December 29, 2006
Dirty Dancing
But, in honor of the film's 25th anniversary I've been sporting these super soft t-shirts from Cold Crush by Awake, $24-$26 at 80's tees in the privacy of my own...
UPDATE: New year, same great taste
The blog has the party hat on and it is ready to celebrate, in the streets of New Orleans (with a short detour to Mississippi today to see what's what...
METLIFE FINALLY POUNDSOUT DEAL
After months of buzz and intrigue, MetLife finally signed a lease for 410,000 square feet at 1095 Sixth Ave., the former Verizon building now owned by EquityOffice, which is soon...
HEDGE HOGGING; TIES TO CHARLOTTE BANKING ELITE IN SEC LEGAL FEUD
A Charlotte, N.C., hedge fund manager with golden political connections said he is taking the rare step of fighting insider-trading charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday. John...
NYBOT-NYMEX DUEL OVER TRADING FLOOR
The New York Board of Trade may be forced to shutter its trading floor following last week's surprise decision by the neighboring New York Mercantile Exchange to begin trading its...
APPLE SHINING ; JOBS SHAKES OFF WORST OF OPTIONS-RIGGING BLUES
For the second day in a row, Steve Jobs proved he's a Teflon titan by beating back assaults on his Apple empire over a boardroom options-rigging scandal. Shares of Apple...
PENNEY FIRES COO WEST AFTER JUST 6 MONTHS
In a surprise move, J.C. Penney fired its chief operating officer yesterday, just six months after she joined the company. J.C. Penney did not say why it terminated the executive,...
YO QUIERO DINERO: E. COLI VICTIM
One E. coli victim may be cashing in outside the bun. Taco Bell, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands Inc., was sued by a New York resident who claims to have...
JARED'S JUMP TO JERSEY - OBSERVER'S OWNER MULLS FREE WEEKLY IN GARDEN STATE
NEW York Observer owner Jared Kushner is planning to leap the Hudson and extend his fledgling media holdings into his native New Jersey. Kushner right now is hard at work...
THE WORST COULD BE OVER FOR HIGH OIL PRICES
The economy-wrecking nightmare of skyrocketing oil prices may be coming to an end, with cheaper $50-a-barrel oil becoming the norm through springtime. Energy analysts say that hair-trigger trading - which...
AT IRAQ BOTTOM
THE TIGER AND THE SNOWZero stars War is hell.In English, Arabic and Italian, with subtitles. Running time: 115 minutes. Not rated (mature themes). At the Quad, 13th Street between Fifth...
GRAVE MISTAKES
THE DEAD GIRL (one and a half stars) WHAT happens when several characters' lives intertwine with the maggot-infested corpse of a prostitute in "The Dead Girl"? A whole lot of...
A-MAZE-ING - YOU'LL GET LOST INSIDE THIS WONDERFUL SPANISH FABLE
PAN'S LABYRINTH (El Laberinto del Fauno) (four stars) Finest fantasy since "LOTR" In Spanish with English subtitles. Running time: 112 minutes. Rated R (graphic violence, profanity). At the Lincoln Square,...
BELLE OF BELLINI PURE PLEASURE
I PURITANIMetropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center; (212) 362-6000. Performances through Jan. 26. LOOKING as graceful as a gazelle and singing as sweetly as a bell struck with a surprising outburst of...
TRY COACH, NOT COUCH ; HARRIED? SEEING A LIFE ADVISER MAY ROCK
I think I might be the only person in Manhattan who doesn't have a therapist, or three. It's not that I don't have problems - but generally, they are nothing...
ROPE AND GLORY; CHASING 'HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL,' A MOVIE ABOUT DOUBLE DUTCH AND TEEN SCHEMES
DISNEY Channel hopes that "Jump In!" will be its next "High School Musical" - a feel-good original movie with major appeal for the "tween" set. Instead of kids staging a...
B'WAY AWAKENING; THE YEAR WAS GOOD & ROTTEN ONSTAGE
FOR most people, going to the theater is a fling. For critics, it's more like a marriage. We love our work, al though the things we remember are sometimes not...
PATTI GALLOPS INTO '07
IN the words of the great James Brown, "shake your moneymaker" - wherever you're getting funky Sunday. Here's are some New Year's Eve musical suggestions: Patti Smith sang the final...
