July 8, 2007
Impossible to Avoid: Harry Potter
Wizards rule this week when Harry Potter and his friends cast a spell on the talk show circuit. You can catch star Daniel Radcliffe when he visits Regis and Kelly...
ROTO FILES - All-Star pickups for second half
This week is all about the All-Stars. But we're not going to waste space here telling you who we think should make a midseason fantasy All-Star team. You already know...
Postcard from Vegas (update)
By MARC BERMANLAS VEGAS - Got to Vegas late last night for the start of summer league, the chance to finally see Wilson Chandler play and determine if Randolph Morris...
DVD Extra: La Collins
Ironically, her tenure at Fox is best remembered for the role she didn't play -- perhaps mindful of her earlier Egyptian fiasco, she turned down what was originally conceived of...
UNDER FIRE
DENIS Leary has big plans for Cuba when Fidel Castro dies. The 49-year-old actor is going to take over the country, rename it "Leary Land," and institute a program of...
REEL GOOD
JAWS (1975) Monday, 9:30 p.m., TCM It wouldn't be the summer without the Great White making a return visit to eat tourists and scare the hell out of everyone else!...
SAVE CEDRIC
It isn't the first time the audience and the judges on a TV talent contest haven't seen eye to eye. When "So You Think You Can Dance" judges Nigel Lythgoe...
READING PARIS HILTON: CHAPTER & VERSE
Starting with that "Kick Me" sign he had fastened to his back, CNN's Larry King has long been one of TV's easiest targets. A fish in a barrel. He's so...
TORRID SEX SCENES POPPING UP EVERYWHERE
Is there some kind of secret club in Hollywood where TV producers go to share and then blatantly steal each other's ideas? The question has long intrigued me, every time...
HELP WANTED
LAST SUMMER, THERE WAS ONE BIG JOB OPEN ON TV - KATIE COURIC'S SPOT ON "TODAY." The job eventually went to Meredith Vieira, but media watchers talked about it all...
THE DON'T MISS LIST
CATEGORY: DRAMA Poor man's James Bond Michael Westen is an international spy who suddenly finds himself blacklisted by his employer. In CIA lingo, he's been put on "burn notice." Westin...
FINAL SHOWDOWN A MAJOR LETDOWN
Chess THE final round of a big-bucks, Swiss-system tournament is supposed to be one of the most dramatic events in chess, for players and spectators alike. But the finale of...
GOOD MOODY
RICK Moody is a human sponge who soaks up information and spits it out as lovely, twisted literature. From his debut "Garden State" to 2005's "The Diviners," Moody sets high...
WITTY CHIC LIT
Maureen Dowd and other chick-lit haters, take note: Anna David's Hollywood "Party Girl" Amelia Stone, is, indeed, a party girl par excellence. She has sex and drinks and does drugs...
REQUIRED READING
A well-crafted beach read - a page-turner that gets gritty with sand and doused with saltwater - is a rarity. Harold Robbins, Sidney Sheldon and Jackie Collins wrote the best...
SUGAR, SPICE, AND EVERYTHING BRIGHT!
CANDY COLORS ARE A SWEET FIX FOR A BRAND CLOSET
CHILDHOOD'S END
HARRY POTTER has officially gone to the dark side. In "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" - the fifth and latest flick based on author J.K. Rowling's magical...
FANS AWAIT 'HALLOW' ENDING
WHILE many fans focus on the film release of "Phoenix," there are less than two weeks (and counting!) left until the release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the...
MARRIED WITH CHUCKLES
'MR. & Mrs. Smith" will screen tomorrow night at 8:30 at the Museum of Modern Art. No, not the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie clunker from 2005. This one is a dandy...
OXFORD, 35, AND MARTYN, 36
APRIL 22 - "Who would have expected that an American and an Australian would find love in Africa?" says Jennifer Oxford. The Queens resident met Paul Martyn while traveling in...
ROUSSEAU, 27, AND WATMAN, 25
JUNE 3 - David Rousseau was one click away from not meeting his future wife, Allison Watman. After an unsuccessful year of perusing JDate, Rousseau decided to try one last...
VERTAL, 30, AND WOLPOFF, 29
MAY 6 - Sometimes, instincts are everything. "I knew I was going to marry him on our first date," Laurenn Vertal said of Jason Wolpoff. The Queens pair met on...
