November 10, 2007
Norman Mailer (1923-2007), Filmmaker: Q & A From 1987
What do you think of the previous films from your novels? I thought "The Naked and the Dead'' [pictured are Aldo Ray and Barbara Nichols]was one of the worst movies...
Strike Watch: The Studios' Big Bluff
The Hollywood studios claimed they had stockpiled something like 50 "ready to shoot'' scripts before members of the Writers Guild of America (including Diablo Cody) walked out last week, but...
Early Box Office: Coens Rule
"No Country For Old Men'' burned up the box office on opening day yesterday. Steve Mason at Fantasy Moguls calculates that based on early figures, the Cormac McCarthy adaptation with...
LET'S FAUX EUROPE!
CALL it the dollar doldrums: With American currency at a record low against the euro, European travel is now more expensive than ever. Do you feel like you'd need to...
WHAT'S UP
GET YOUR PHIL: Hear what dance music sounded like before the dawn of disco at the first New York Philharmonic Young People's Concert of the season. "Music 4 Dance" features...
HEY, GOOD BOOKING
LOVE the book? Meet the author! You can at the Thalia Kids' Book Club series, where superstar writers like Brian Jacques ("Redwall") and Ann M. Martin (the "Main Street" series)...
CIRQUE DU SNOW
YOUNG Jamie really loves snow. He loves it so much that he travels from his dreary, snowless city to a mythical Arctic land, Wintuk, in search of flakes to bring...
NOT SO WILD ABOUT HARRY
CALL it AARP-unk. At the Fillmore on Thursday, Deborah Harry launched her national tour for "Necessary Evil," her first solo album in 14 years. The performance teetered between bad and...
BEFORE MCDREAMY TURNED 'GREY'
NO, he doesn't wear dresses, do tremendous drugs, get arrested on a weekly basis for DUI, insult fans or get so drunk, he turns into a raging racist. Mostly, he...
'FALSE' OPRAH CHARGE
THE former headmistress at Oprah Winfrey's South African girls' school is hitting back at allegations that she covered up a child abuse scandal at her school. "Unfortunately, in the understandable...
NBC MAY SHORTSTOP INTERNET SERIES
JUST as the Internet's first, network-quality TV show is about to launch, a strike-bound network wants it for regular TV. The series, called "Quarterlife" and produced by the creators of...
B'WAY IS 'STAGE STRUCK'
The show will not go on. Broadway stagehands have decided to hit the picket lines, and are going on strike starting this morning. The decision to go off the job...
GET READY FOR ANOTHER WATER $OAKING
The chairman of the city's Water Board yesterday suggested boosting rates by about 11.5 percent on Jan. 1 - just six months after the last double-digit increase - to cover...
RULING 'STANDS'
A state appeals court yesterday upheld a controversial city law that calls for every newsstand in the five boroughs to get a costly makeover - one that will provide lucrative...
AUDIT TEES OFF MAYOR
Mayor Bloomberg yesterday rapped a city-comptroller audit of a problem-plagued contract to build a Bronx golf course - and defended predecessor Rudy Giuliani for entering into the costly deal. Comptroller...
SHAKY $$ FOR HOMES
Mayor Bloomberg's plan for 165,000 units of affordable housing over 10 years is moving along, but could be jeopardized by shaky funding streams, according to a report by the city...
LAWYER DROPS DOPP AMID PERJURY PROBE
ALBANY - The lawyer for the one-time aide to Gov. Spitzer at the center of the Dirty Tricks Scandal abruptly dropped his client yesterday as the Albany district attorney began...
LEGAL EAGLES DUMP HEATHER
First she lost her husband - and now even her divorce lawyers can't stand her. Paul McCartney's estranged wife, Heather Mills, has been dumped by the London law firm she...
TUNNEL OF LOVE
The subway sweethearts are on the express track to romance - and New York is along for the ride. Patrick Moberg is seen sharing a romantic moment with his "love...