LAST ACTS OF '06; TOP HITS, SNITS AND FAILURES ON B'WAY
BEFORE we uncork the champagne, let's take a quick look back at the theater in 2006, and relish, for one last time, the hits, the misses, the fits, the fights...
STARR REPORT
'Jordan' returns "Crossing Jordan" makes its usual midseason debut, this time on Sunday, Jan. 14 (10 p.m./Ch. 4). The series, starting its sixth season with star Jill Hennessy, always performs...
FILM PICK
Jean Marais and Josette Day have the title roles in Jean Cocteau's "La Belle et La Bete'' (1946). The magical fairy tale screens at noon through Monday at the IFC...
MARY'S HOT PICK
LOUIS Hayes and the Cannonball Adderly Legacy Band will swing in the New Year at Sweet Rhythm (88 Seventh Ave. South, off Bleecker Street; sweetrhythmny.com, [212] 255-3626) with shows beginning...
CASINO BEAT
NEW JERSEY * GLADYS KNIGHT takes the stage Saturday at 9 p.m. and Sunday at 10:30 p.m. in the Tropicana Showroom. Tickets: $25-$75; tropicana.net, (609) 340-4020. * Funnyman JIM NORTON...
HEZ PAY-PER-SLAY; 'REWARDS' ROCKETS VS. ISRAEL
Hezbollah and its Iranian backers are rewarding Palestinian terrorists with thousands of dollars for each homemade rocket that hits southern Israel, according to Israeli intelligence. The size of the payoffs...
I GOT A FAKE ID IN 5 MINUTES FLAT
With $50 in cash and in five minutes' time, I had myself a fake ID. That's how easy it is for a teenager to snag a bogus ID that can...
DROWN CLAIMS DENIED CITY OFF THE HOOK
The city cannot be held liable for the tragic deaths of four teens who drowned off the shore of City Island, an appeals court ruled yesterday. The families of Henry...
PLAYSTATION THIEVES CAUGHT ON THUGCAM
Crystal-clear images from a security camera show two robbers seconds before they burst into a Queens home, tied up three terrified boys, then walked out with bags of Christmas gifts....
CHINA CO. BIDS FOR CHUNK OF FREEDOM
A Chinese real-estate firm is negotiating with the Port Authority to lease one-third of the Freedom Tower, just six months after the company was rebuffed in a bid for space...
GOOD WORK, GOV; PATAKI'S MIRACLE ON 42ND ST.
AS the Pataki administration passes into history, it deserves to be honored for the great land-use reclamation project it got right: Times Square. Gov. Pataki has taken a beating in...
NYPD DAILY CRIME BLOTTER
BROOKLYN *** Police are trying to find two scam artists who ripped off $1,000 from a customer getting cash at an ATM machine in downtown Brooklyn. On the afternoon of...
POWER DUO VS. ALBANY CORRUPTION ERUPTION
ALBANY - The two most feared corruption-busters at the scandal-scarred Capitol huddled yesterday at a private lunch meeting that's sure to send shivers throughout state government, The Post has learned....
IT WAS A VERY BAD YEAR
THE year 2006 brings to mind the old British TV series "Men Behaving Badly" - except that a show about 2006 would be called "Planet Behaving Badly." This was not...
CITY JOINS MEDICAID CRACKDOWN
ALBANY - The city will join a state pilot program to go after Medicaid fraud, an initiative that officials say could recover millions of dollars. City Hall will create the...
KEY BANK SLOT FOR N.Y. REP
WASHINGTON - Manhattan Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney is set to take over a powerful subcommittee that oversees the city's multibillion-dollar banking industry. The move will give Maloney the chance to...
TAT'S ALL, FOLKS; 'ERASABLE' BODY INK
Anchors away! If you've always wanted to tattoo your lover's name on your arm but worry what's going to happen when you break up, your ship has come in. Scientists...
BUILDERS' TAX BREAK OK'D
After 10 months of negotiations, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday signed legislation limiting tax breaks for developers in most of Manhattan and booming parts of Brooklyn and Queens. The breaks were given...
BX. HOSP SUED FOR SPONGE BOTCH
A Bronx father of seven says he got more than he bargained for when he went in for triple-bypass surgery at Montefiore Medical Center - a sponge mistakenly left behind...
