"In an international city of more than eight million souls, the series" – The Real Housewives of New York City – "documents the lives of five white socialites who juggle Hamptons estates and charity balls." [NYT]

Ubiquitous cover girl Lindsay Lohan is recording a Kylie Minogue-like album. [WWD]  read more »

Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard thinks the World Trade Center might have been destroyed because it was too expensive to re-wire the building for class-A tenants. (PageSix.com)

An example of the kind of freedom satellite radio affords Howard Stern: His half-hour rant calling former sidekick Stuttering John a "no-talent ingrate." (PageSix.com)  read more »

Nicole Richie has been offered the role of Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway. [Us]

Us Weekly's excerpted interview in which Barack Obama declined to discuss his underwear preference received the second highest number of page views for one story ever, the first being new of Heath Ledger's death. [WWD]

The executive producer of "The Early Show," Shelley Ross, allegedly forced a staffer to reschedule a colonoscopy because it was sweeps month. [P6]  read more »

A paparazzo that sued an Australian paper for defamation after it accused him of harassing Nicole Kidman lost his case.  Among other things, he tried to bug Kidman's house. [NYT]

Will Ferrell pulled Tom Brokaw onstage at Radio City during the final night of his Funny or Die tour to involve him in an Anchorman bit. [P6]

Obama declines to tell Us Weekly whether he wears boxers or briefs. [Us]

If you can't afford a New York apartment with a real exposed brick wall, here are ways to build a fake one. [NYT]

Josh Hartnett had to fly coach back from the Oscars. [P6]

Sports drinks companies are targeting some products specifically to women. [NYT]

Facebook released screen shots for a planned site redesign. [Radar]

The Christie's dinner party following an advance screening of "The Other Boleyn Girl" earlier this week featured mini guillotine table centerpieces. [Style.com]

Jessica Alba was teased in elementary school due to early development. [P6]

Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch and all its furnishings will be put up for public auction March 19 unless the pop star pays the tens of millions he owes on the property. [NYT]

Marc Anthony's former wife, Daynara Torres, is writing a book on their marriage. Anthony left her for new mom Jennifer Lopez. [P6]

Pamela Anderson seeks to annul her four-month-old marriage to Rick Salomon, citing fraud. [Us]

A photo of the boy Anne Frank called her "one true love" in her diary will go on display at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam thanks to the boy's childhood friend, now 81, who escaped to England. [NYT]

Chief Clinton strategist Mark Penn is doing big, ugly renovations on his Washington, D.C., home, and the neighbors are pissed. [P6]

Lindsay Lohan's little sister, Ali, is inspired by her sister's career. [People]

The New York Times documents the rise of competing FroYo chains in the city. It does not explain why the Upper East Side Pinkberry's line stretches out the door even when it's sleeting. [NYT]

The 1,400-person audience during New York Philharmonic's performance in North Korea Tuesday gave a five-minute standing ovation. [WSJ]

Diablo Cody may get a tattoo of Ellen Page's face to commemorate her Oscar win for best original screenplay. [P6]

Looks like Nicole Kidman will grace a fall cover of Vogue, which was shot by Annie Leibovitz in a town near Sydney, Australia. [WWD]

Just spotted at the Colette boutique in Paris: party gal/model Cory Kennedy, who “love[s] Paris for its fashion.” [T]

Donald Rumsfeld was spotted admiring the lovely flowers at Café des Artistes, where Mayor Bloomberg, dining nearby, didn’t say hello. [P6]

The New York Philharmonic was able to perform in North Korea; the concert included the George Gershwin tune “American in Paris.” [NYT]

It’s official: Veronica Hearst lost her ocean-front, 52-room Villa Venezia. [P6]  read more »

Baird Jones, gossip reporter and Webster Hall curator, died in his Greenwich Village apartment on Thursday night at the age of 53. [NYDN]

All about actress Charlize Theron, who has “her feet firmly planted on the ground.” [T]

At Oscar parties, celebs like Sean Penn and Rocco DiSpirito showed up with new, attractive girlfriends. [P6]

On the red carpet this year, a lot of leading ladies played it safe. [NYT]

John Mayer left a star-studded party in L.A. because, as he put it, “people keep coming up to me and touching me and telling me I’m so cute.” [Rush&Malloy]  read more »

Jennifer Lopez had twins this morning – a girl and a boy. [NYT]

Everyone who attended Ashton Kutcher's 30th birthday bash was exposed to hepatitis A.  That would include wife Demi Moore, Kate Hudson and Madonna. [P6]

French Vogue's Carine Roitfeld said New York magazine's profile on her misinterpreted her words and made her sound unfairly critical of Anna Wintour.  [WWD]

Sam Lufti, who allegedly kept Britney Spears drugged, was served with a restraining order through March 17. [TMZ]

Britney will look pretty awful in ten years if she doesn't change her lifestyle habits. [Gawker]

A Manhattanite pulls a Thoreau, deciding it's a good idea to spend a winter weekend in an unheated Berkshires cabin. [NYT]

George Clooney goes to a journalist's house for dinner and ends up in his crawl space, searching for the source of an alarm. [Time]

Blind people can take a touching tour of sculptures at MoMA. [NYT]

Danielle Steele's childhood ambition was to be a nun. [Yahoo News]

Andre Benjamin (a.k.a. Outkast’s Andre 3000) may not be so set on finding an East Village place after all; he recently toured a penthouse loft on West 13th Street. [P6]

For many women searching for that perfect wedding dress, less is definitely more. Sayonara, Cinderella. [NYT]

Elizabeth Hurley and husband Arun Nayar are accused of paying their full-time London housekeeper $200 a week. [P6]

Hedi Slimane, the former Dior Homme designer, took the pictures for a 14-page spread in French Vogue’s forthcoming April issue; “it’s magnificent,” said the mag’s editor, Carine Roitfeld. [WWD]  read more »

Savoring what is fast becoming the gastronomical awakening of the Upper West Side, Times foodie Frank Bruni gives the hood’s Dovetail three stars. [NYT]

Jennifer Lopez, who is pregnant with twins, has checked into her private room at a Long Island hospital. [P6]

Asked by a reporter how his daughter Jenna’s wedding plans were coming, President Bush said: “It’s coming like I have nothing to say about it, is how it’s coming.” [Rush&Malloy]  read more »