BROKER'S ; 'KILLER' AIDE
The personal assistant of Linda Stein, the punk pioneer turned real-estate powerhouse, confessed to beating her boss to death with a "yoga stick," saying she snapped after Stein tormented her...
DRUG GIANT SETTLES RX BATTLE
Pharmaceutical giant Merck announced yesterday that it will pay $4.85 billion to settle about 30,000 lawsuits claiming its infamous painkiller Vioxx doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes. The...
'DANCING' LAWYER FLITS, JURY ACQUITS
A defense attorney apparently "danced" himself to an acquittal for a mentally ill Bronx man accused of assaulting cops with a knife just before they opened fire on him. Robert...
SPITZER IN LANE CHANGE
Embattled Gov. Spitzer yesterday for the first time pointedly refused to rule out shelving his controversial plan to allow illegal aliens to obtain driver's licenses. Speaking to reporters in Puerto...
COP 'STOP & FRISKS' DOWN
The number of people being stopped and frisked by the NYPD continues to drop this year, officials said. A total of 111,103 people were stopped and questioned by police officers...
'TONIGHT' WRITE-OFF
"The Tonight Show's" nonwriting staff will be laid off at the end of next week - the latest casualty of an industry-crippling strike that has no end in sight. But...
STUCK IN LIMBO
A Queens Family Court judge ruled yesterday that the 4-year- old daughter of a slain orthodontist should remain in foster care for the time being and blasted the dead man's...
HILL GETS CORN-FED QUESTION
DES MOINES, Iowa - Hillary Clinton decided to "let the conversation begin" at a campaign event this week with a softball question planted by her staff, the student who asked...
CHRISTMAS GLEE
Rockefeller Center is all spruced up for the holidays - its 84-foot-tall Christmas tree arrived yesterday, ringing in the start of the season. The 60-year-old Norway spruce, which came from...
FAKE DENTIST'S PATIENT DIES
A woman allegedly dumped by a phony dentist on the street in front of his Brooklyn office died Thursday without regaining consciousness. Colette Villemin, 71, had been on life support...
COURT EVICTS RESIDENTS' SUIT VS. ATLANTIC YARDS
A state appellate court yesterday tossed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the Empire State Development Corp.'s relocation plan for Brooklyn residents living in the 22-acre footprint of the controversial...
FROM A TRAGEDY TO $75M TRIUMPH
Becoming a "Mega" millionaire was bittersweet for an upstate father of four whose infant son died from heart disease. "I'd trade it all back for my little boy," William James...
2 ROB VICTIMS SHOT IN HEAD
Two people were shot in the head during a robbery in Morningside Heights last night, authorities said. The male and female victims, who were not identified, were found inside a...
JEWELER HORROR
An industrious Bronx mom was stabbed to death inside the tony Upper East Side jewelry shop where she was a bookkeeper yesterday morning. The body of Sandra Rodriguez-Pumarejo was found...
KEEPING TABS ON JUICE $$
LAS VEGAS - The O.J. Simpson robbery hearing provided a heap of weirdness yesterday, when another key witness admitted that, before going to cops, he first went to the tabloid...
GOTBAUM DEATH CHOKE AN ACCIDENT: AUTOPSY
PHOENIX - Carol Anne Gotbaum accidentally strangled herself while acutely intoxicated with alcohol and prescription drugs, an autopsy found yesterday. Phoenix police said the findings backed their conclusion that cops...
MCC USES CASE TO RIP RUDY THE 'BAD JUDGE'
Bernard Kerik's criminal indictment yesterday set off a war between pal Rudy Giuliani and Republican presidential rival John McCain. McCain struck first by questioning Giuliani's judgment for recommending Kerik -...
BUCK'AYE' FOR HILLARY
Hillary Rodham Clinton won a key endorsement yesterday from Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, earning her early support in the state that determined the last election. In a conference call with...