GAL GOES CUCKOO OVER COCOA ; CREAMS DONUT GUY IN WHIP RAMPAGE: COPS
A Brooklyn woman went dough-nuts, throwing a cup of steaming hot chocolate in the face of a Dunkin' Donuts counter clerk after he failed to top the drink with whipped...
EVE-ASIVE ACTION; NEW YEAR LOOKS LIKE IT'LL DODGE TERROR: PREZ AIDE
New Year's Eve revelers can apparently breathe a bit easier in Times Square this year, after President Bush's homeland security adviser yesterday said she knows of no terror plots targeting...
STATE HOUSE SPOUSE; OFFICE FOR MRS. SPITZER
ALBANY - Buy one, get one free. Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer's wife, Silda, will have an office of her own in the governor's wing on the second floor of the Capitol...
'DWI' FORGIVENESS; CRASH GIRL'S KIN DON'T HATE DRIVER
The bereaved Long Island family of a 16-year-old girl who had the "voice of an angel" said yesterday they forgive the teenager who killed her, allegedly while driving drunk. "I'm...
CONEY ISLE EATERY STAYS
A developer's bid to buy a famous Coney Island Italian restaurant and convert the site into luxury housing appears to be toast. Nino Russo, co-owner of Gargiulo's Restaurant, a neighborhood...
POLS WIELD CLUB; WANT PROMOTERS LICENSED
Club promoters - who often allow young kids past the velvet ropes - would be targeted for licensing under a City Council plan unveiled yesterday to put the lid on...
HAIL YES! TAXIS WILL ID CELL DEAD SPOTS
Can you hail me now? Wireless companies will soon start using yellow cabs to improve their cellphone signals throughout the city. The Taxi and Limousine Commission recently approved a pilot...
BABY'S BLAZE OF GLORY; H'WAY JOY FOR FIRE WIFE
An FDNY lieutenant had an emergency of his own yesterday, when his wife went into labor on their way to the hospital and gave birth in an ambulance on the...
THEY'RE LINING UP TO PLAY HANGMAN
WASHINGTON - Offers are pouring in from around the world to be Saddam Hussein's hangman when he is executed for crimes against humanity. Aides to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki...
JAMES BROWN GOING IN STYLE ; RHINESTONE TUX AND GOLD CASKET AT APOLLO
The casket was gold; the Godfather of Soul, his trademark pompadour intact, was decked out in a rhinestone-studded electric blue tuxedo and silver boots; and his rocking rhythms reverberated both...
RINGING IN TOUGHER DWI LAWS
The stoic grandmother of a 7-year-old flower girl who was decapitated when a boozed-up driver slammed into her limousine warned yesterday that drivers face tougher new drunken-driving laws on New...
A WEEK 'END' FOR SADDAM; DEAD BY SUNDAY
Saddam Hussein will be hanged no later than Sunday, U.S. officials said last night. The Iraqi government wants his execution by hanging to be carried out before the start of...
SEASON'S BEEPINGS IN TRAFFIC
Less seems like so much more when it comes to Manhattan traffic at this time of year, the Port Authority says. There has been a 10 percent drop in the...
MANHOLES EXPLODE IN VILLAGE
Smoldering insulation covering electrical cables triggered a series of explosions that sent manhole covers in Greenwich Village flying into the air and filled streets with thick, black smoke. One person...
PACT PANEL PEEVES PBA
The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association is furious over the possible makeup of an arbitration panel appointed to settle its long-running contract dispute. The three-member panel will issue a ruling on the...
JAMES BROWN GOING IN STYLE; RHINESTONE TUX AND GOLD CASKET AT APOLLO
The casket was gold; the Godfather of Soul, his trademark pompadour intact, was decked out in a rhinestone-studded, electric-blue tuxedo and silver boots; and his rocking rhythms reverberated both inside...
'TV' DEATH CRASH; L.I. CHASE CAR RUNS DOWN MAN IN LIVING ROOM: COPS
A high-speed police chase ended in tragedy on Long Island yesterday when the suspect - either high or drunk - crashed into a house and killed the owner, who was...
THE QUEENS PARK MUGGER
This is the icy gaze of one of the brutal thugs who beat a man senseless on Christmas Day in Flushing Meadow Park. Cops believe that he and another thug...
BELL'S PAL IN GAMBLE BUST
One of the two friends wounded in last month's police shooting of Sean Bell was busted yesterday in a gambling raid in Harlem, cops said. Trent Benefield, 23, was one...
