We knew buyers are being a bit more finicky these days, but is the market so bad that a broker needs to hire a supermodel to unload two prime Upper East Side listings?

Page Six reported that supermodel/tsunami survivor Petra Nemcova has partnered with a mysterious new one-man brokerage called Aglow Properties to sell two apartments in the $25 million range at Fifth Avenue and 80th Street and on Park Avenue in the 60’s.

Details on the stunning partnership, the Czech beauty's role, and the listings are still unclear--Aglow's Web site is only one page with a logo and a phone number for broker Ron Schnackenberg, who used to be the head of sales at Trump University, according to his Linked profile.  read more »

Last night, Mathieu Almaric was talking to The Daily Transom about starring in The Diving Bell and The Butterfly.

“You don’t choose a film, the film chose me,” he said.

The film that chose Mr. Almaric chronicles the story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the vibrant, stylish editor of French Elle who, 12 years ago, became forever trapped in “locked-in syndrome” after suffering a stroke. The former editor was left almost fully paralyzed, able to only blink his left eye, yet by using this one movement in accordance with an alphabet, he managed to transcend his condition and communicate his experience through a best-selling memoir.  read more »

Last night at the Hammerstein Ballroom, where celebrities converged for Conde Nast's Black Ball to benefit Keep a Child Alive, singer Alicia Keys was decked out in head-to-toe Armani and a lot of black patent leather. She told she was taking a very special date to the Bungalow 8-themed, Amy Sacco-designed after-party ...  read more »

This is the official rendering. (Really, it is).

If Times Square and supermodels are your thing, get excited for tonight's launch party for--yes!--New York's very own Hawaiian Tropic Zone Restaurant and Lounge. Hooterific.

When does sand compete with a 16-foot energizing DJ? When there are 700 cubic tons it. Along for the launch of this new gourmet hot spot are sweet-toothed Dylan Lauren, plus sweet-handed Giants Amani Toomer and Michael Strahan.