Turn On:
On Wednesday night, A&E offers a look back at the year that was and the people that featured prominently in it in "Biography of the Year 2004" at 8 p.m. ET. And PBS looks back at women's basketball circa 2000-01 with a documentary about the team at Rutgers University, "This Is a Game Ladies" (check local listings).
Morning Briefing:
Not leaving the Georgetown party scene after all: Despite reported plans to move to New York, Jenna Bush has taken a job teaching at the Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School in Washington, which serves primarily low-income African-American and Hispanic students, grades kindergarten through sixth. As for twin sister Barbara, the Yale grad, her career plans remain what a spokeswoman for the twins recently termed "a little nebulous." (Washington Post)
Garden variety cheat? A Harlem-based landscaper has sued Star Jones for reneging on a deal to promote his company in return for work he did gratis on her roof garden (dubbed by Jones her "Girlfriends' Garden" because her friends helped pay for it) in preparation for an Architectural Digest photo shoot. According to Dimitrios Gatanas, proprietor of Dimitri Nurseries, he had a written promise from Jones that his business would be credited for its work in the magazine. When no credit appeared, he sent along a bill for $7,189.20. Jones failed to pay, offering instead a plaque with her name on it for him to hang in his office. Gatanas declined to accept the "View" star's generous offer, quipping to the Smoking Gun, "What am I, a diner?" (The Smoking Gun)
When musicians with two first names attack: Elton John and George Michael are engaged in a full-on, claws-out cat fight. John took the first swipe during an interview with the British magazine Heat, saying of Michael: "George is in a strange place. There seems to be a deep-rooted unhappiness in his life and it shows on the [latest] album. All I would say to George is: You should get out more." Now Michael has scratched back in a letter to the magazine, writing, "Elton John knows very little about George Michael and that's a fact. Contrary to the public's impression, we have spoken rarely in the last 10 years and what would probably surprise most people is that we have never discussed my private life. Ever ... Sadly, I was always aware that Elton's circle of friends was the busiest rumour mill in town and that respect for my private life was not exactly guaranteed." Aside from what John may have heard on the "gay grapevine," Michael writes, "he knows I don't like to tour, I smoke too much pot and my albums still have a habit of going to Number One. In other words, he knows as much as most of my fans." Michael says he's "happy and confident" living a private, stay-at-homish kind of life, something "Elton just can't relate to." And then the former Wham! member took an extra little jab, saying his bespectacled colleague "makes millions playing those old classics day in and day out, whereas my drive and passion is still about the future and the songs I have yet to write." (Heat via This Is London)
Stone-faced lies: Sharon Stone has sued a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who has intimated to the press that his practice is responsible for giving the actress a face-lift she insists she's never had -- and has also named as defendants 100 unidentified people who have worked for and with him in some way. According to the suit, for libel and slander, Stone alleges that Dr. Renato Calabria not only linked to articles suggesting that he worked his plastic magic on her aging visage on his Web site, but that he also allowed such misconceptions to be repeated in Us Weekly and In Touch magazines in reports that were widely picked up by other purveyors of celebrity news. Stone, who insists that she has never had a face-lift, claims rumors that she has been artificially improved are damaging to her career and her personal life, adding that she "prides herself not only on her acting ability and other talents, but also on her natural physical appearance." (The Smoking Gun)
Also: Us Weekly is reporting that Anna Kournikova and Enrique Iglesias got hitched last month in a private ceremony on a beach in Mexico. (Us Weekly via N.Y. Daily News) ... Barbra Streisand has had a benign polyp removed from her colon. (Rush and Molloy) ... Mere days after the news of her affair with Bernard Kerik hit the papers, publishing bigwig Judith Regan met up with Kerik-burned President Bush and his wife for a photo op at the White House; she'd been invited with one of her authors, former Gen. Tommy Franks, as he accepted a Presidential Medal of Freedom -- and was reportedly met with "icy stares." (N.Y. Daily News) ... Fox News Channel has hired departing Sen. Zell Miller as a contributor, saying they will "plug him in wherever we can use him." (Washington Post)
Money Quotes:
Trump, refusing to tip his hand about tomorrow night's live "Apprentice" finale, during which he'll tap either lawyer Jennifer Massey or software executive Kelly Perdew as his next high-profile employee: "Last year, I felt beforehand I was going to go with Bill. This year, I have no idea." (Associated Press)
Richelle Nice, Juror No. 7 in the Scott Peterson murder, on one big reason she felt sure that Peterson was guilty: "One turning point for me was the photo of the bed in his and Laci's room. It shows that the comforter was just thrown on the bed. That's the way Scott told cops Laci left the room before she vanished. But anyone who knows Laci knows she wouldn't have sloppily tossed the comforter." (N.Y. Post)
Joe Simpson on daughter Jessica: "Jessica never tries to be sexy. She just is sexy. If you put her in a T-shirt or you put her in a bustier, she's sexy in both. She's got double D's! You can't cover those suckers up!" (GQ via Page Six)
-- Amy Reiter
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