DROWN CLAIMS DENIED; CITY OFF THE HOOK
The city cannot be held liable for the tragic deaths of four teens who drowned off the shore of City Island, an appeals court ruled yesterday. The families of Henry...
PATAKI'S CREW IS PACKING UP
ALBANY - With momentum building to the start of the Spitzer administration on New Year's Day, a bare-bones Pataki administration sputters to an end after three terms. Gov. Pataki has...
CANCER SURVIVOR, 20, KILLED IN S.I. HIT-RUN
A young woman who valiantly beat cancer was mowed down and killed last night by a cowardly hit-run driver exiting the Staten Island Expressway. Stephanie McDonald, 20, died of massive...
IT'S APPLE JAM - HOLIDAYS CAUSE NEW KIND OF TRAFFIC NIGHTMARE
New York traffic jams are known to defy logic, but never more than this time of year when fewer cars can somehow translate into more gridlock. With thousands of workers...
PATAKI'S CREW IS PACKING
ALBANY -- With momentum building toward the start of the Spitzer administration on New Year's Day, a bare-bones Pataki administration sputters to an end after three terms. Gov. Pataki has...
GRINCH RETURNS CHURCH DOUGH
The second suspect in the Christmas Day robbery of a Catholic church walked free yesterday after posting $10,000 bond. Dennis Almodovar - a low-level court aide in Brooklyn - was...
THEY ALL FEEL GOOD ON 125TH STREET
IT ALMOST seemed that the crowd at the Apollo yesterday was waiting for James Brown to jump out of his gold casket and dance across the stage for one final...
CAR KILLS MAN IN HIS LIVING ROOM
A high-speed Long Island police chase ended in tragedy yesterday when the perp - either high or drunk - crashed into a house and killed the owner as he watched...
FLICKS OF THE WEEK
Rookie Of The Year (1993) In this loopy comedy, little-leaguer Henry Rowengartner (Thomas Ian Nicholas) gets in a freak accident that alters his arm strength. This enables him to pitch...
DEVILS GET TO OVE-CHECKIN'
The calendar is turning again, the Devils' vaunted checking line aging, but still like vintage wine. Jay Pandolfo turned 32 Wednesday, and John Madden and Sergei Brylin are each 33....
NETS LOOKING FOR ANSWERS
MIAMI - So what's wrong with the Nets? Got a few hours you don't need? Playing tonight here against the Heat, who may be without Dwyane Wade (wrist) and Shaquille...
UFC HITTING HARD
CHUCK Liddell and Tito Ortiz will face each other Saturday night in an Ultimate Fighting Championship rematch at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It's a pay-per-view event with organizers...
COACH BRINGS PRIDE TO CANISIUS
THEIR names sound the same. They dress the same. They're both New Yorkers. They even look alike. And before long, their teams may as well. When Canisius College set out...
EIGHT OF BALCO 10 FAILED STEROID TEST
The 115-page opinion issued by a federal appeals court in San Francisco on Wednesday reveals that eight of the 10 players implicated in the BALCO investigation failed steroid tests in...
HEY, MNF CREW: SHUT UP & WATCH
MONDAY night on ESPN, the all- sports network that has quit on sports fans in favor of everyone and everything else, the Jets had a third-and-eight, 3:15 left in the...
SUSPENSIONS HELP OUT ISIAH
TODAY'S epistle is dedicated to Gerald Ford, who pardoned Richard and Norm Nixon and was the last man in the White House during the last days of Saigon and the...
$126M DEAL TOO RICH FOR N.Y. TEAMS
Scott Boras, Barry Zito's agent, called Yankees GM Brian Cashman on Wednesday night to inform him that he had two teams willing to pay his client $18 million a season...
GIANTS LAND ZITO ; CAN'T RIP METS FOR SAYING NO TO BARRY
BARRY ZITO would have been ideal for the Mets. He is, perhaps, the majors' surest thing to pitch 200 innings next year when that quality, more than any other, best...
MURCER HAS BRAIN SURGERY
Bobby Murcer was described by his wife as awake, talkative and watching the Oklahoma State-Alabama Independence Bowl, after undergoing five hours of surgery yesterday to remove a brain tumor. It...
