives named Nancy Cordes as the network's new Congressional Correspondent. Previously, Ms. Cordes served as the network's Transportation and Consumer Safety Correspondent. According to the press release, she will continue to cover both beats.

More from the release:

Prior to joining CBS News, Cordes was an ABC News correspondent based in New York (2005-07), where she reported for all ABC News broadcasts and covered many major news stories, including Hurricane Katrina, the war in Iraq and the 2004 election. Before that, she was a Washington-based correspondent for NewsOne, the affiliate news service of ABC News (2003-04). Prior to joining ABC News, Cordes was a reporter for WJLA-TV Washington, D.C. (1999-2003), where she covered the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon, the 2000 Presidential race, the D.C.-area sniper attacks, and peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia. She began her career as a reporter for KHNL-TV Honolulu (1995-97).

It's 1999 all over again! Nervous New York apartment landlords are offering more concessions to lure tenants. [NY Mag]

"Condo owners are definitely dropping their starting prices. Those living downtown—in Chinatown, the financial district, and Greenwich Village, especially—appear to have made the most peace with the new financial-world order, cutting their median asking prices by nearly 11 percent." [NY Mag]

The banking industry's taking pre-emptive measures to help borrowers with their mortgages. [NY Times]

General Growth Properties, developer of the South Street Seaport and a giant mixed-use development on East 125th Street, got a reprieve on repaying $900 million in debt. Here's the kicker: It's a sign of what could come. "Real-estate observers are watching General Growth's plight for signs of how lenders will handle imperiled borrowers in this financial crisis. Analysts predict that, as billions of dollars of commercial loans come due in the coming months, many borrowers will seek extensions of payment deadlines from their lenders if new capital remains scarce." [WSJ]

It's official: Martin Scorsese doesn't want anyone else directing movies in Hollywood. Production Weekly is reporting (via /Film) that the Oscar winner is set to helm the poorly titled Falcon's Tale. The film would focus a criminal who gets busted for drugs and then cuts a deal with the government to go inside a maximum security mental institution to find out the whereabouts of a serial killer's victims. Yawn. Falcon's Tale is supposedly based on the life story of James Keene, the son of a police chief who wrote an article this past summer for Playboy about his misadventures. Screenwriter William Monahan, who won his Oscar for adapting The Departed, has been with the project since the spring and The Departed producer Graham King on board as well, making this a happy reunion if Mr. Scorsese actually decides to direct. However that is a big "if".

It seems like the problem with Mr. Scorsese over the last few years is that he has forgotten how to just say no. Including Falcon's Tale, he's currently attached to direct or in talks to direct six different movies and a documentary about George Harrison. And we didn't even include the modern day version of The Great Gatsby he's putting together for Vincent Chase to star in on Entourage (which, p.s., sounds like a great idea.) Don't get us wrong, we love that Mr. Scorsese wants to work--too few great directors actually seem to make movies anymore. But perhaps some more focus would benefit Mr. Scorsese's current schedule. After all, by the time the completed Shutter Island gets released next October, it'll be three full years since The Departed came out. At that rate, we should be seeing Falcon's Tale by 2024.

In other Martin Scorsese news, word is that Steve Buscemi and Kelly Macdonald are in talks to play roles in his upcoming HBO series Boardwalk Empire. Already on our radar as the next "best show on television", Boardwalk is based on the book by Nelson Johnson and tells the story of Atlantic City's rise during the 1920s. Mr. Buscemi will play a liquor distributor at the onset of Prohibition, while the lovely Ms. Macdonald will star as an Irish immigrant with a nasty husband. Mr. Scorsese is certain to direct the pilot of the series from a script by Terence Winter (The Sopranos), but after that, how much involvement he'll have is unclear. Considering all the feature film projects he has lined up, we hope HBO doesn't keep a seat warm for him.

It's official: Martin Scorsese doesn't want anyone else directing movies in Hollywood. Production Weekly is reporting (via /Film) that the Oscar winner is set to helm the poorly titled Falcon's Tale. The film would focus a criminal who gets busted for drugs and then cuts a deal with the government to go inside a maximum security mental institution to find out the whereabouts of a serial killer's victims. Yawn. Falcon's Tale is supposedly based on the life story of James Keene, the son of a police chief who wrote an article this past summer for Playboy about his misadventures. Screenwriter William Monahan, who won his Oscar for a