SCHULMAN, 27, AND MCSPARRON, 28
JUNE 2 - Ithaca, N.Y., holds a special place in the hearts of Allison Schulman and Jakob McSparron. After meeting at Cornell University as undergraduates, the Manhattan duo returned for...
SCHWINDT, 32, AND RAMOS, 39
May 26 - For most people, April Fools' Day is for playing jokes. For Michael Ramos, though, April 1, 2006, was one of the most serious days of his life....
UNPARDONABLE HYPOCRISY
White House press secretary Tony Snow didn't mince words last week: "I don't know what Arkansan is for 'chutzpah,' but this is a gigantic case of it," he said of...
NY'S MISSING DOCTORS
There's hardly a more efficient way to damage commerce and, eventually, government itself than to construct a legal system that encourages frivolous suits. Litigation Lotto works just like the real...
ISLAM'S PROBLEM
LAST week, two very different Brits had their say about the latest terrorist plots in their country. Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the nation that "we have got to separate...
DIVIDING AMERICA
SOME mornings during the autumn of 1933, when the unemployment rate was 22 percent, the president, before getting into his wheelchair, sat in bed, surrounded by economic advisers, setting the...
DEVIL MAY CAIR: DOUBLE-DEALING ON TERROR
THE ISSUE: One Muslim doctor's perspective of American-Islamic relations. As board chairwoman for the Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Dr. Asma Mobin-Uddin's view, that the people...
ASSIMILATION KEYS
THE NEW AMERICANS, edited by Mary Waters and Reed Ueda, 736 pp., Harvard University Press, $45CONGRESS may have failed to pass President Bush's controversial immigration reform bill, but the immigrants...
KNOCKOUT PUNCH
A brutal fight for Everlast Worldwide - the glamorous global boxing glove brand - could see a new round of sharp blows next week as a bloodied New York investor...
TYCOON OUTGUNS NYC RIVAL
Reclusive British billionaire Mike Ashley appears to have landed a knockout blow in his first business deal in the U.S. Ashley, 42, who made his money by growing a small...
BORROWING TROUBLE
It's unfortunate, it's unfair - but it's an inescapable fact. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke has greater concerns than your pending mortgage or your home equity loan or credit...
THIS OLD STOCK CERTIFICATE REALLY PAYS DIVIDENDS
Dear John: I have a stock certificate for Southwestern Bell. The original transfer agent was the Bank of New York, but they don't know anything about the stock now. Please...
BE READY TO CHANGE
It could happen to you. Indeed, unless one is about to retire, it is likely to happen sometime. That's because the average worker holds their job for about five years,...
OIL'S NOT WELL
ONE thing that was missing this Fourth of July holiday - besides the sunshine and the 80-degree temperatures - was the usually predictable round of stories detailing the high price...
SPRINT TAKES LEAD AS 1ST SPONSOR OF FILE-SHARE SONG
Sprint has signed on as the first company to underwrite a song to be distributed on file-sharing networks, agreeing to embed its logo on copies of tracks from Atlantic Records...
AMBIENT HOPES FOR REVENUE LIGHTNING
You have to feel for John J. Joyce, the president and CEO of Ambient Corp., a provider of broadband technology over power lines. While other broadband companies - those providing...
THIS WEEK'S WINNERS AND LOSERS
WINNERS DANIEL OCH Hedge fund billionaire steps from the shadows to launch IPO, seeking to raise $2 billion via the sale of "A" shares.CARLOS SLIM Bill Gates who? The fortune...
EXEC'S A PRODUCER
PRIOR to being at the center of one of the great debacles in capital market history, Bear Stearns hedge fund manager Ralph R. Cioffi got involved in an unusual-for Wall...
'BEST' CONGE$T PLAN
Three proposed alternatives to the mayor's congestion-pricing plan won't ease the city's traffic woes, according to a study released yesterday. "Some of them can do some things to some degree,...
FDNY THYROID CANCER SHOCK
An alarming number of FDNY firefighters are battling a rare cancer that typically targets women, The Post has learned. At least eight firefighters have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer over...