PUNTER TRIES TO PUT PROBLEM ON HOLD
JET NOTES Jets' punter Ben Graham received an earful from special teams coach Mike Westhoff early in yesterday's practice. Graham has mishandled field goal snaps in each of the last...
REBUILT TO LAST; GANG GREEN: YOU CAN'T KEEP OUR QB DOWN
Sixteen games. Sixteen starts. All in one season. It's a goal that many NFL players take for granted, one that hardly is viewed as any sort of significant accomplishment. But...
N.Y. INTERNET BETTING NEARS
Racing and Wagering Board yesterday issued guidelines for internet wagering in N.Y. State, which becomes legal Jan. 22. NYRA is optimistic it will have its internet betting system up and...
DESPERATION FOR RANGERS
In the roller-coaster ride that is the 82-game NHL season, every team has its ups and downs. Right now, the Rangers are down. After reeling off five wins in a...
WEARY KNICKS HIT ROAD
PHOENIX - The exhausted Knicks took a red-eye charter flight after their three-overtime classic victory over the Pistons. They arrived in Phoenix at 6 a.m. local time yesterday (8 a.m....
SCARLET FEVER; RUTGERS RIPS KANSAS STATE FOR FIRST BOWL WIN
Rutgers 37Kan. St. 10 HOUSTON - The future of the Rutgers football team, the players who didn't have to explain why they signed with the Scarlet Knights a year after...
JOHNNIES WIN UGLY
OVERTIMESt. John's 45Boston U. 44 Sure, St. John's won last night, and head coach Norm Roberts talked about being "proud" of his team, but Eugene Lawrence was aware just how...
AN MVP KNIGHT FOR COWBOY RAY
HOUSTON - Cowboy Ray took the makeshift stage at Reliant Stadium donning a white 10-gallon cowboy hat. "I'm not sure its a good look for me," Ray Rice said. "But...
THE FINAL DAZE - IT LOOKS AS IF BARBER HAS ALREADY STARTED RETIREMENT
IF TIKI'S not going to cry, why should we, unless we're bored to tears tomorrow night by the 2006 Giants going out with seven losses in their last eight games?...
ERNIE AND TIKI: OUT-GOING ACCORSI IS LEAVING DECISIONS TO NEXT GIANTS GM
In every other year, Ernie Accorsi would not wait to be asked. His opinion would be heard, and not in the form of a whisper. Shy about expressing himself he...
NON-SURGICAL STRAHAN: I SHALL RETURN IN '07
GIANT NOTES Michael Strahan yesterday said he is not considering retirement, will not need surgery on the Lisfranc sprain in his right foot and is eager to return next year...
BUILDING IT RIGHT - SCHIANO PROUD OF RUTGERS TURNAROUND
HOUSTON - Just before Rutgers coach Greg Schiano boarded the team charter for Houston and last night's Texas Bowl showdown against Kansas State, he opened several Christmas presents. One that...
STORM NEED LAMONT
When Aaron Spears was lost indefinitely to St. John's last week because of a suspension, coach Norm Roberts quickly pointed to Lamont Hamilton as the player he was looking toward...
NOW YOU CAN GO TO THE BOAT SHOW
THE boat show season sets sail tomorrow from Manhattan's West Side with the start of the 102nd New York National Boat Show. The Javits Convention Center will again play host...
LOREN STOKES PRIDE
Hofstra 65 St. Joseph's 63 When Tom Pecora called a timeout with 23 seconds left in last night's game against St. Joseph's, with the score tied at 63, he didn't...
5 QUESTIONS FOR MARK JACKSON
Mark Jackson, our "Golden Clicker'' Sportscaster of the Year, gets the "5 Questions'' spotlight this week, chatting with NYP TV Sports' Andrew Marchand. Jackson, 41, is ABC's and YES' lead...
AND THE WINNERS (AND LOSERS) ARE ... OUR 3RD ANNUAL 'GOLDEN CLICKERS'
MORE than the money or the fame or the fact that they watch games for a living, sportscasters do what they do for the eternal glory of NYP TV Sports'...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
A man pulled over by police in Manchester, N.H., on suspicion of DWI - after he had slammed into two cars - continued swigging beer while he was being arrested....
THE 6TH QUESTION W/ MARK JACKSON
By ANDREW MARCHANDEvery Friday in NYP TV Sports, our sports television pullout that appears in the middle of the print edition and online, we present "Five Questions for â¦"This is...