KERIK: I'LL BEAT THE RAP
Rudy Giuliani's shame-faced pal Bernard Kerik was hauled into federal court to face 16 federal charges, ranging from fraud and conspiracy to cheating on his taxes and lying to the...
CONAN NUT HADN'T A PRAYER
The Boston priest busted for stalking Conan O'Brien said yesterday that he hoped that by cozying up to the comic, he'd impress Archdiocese higher-ups and advance his career in the...
JACKO $AVES NEVERLAND: REP
Alert the llamas and fire up the Ferris wheel: Jacko's wacko Neverland Ranch will stay firmly in the singer's grasp. Despite a report that the bizarre Santa Barbara-area estate would...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
QUEENS Authorities are looking for two bandits who held up an Oakland Gardens gas station at gunpoint earlier this week. The thieves walked into an Exxon station on Horace Harding...
'GAL ON GAL' SLAY-BEATING A REAL SHOCK
HE'S seen it all, done it all, twice. But Bronx cop turned lawyer-to-the-stars Ed Hayes has never seen a murder like this one. Linda Stein's gruesome death - allegedly at...
LOTTERY RESULTS
NEW YORK Midday Nos. Fri.: 962; Lucky Sum: 17 / Midday Win-4 Fri.: 8750; Lucky Sum: 20 / Evening Nos. Fri.: 268; Lucky Sum: 16; Evening Win-4 Fri.: 4442; Lucky...
MERCK'S VIOXX 'VICTORY'
When is losing $4.85 billion considered a victory? When you're the pharmaceuticals giant Merck, now facing 27,000 lawsuits related to its product Vioxx. Recall that in 2004 a study found...
EYES ON THE WRONG ENEMY
"There is something profoundly wrong - something that should trouble all of us - when we have elected Democratic officials who seem more worried about how the Bush administration might...
BERNIE KERIK'S SHAME
Former Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik's arraignment in federal court yesterday marked an astonishing per sonal fall from grace - and it set into motion what promises to be a long-term...
NBC'S GREEN FRAUD
'WE have turned out the lights in the studio," NBC's Bob Costas told viewers of Sunday's Dallas Cowboys-Philadelphia Eagles game, "to kick off a week that will include more than...
PAK PUGILISTS BESIEGE BIDEN
PRESIDENT Pervez Musharraf and opposi tion leader Benazir Bhutto each placed phone calls from Pakistan to Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to discuss the...
GOP 'ILLEGAL' IDIOCY
FOR the second time in as many years, immigra tion has fizzled as a wedge issue at the polls. In 2006, Republicans hoped to use anger over illegal immigration to...
THE POINT ABOUT INDIAN POINT
New Yorkers have to recognize that on 9/11, the terrorists who hit the WTC could have hit Indian Point nuclear plant instead ("A Case for Indian Point," Editorial, Nov. 5)....
OPRAH FAILS THE TEST:LONG-DISTANCE LEARNING
After being sexually and physically abused as a child, Oprah Winfrey created a school in South Africa that would shield young girls from abuses she suffered ("Oprah's Tears," Nov. 5)....
WACHOVIA IS TAKING $1.7B SUBPRIME CHARGE
Wachovia Corp. yesterday proved that despite being based in North Carolina, it can compete with its bigger commercial and investment banking brethren in New York when it comes to racking...
BUSINESS BRIEFS
Bewkes pay Time Warner will pay its next CEO Jeffrey Bewkes as much as $19 million in base salary and bonuses and allow him to retire if he isn't named...
SUCKING SOUND
Wall Street's battered levees were once again put to the test, as investors dumped stocks yesterday for the safety of other investments ranging from gold and government bonds to oil....
HEDGE FUND TAX PASSED
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure raising taxes on executives at hedge funds and private-equity firms by $49.5 billion over the next decade to prevent a separate, $50.6...
REVAMPING RD BOOTS EDITOR
Only weeks before a new redesign is set to hit newsstands, Reader's Digest has tossed out Jackie Leo, the editor of its flagship U.S. edition, and replaced her with Peggy...
