Judging by box office—and the box office never lies—the one thing Good Friday was good for was taking your kid to the movies. Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! (No. 2) hauled in $25 million in its second weekend, easily winning the top spot nationally. And Manhattanites were equally irreligious, though marginally different in the object of their sin. Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns (No. 1) earned 25 percent more than Horton in the city, making it the most popular movie by far on the island. Take that, God!  read more »

A 32-year-old ad copywriter, who sings in a downtown band and has a lot of tattoos, was on the phone from the East Village. His tone was confessional.

“For the last two years,” he said, “I’ve been chasing tail, sowing my wild oats, literally meeting girls and bringing them up to my apartment. And now”—his voice dropped a decibel or two—“I’ve gone three weeks without having sex. And I’m getting this response from some of my male friends: ‘Oh, good for you, that’s great.’ Almost like that’s more manly, more studly.  read more »

On the evening of Tuesday, Dec.  read more »

What better way to lighten the Monday load than with a little celebrity lifestyle coaching from Patrick Wanis, PhD? He’s just miraculously survived an invasion of legion New Yorkers in town for Art Basel Miami. Despite all that distraction, he offered up a gargantuan platter of super-chewy goss. It’s The Top Ten Celebrity Meltdowns of 2007!

We’ve included his list, which Mr. Wanis released only to The Daily Transom, but we decided to focus first on El Numero Uno: the biggest celebrity train wreck of the year—at least in Mr. Wanis’ view. And you’ll likely never guess who it is. (Hint: It’s not Britney Spears. It’s not Lindsay Lohan. And it sure ain’t Paris Hilton.)  read more »

• Natalie Portman pretends she’s important and makes fantastically obvious picks for a charity CD. A Shins remix? No way!
• Nice guy/every-mid-20s-to-30s-something girl’s dreamboat Ron Livingston will break out of Office Space’s shadow and into more dramatic roles in his movies opening this weekend. Damn it feels good to be… Richard Pimentel?
• An interview with Owen Wilson conducted by his bud Wes Anderson will be posted on MySpace at midnight tonight. Synchronize your watches.
• Right afterward, you can see 80-year-old playwright Edward Albee discuss his new works on Channel 13 at 12:30 a.m. and get your culture fix for the weekend. Make sure you watch some dumb VH1 shows and drink a bottle of whiskey right afterward. Good night!

It’s been a grim few months for Owen Wilson, but he’ll have a reason to be chipper if he heads to the South Bronx next Monday.

The Fordham-Bedford Housing Corporation is announcing a week from today that Jacob’s Place, a green affordable housing development on Webster Avenue in Fordham, has been completed. And they’re unveiling its solar panels, which Mr. Wilson happens to have indirectly bought, thanks to the eerie-sounding Solar Neighbors Program.

That program, spearheaded by thespian Ed Norton, contributes a green energy system to low-income housing whenever a celebrity buys solar panels. Isn’t Hollywood grand?

In this case, the 11-kilowatt, 64-panel solar “photovoltaic” system (which powers the building’s common area lighting, ventilation and elevators) was made possible for Jacob’s Place because of Mr. Wilson’s personal purchase.

Here’s one way to think about all this: A bank of South Bronx elevators is basically being powered by the inherent goodness of Owen Wilson.

On the other hand, Mr. Wilson didn’t have to personally do all that much. A spokesperson for affordable housing builders Enterprise said Mr. Wilson paid full price for a bunch of solar panels for his own home use, knowing that “he would be helping a low-income affordable housing complex receive the system.” (Enterprise and oil giant BP, which makes the solar panels, are the actual donors here).

Meanwhile, Jacob’s House also happens to have a 3,900-square-foot “Zero Floor Green Roof,” which limits storm water impact on the sewer system and such. The press release, which describes other good things like recycled tires and rain water collectors, is after the jump.  read more »

In the early morning hours of Sunday, June 10, in the smoky backroom of the club Beatrice Inn in the West Village, the actor Owen Wilson was perched atop a banquet with a wingman, real-estate heir and Elizabeth Hurley baby daddy Steven Bing, according to an onlooker.  read more »

1. Is Page A2 of the New York Times really that funny?, Dylan asked of the Times' advertisement of a chuckling fellow holding open the paper. Caption: "Darfur? BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

2. Dylan takes note of a publicity email he received from the New York Daily News about the escalation of Ben Widdicombe's gossip column to 5 days a week. "We like to think of Widdicome as the Owen Wilson to our Luke, at least on the media party circuit. This well-meaning Daily News flack apparently agrees," he writes, and then reprints an email from said flack, in which Dylan is asked to consider "booking" Ben Widdicombe on his "show."

Fishbowlny regrets the errors.