SYSTEM FIREPROOFS RAPE-RAP TEACHER
A public-school teacher accused of raping a student is still pocketing her city paycheck - thanks to a disciplinary system that critics say has too few hearing officers, too many...
BUGGED PARENTS GET ACTION
Months after elected officials and parents complained the city was not doing enough to alert school communities about bedbug outbreaks, the Department of Education issued its first-ever policy to cope...
CONEY I. BOARDWALK IN WOBBLE TROUBLE
Crowds flock to Coney Island to bike or stroll its boardwalk, but for some New Yorkers, the adventure is more like walking the plank. As millions of sunbathers pour into...
HOT DOGS WHO LEAD THE PACK
The Big Apple's power elite stop at nothing to pamper their pooches. Tommy Hilfiger and Billy Joel keep pugs; Conan O'Brien joins Jerry Seinfeld as a golden-retriever owner; and George...
CHOPPER DROPPER
A Manhattan helicopter tour turned into a ride of horror for a group of sightseers when the chopper crashed into the Hudson yesterday afternoon. All eight people on board jumped...
CURSE HURTS: BRUNO
ALBANY - Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said yesterday that he believes Gov. Spitzer did call him "an old, senile piece of s- - -," and claimed the self-described "f-...
PIT BULL VS. PERV
A heroic watchdog saved a 7-year-old Queens girl from a sexual attacker yesterday, police said. Blue, a year-old pit-bull-boxer mix, saw a man drag the girl into a small walkway...
6-FLOOR PLUNGE KILLS MAN, 27
A 27-year-old man accidentally plunged six stories to his death yesterday afternoon from an Upper East Side apartment, police said. The victim, whose name has been withheld by cops, fell...
MOB BUSTER A CAM-DO GUY
The real-life Donnie Brasco is helping tout a high-tech digital camera that he says could form the "front line of defense" in a terror strike. Legendary FBI agent Joe Pistone,...
POTTER'S 'PRESSING' MYSTERY
The book everyone wants is coming from a town nobody has ever heard of. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final book in author J.K. Rowling's series,...
COPS BLOW AWAY B'KLYN GUNMAN
A trigger-happy carjacker turned the streets of Brooklyn into a real-life game of Grand Theft Auto before he died in a wild shootout with cops in which some 130 shots...
'PEEPER'S' PORN STASH HAULED OFF
He really liked to watch. The Legal Aid lawyer charged with secretly videotaping his female colleagues as they changed in their offices was described as a prodigious porn collector who...
INSURER DOOM MACHINE
Health insurance companies wrongly deny coverage to ill people in half the cases reviewed by an outside panel of doctors, and they get off scot-free when their denials of lifesaving...
APPLE $HAFTED AGAIN: CHUCK
New York got a raw deal on homeland security cash again this year, with the harsh federal funding cuts from two years ago mostly intact, Sen. Chuck Schumer said yesterday....
BEWARE BROILING BIG APPLE
The Big Apple will fry like an egg on a sidewalk today and tomorrow, with a double blast of heat and humidity that will push the heat index to a...
THE REV. 'MOON'
A Times Square pastor refuses to turn the other cheek on a billboard that will feature naked butts on the side of his church. Pastor Neil Rhodes of the Times...
BEAUTY EXTORT SHOCK
Miss New Jersey received a second blackmail package yesterday, even as state investigators probed the other contestants in the pageant. The new mailing contained "a letter and possibly new photographs,"...
FREED 'DNA' GUY SMILES ON NEW LIFE
When Alan Newton was released a year ago after spending 22 years in the clink for a rape he didn't commit, he didn't have a plan. He didn't even have...
LOVE IS MADE IN 7TH HEAVEN
Diana and Joseph Saporito take their wedding vows seriously - and their numerology even more so. The couple are among the tens of thousands who took the marital leap yesterday...
'DR. BOOM' SUITS GROW
An elite golf club damaged in Dr. Boom's spectacular suicide is suing Con Edison, claiming the utility failed to properly investigate complaints about a gas odor on the morning of...
BOMBERS DANCED TO AL QAEDA'S TUNE
At least one of the men arrested in the foiled London bomb plot and the explosive attack on Glasgow's airport had been in recent contact with al Qaeda in Iraq,...
IT'S PARTY PLANET
Millions of music lovers rocked out at Live Earth concerts across the globe yesterday - but the message may have been lost in translation. "I'm here to, you know, save...