LIGHTS OUT ON BROADWAY
Broadway is temporarily out of business. Thousands of Broadway stagehands walked off the job today, leaving 26 theaters in the dark and thousands of ticket holders disappointed. Stagehand union Local...
UNION BOSS GAVE CUE FOR CHAOS
Powerful labor boss Thomas Short pulled the trigger on the stagehand strike that brought the curtain down on 26 Broadway shows today, infuriating producers who hoped he would make a...
MACHO MAN OF LETTERS
Norman Mailer took the literary world by storm in the 1960s. He was one of the new breed of journalists Tom Wolfe celebrated in his 1973 collection of essays "The...
SPORTS SHORTS
NFL: Broncos release Rice The Broncos released veteran defensive lineman Simeon Rice yesterday before the end of practice. The 33-year-old Rice signed a one-year, $3 million contract on Sept. 3....
FORDHAM LOOKS RAM TOUGH IN OPENER
Equipped with five senior starters following an 18-win season, it's clear that this is the year for Fordham - the year to eclipse 20 victories, the year to challenge for...
PIGSKIN PROFIT
WAKE FOREST at CLEMSONLine: Clemson by 9. Angle: Man for man, the Tigers (7-2, 4-2 ACC) have more talent, and they don't call their home field Death Valley because it's...
HOPKINS-COTTO MAY BE HISTORY IN THE MAKING
Bernard Hopkins loves to reminisce about his favorite New York moment any time the subject is Madison Square Garden. The former middleweight champion is quick to tell the story of...
DEVILS NEARING FULL STRENGTH
For the first time since last season, the Devils are a full squad taking full practice. Although it won't be tonight, when they visit the red-hot Islanders, it appears it...
BIG BLUE AIMS FOR RED DAWN
IN and around Giants Stadium, a Red Storm is brewing. Clad in their red jerseys, the surging Giants believe they are ready to sweep the Cowboys out to sea in...
EAST OF BURDEN: GIANTS CAN'T AFFORD TO FALL TOO FAR BEHIND
In painstaking detail, Giants coach Tom Coughlin this week explained exactly what tomorrow's highly anticipated game against the Cowboys means to the Giants. Not that any of the specifics caught...
BRADSHAW MIGHT PLAY ON OFFENSE
Judging from the way the Giants operated this week in practice, rookie running back Ahmad Bradshaw may be ready for the first meaningful action of his career on offense tomorrow...
OUT OF MAGIC
Eddy Curry didn't show he was in the same All-Star league as Dwight Howard, and the Knicks failed to show they're in the same league as the surging Magic. If...
EWING BACK AT GARDEN
Patrick Ewing was back at the Garden last night, his jersey No. 33 hanging from the rafters, and received a standing ovation during a timeout with 3:42 left in the...
YANKEES, METS EXPECT 'HAN TO 'HAN COMBAT
The greatest offseason showdown of all-time is brewing, as the Yankees and Mets prepare to go to war for two-time Cy Young winner Johan Santana, the ace lefty both teams...
MEASURING SHTIK
The Nets, with a collection of straight faces, say this little Meadowlands get-together with the Celtics tonight is just another game. Just another game against a team with three perennial...
MILD BLUE YONDER
After an inauspicious 3-6-1 start to the season, the Rangers have won five of their past six games, including their past five at home. Despite being 0-5-1 on the road,...
GOING, GOING . . .
While the hints dropped by Derek Jeter last night point to free agents Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera remaining in pinstripes, it may not be all roses for the Yankees,...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
A Portuguese fisherman is seasick over being rescued. He's being charged $20,000 by his nation's air force, which saved him after he became ill with appendicitis. The fee infuriated the...
Back to the drawing board
By MARC BERMANThe only solace from last night’s Knick loss to Orlando is perhaps the Magic are going to be a top three team in the East. Because if the...