What's in a name?
Salman Rushdie says there's more to his name than you might think.
"My first name is actually Ahmed," the controversial author told celebrity researcher Baird Jones at the premiere party for the Mexican road movie "Y Tu Mama Tambien."
"I'm not embarrassed by Ahmed or trying to hide it because I think Salman is a more romantic pen name. Not at all," he explains. "It's that my father's name is also Ahmed, and in Muslim culture no one is called Junior. You are always called something separate from your father, so I simply went by my middle name, Salman, which means peaceful."
And though "peaceful" isn't exactly how we'd describe the erstwhile targeted author's life thus far, he hints he might soon be ready for a little domestic tranquility.
"I keep reading that I am breaking up with my girlfriend, Padma," he sniffs. "In fact, we might get engaged. Then, of course, anything is possible."
A lesson he's certainly learned the hard way.
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Mr. Big Mouth
"You don't have to like me, but you can f--- me."
-- Chris Noth, who plays Mr. Big on "Sex in the City," to Naomi Campbell at a party for the World Music Awards in Monte Carlo, after she told him his Pisces status made them incompatible, according to the U.K. Sun.
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Auto exotica
We knew parking in New York could be expensive, but the new Upper West Side garage Jerry Seinfeld's building to house his vast collection of Porsches is, like, really, really expensive.
And it's not just the $1.4 million the comedian's paying for construction of the air-conditioned, three-story parking complex -- featuring an elevator, terrazzo floors, a kitchenette and an office -- we're talking about. According to the New York Daily News, the noisy construction is turning Seinfeld's neighbors against him.
"It's frivolous, it's annoying," neighbor Eddie Ortiz of ALP Signs tells the paper. "It's something the characters on his show would have screamed bloody murder over."
And Gene Harrison, who runs a children's activity center next door to the construction site, complains that "it feels like a No. 1 train is continually rumbling through here."
Yadda, yadda, yadda.
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They are growing tiresome ...
"The conflicts over 'Dieter' are long behind us and only served to strengthen the relationship we've enjoyed for more than 10 years. We are all so enthusiastic about this project and thrilled to have this opportunity to work together."
-- Mike Myers and Imagine Entertainment producer Brian Grazer, who feuded horribly over the aborted film "Dieter," on the mutual love they've found for each other since agreeing to collaborate on a big-screen version of "The Cat in the Hat."
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Cat fight?
Is fur about to fly between Pamela Anderson and Kim Cattrall?
The World Entertainment News Network reports that Anderson's mega-pissed at Cattrall after the "Sex and the City" star appeared in American Airlines' in-flight magazine, American Way, wearing a lynx coat.
Anderson, an outspoken member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, was also reportedly none too pleased that Cattrall dished out advice on good fishing spots and sources for leather goods in Vancouver, where both women grew up.
So she fired off a prickly letter to the magazine, urging them to publish "animal-friendly alternatives to Kim Cattrall's fishing and fur trips" for "fun-seekers who don't want to sacrifice compassion."
Wait -- is she talking about amateur videography?
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Girls, girls, girls
"Witty. I like witty. I like girls that are witty and smart. Get the jokes on 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' and 'Seinfeld.' I appreciate that."
-- Rapper Jay-Z on what he looks for in a woman, in Jane.
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