GREEN GROUPS 'TRASH' CONCERT EXCESSES
The concerts boasted white-hot superstars and a cause that's green, but the Live Earth eco-palooza has some environmentalists seeing red. The 24-hour ecological extravaganza spanned seven continents and featured performances...
'JONBENET' WACKO BUSTED
Creepy child-obsessive and JonBenet Ramsey killer-wannabe John Mark Karr was busted early yesterday after a fight at his father's house, cops said. The man who once laid claim to the...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
THE BRONX A hefty hoodlum went berserk and vandalized a car in Port Morris, police said yesterday. Normando Torres, 42, allegedly kicked in a door and knocked the side mirror...
BLOOMY FUMES AT TAX-RELIEF TACKLER
THE battle over a prop erty-tax abatement program has created a deep rift between City Hall and a prominent real-estate organization. Mayor Bloomberg, who rarely says a nasty word about...
LOTTERY
NEW YORK Midday Nos. Sat.: 863; Lucky Sum: 17 / Midday Win-4 Sat.: 1599; Lucky Sum: 24 / Evening Nos. Sat.: 674; Lucky Sum: 17 / Evening Win- 4 Sat.:...
BIZ WHIZ IS DIVING INTO THE HAMPTONS
ONE of the new faces in the Hamptons this summer is Miami developer and author R. Donahue Peebles, who paid $5.4 million for a 10-acre Bridgehampton compound featuring an 8,000-square-foot,...
SPORTSCASTERS CAN'T OVERCOME DEFICIT
I DON'T know where it started, who started it, or why. Maybe, with the inven tion of radio then TV, the language of sportswriters became the language of sportscasters. But...
MIDSEASON GREETINGS
THE black cloud of steroids lingers over baseball and will not vanish at the All-Star Game. Not with Barry Bonds an NL starter. Not with the game being played in...
REALLY LOWE
KEVIN Lowe woke up from his crying jag, stamped his feet, spit out his Binky, then revealed himself to be a hypocrite in explaining that the $50 million Group II...
SAVING PAR...AND LIFE
BETHESDA, Md. - Buried like a ball in the deep rough amidst the big names on the AT&T National leaderboard as weekend play began yesterday was a no-name golfer who...
ALL-STAR PICKUPS FOR THE 2ND HALF
THIS week is all about the All-Stars. But we're not going to waste space here telling you who we think should make a midseason fantasy All-Star team. You already know...
BLACKLIST FOR BLACKFISHING
THERE was a time that black fishing was strictly a recreational thing, until a market was discovered for live fish. Before the commercial interest, there were plenty of blackfish. It...
MIGHTY DUCKS
Carl Everett knows he still has the talent to play baseball at any level. Edgardo Alfonzo believes he could step into any lineup and contribute. The closest Everett, 36, and...
STU-ING UP BRAGGING RIGHTS
BETHESDA, Md. - Stuart Appleby has seen this movie before. He's simply hoping for a different - better - ending to this one. Three months ago, Appleby woke up on...
EASTERN CAMP STEPS UP
It didn't take Omari Lawrence long to notice a difference from last year's Eastern Invitational. "There's better kids here, talent-wise, now," the St. Raymond's junior said. "You can tell right...
THE RUMBLE
Starry-book Stephon shows kids the write stuff Stephon Marbury's first children's book, "The Adventures of Young Starbury: Practice Makes Perfect," is due out this month. Proceeds will go to Marbury's...
CUP'S FULL
* In the blink of an eye, the Rangers have vaulted themselves into position as early favorites to bring that coveted Stanley Cup back to Manhattan. Kudos to GM Glen...
HONDO GIVES INDIANS
Hondo fared better than usual last night as he threw the ol' splitterooskie with the Orioles and D'backs to bump up the deficit only slightly to 315 bahnsens. Today, he'll...
SPORTS SHORTS
AUTO: McMurray captures Pepsi 400 In Daytona Beach, Fla., Jamie McMurray ended a massive losing streak in dramatic fashion, beating Kyle Busch by a bumper to the finish line of...
MARDY KNEEDS TIME
The Knicks' medical miseries continue. Backup point guard Mardy Collins yesterday revealed he had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee six weeks ago and David Lee showed up at Las...
LIBERTY ON A RUN
Patty Coyle knows her Liberty team has to run in order to be successful, and if there was any doubt about that, it's likely gone now. In the Liberty's past...
MARATHON MEN
HOUSTON - Last night the Mets played their longest game since 1993, which was helpful in eradicating the pungent memory of Jose Reyes' laziness from Friday. And Carlos Beltran, with...
STAR-TING OVER
SAN FRANCISCO - Driving into this beautiful City by the Bay, the cab driver was saying how much the fans here love Barry Bonds. "He's our Barry," the cabbie said....
WAGNER: I'D BENCH LOAFER REYES
HOUSTON - Jose Reyes is lucky he doesn't have Billy Wagner meting out his punishment. "I think speaking only as if I was the manager - not Willie - he...
METS' MIDSEASON REPORT CARD
The Mets' first-half grade doesn't deserve to be too high or too low. They're still probably the top club in the National League, though they've looked awful at times as...
RANGERS' CAP PINCHES LUNDQVIST
In a best-case scenario, the Rangers would not have chosen to engage in a one-year salary arbitration case with Henrik Lundqvist. But in the context of the NHL's $50.3 million...
PURE HELL FOR MIGUEEEL
Let it be said that 7/7/07 wasn't the luckiest day in Yankees history. But then, when a team scores only one run and commits five errors over 13 innings, there's...
A-ROD'S LEGACY IS AT STAKE
ALEX Rodriguez always has claimed that being a Yankee, being an his toric player tied to the most historic team, matters greatly to him. The Yankees need that to be...
WHAT A WASTE!
Turning 45 next month, Roger Clemens is older than five of the players who suited up for yesterday's Old Timers Day. But for the first time since returning to pinstripes,...
YOU HALF TO SEE THIS!
Johnny Damon smiled at the question: Where would the Yankees be without Alex Rodriguez? After a few seconds, Damon said, "About 25 games out." The Yankees got to see what...
SERBY'S SUNDAY Q&A WITH...DEREK JETER
Steve Serby talked to the Yankees captain leading up to his eighth All-Star appearance. Q: When a runner reaches or passes second base, can you tell if he's wearing your...
A-ROD: I'LL PLAY ALL-STAR GAME
Alex Rodriguez made it official last night: He's headed to Tuesday's All-Star Game as a player, not just a spectator. "[With] 3.9 million votes, you feel like you have a...
OLD-TIMERS' SAY
Goose Gossage has a reminder for Yankees fans who have given up on this season. "There's still a lot of baseball to be played," Gossage said yesterday before Old-Timers Day...
MURCER GETS LOTTA LOVE FROM FANS
The crowd that packed Yankee Stadium for yesterday's Old-Timers Day reserved some of its loudest cheers for Bobby Murcer, and his teammates said his mere presence was an inspiration. But...
YANKEES' MIDSEASON REPORT CARD
There is only one grade the Yankees can receive as a team and, if given in a regular school, they would have to repeat the class next year or enroll...
SUMMER OF '77
Remember the sizzling, scintillating summer of 1977 when Billy Martin's Yankees stormed past the Red Sox and went on to capture their first World Championship in 15 years by beating...
AGE AND PROFILES: IS IT OK TO FIB?
So you're 41 but know you'll probably get a lot more interest if you post your age as 38. Or maybe you are a 52-year-old who shops at Urban Outfitters...
GUY SKS GIRL WITH APPETITE FOR LIFE
'I love everything about this city - ethnic restaurants, wine bars, art-house cinemas, museums, concerts in the park," says Cavan, 29, a media and film designer. "But most of all,...
SUMMER IN THE CITY
THE temperature outside West Village's Las Ramblas may have been hitting the 90s, but inside, where Shana, a 27-year-old retail marketing supervisor, met Laurence, a 28-year-old bank representative and native...
MOMENTS OF TRUTH
'DID you say that you were divorced on your dating profile?" Super Preppy is asking me over drinks at the Hudson Hotel's Library Bar. "Maybe not," I say, realizing how...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
The scoop on a Benton Township, Mich., ice cream truck driver was that he peddled more than frozen goodies, cops said. An officer stopped the truck as it entered a...