Bizarre: A book claims that a hitman was actually dispatched to the Hamptons home interviewer Charlie Rose, who shares the same name as a prosecutor with the same name. The Post has that scoop from Friends of the Family, a book about convicted "Mafia Cops" Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, who were sentenced to life for helping the mob carry out hits while working for the NYPD. Eppolito and Caracappa allegedly "gave bad information to their benefactor, Luchese underboss Anthony 'Gaspipe' Casso...[who] was furious with Mafia-busting prosecutor Charles Rose, believing that Rose embarrassed him by leaking a story about Casso having killed his former architect for having an affair with the mobster's wife." The hitman apparently left because TV's Rose never showed up and Casso was arrested before he could off Rose the prosecutor (Rose died in 1998 of cancer). When the Post told the talk show host, Rose, whose close calls involve self-inflicted injuries from saving his gadgets, said, "It's a surprise it's all new to me." more ›

Here's the funniest Charlie Rose interview ever – even funnier than his ultra-awkward spat with Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman in 2003, when he was so "surprised" to hear that Dan Rather felt pressure to censor himself at CBS. The guest in this clip is Charlie Rose, which works out great because he doesn't have to let anyone else get a word in edgewise. Rose joins Rose at the table for the first time for a hilarious exchange about "the future of technology and the internet and mobile devices and all that."

At a lively memorial for Norman Mailer held yesterday at Carnegie Hall, the esteemed author’s son claimed to channel his father’s spirit, a feat that turned into a tongue-in-cheek impersonation of Mailer that brought the house down. According to the Post, 42-year-old Stephen Mailer, one of nine Mailer children, stepped up to the podium, raised his arms like a revivalist, and shouted "Come on, old man, I'm all yours.”

He then fell to the ground as if struck by the spirit, staggered up, and began acting like his father. Clearing his throat before speaking, as was Mailer's custom, the son said in the gruff voice of his old man, “Can you hear me in the back? Hmm? Carnegie Hall? Well, why the f--k not? I think it's the perfect place for my memorial . . . I practiced my ass off.”

Charlie Rose's black eye and forehead injury are not from an interview subject fed up with Rose's incessant talking. It's actually from his valiant attempt to save his precious MacBook Air! more ›

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In November, Charlie Rose sat down with rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z. The musician is originally from Brooklyn and late in the interview Rose queries about the expected success of the Nets once they move to Kings County. Jay-Z is very enthusiastic about the potential of the team and the virtues of the borough, as he prefaces every statement about Brooklyn with the words "we" and "ours." It is unintentionally comedic then when Rose immediately follows up with the question "And where do you live now?" The answer is a terse "In Manhattan, uh." The exchange begins around 48 minutes and 45 seconds into the interview and a quick transcript is available at the Atlantic Yards Report site here. It reminded us of the first time that we heard that director Spike Lee had moved to the Upper East Side. more ›

While everyone knows that the proposals five development teams have offered up for the MTA's West Side rail yards are likely to change, the NY Times' architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff made it clear that he hopes they do, with a withering review of the five plans. Noting the great opportunity that developers have, Ouroussoff says the designs "are not just a disappointment for their lack of imagination, they are also a grim referendum on... more ›

News of Norman Mailer’s hospitalization broke today; the cantankerous and influential author is suffering from severe respiratory problems following a collapsed lung. His children have been keeping a bedside vigil in the critical-care unit of Mt. Sinai Hospital, where Mailer is reportedly still in fighting spirits, thumb-wrestling and cracking jokes. (The Post has more, while New York Magazine looks at the illness in the context of his recent ruminations on spirituality in a new book, On God.) more ›

Brooke Astor's funeral was held yesterday afternoon in midtown Manhattan, at Saint Thomas Church on 5th Ave. and 53rd St. The lineage and personal generosity of Mrs. Astor and the array of famous attendees at her funeral made it a widely covered news event. The New York Times reported that officiants at the funeral requested that all cell phones be turned off at the beginning of the service, although a Gawker correspondent pointed out that this did not stop the woman sitting next to him from allegedly loudly typing away on her BlackBerry throughout the service. more ›

Daljit Dhaliwal is currently the anchor of the PBS international documentary series Wide Angle, which starts its new season on Tuesday (9:00 p.m., WNET 13). A native of London, she got her start with the BBC reporting from Northern Ireland, then moved to ITN where in 1996 she became the anchor for ITN World News for Public Television which was produced for PBS. The newscast raised her profile on this side of the Atlantic and lead to her being named to People's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World list in 1999. more ›

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs. more ›

THEATER: You’ve got just three more weekends to experience one of the wildest and most entertaining late-night theater extravaganzas to hit New York this century. The Curse of the Mystic Renaldo The defies description – what begins as a fake silent movie (ostensibly unearthed during the construction of 3 Legged Dog’s sleek new theater center) quickly dashes off in countless delirious directions at once: There’s live rock, hilarious vaudevillian slapstick, both high and low art, free popcorn, free regular and light beer, side-splitting ribaldry and, above all, the virtuoso performance of Aldo Perez, the show’s charismatic creator. (Not to take anything away from his equally brilliant co-stars Jenny Lee Mitchell and Richard Ginocchio.) See it now so you’ll have time to catch it again before it closes. - John Del Signore more ›

Two days after Wesley Autey jumped into subway tracks to save another straphanger from an oncoming train, everyone still wants to hear his story. With good reason: Not only is it an incredibly heroic story, Autrey's matter-of-fact explanation for his actions ("it's just being able to be here and help the next person.") and his humble demeanor:

"I don't think I did anything heroic. I just saved a life. I don't call myself a hero because the real heroes are overseas dying for you and me."

A couple of years ago, while leaving a show at Irving Plaza, one of the many people handing out cd's - handed us a cd. It wasn't in any fancy packaging, wasn't eye catching for any reason, and we held on to it and listened later that night. The band was called The Epochs, and we had a new rule about listening to cd's handed to us on the street. more ›

Gothamist loves this story: The big impressionist and modern art auction at Sotheby's last night did not disappiont, as a mysterious man bid $95 million for the famous Picasso, Dora Maar with a black cat. The NY Times says that witnesses say he sounded Russian and give further reasons why the bidder was an enigma:

He was obviously new to both Sotheby's executives, who would never have seated him in such a remote spot had they realized what a big spender he would be, and to the auction process, as evidenced by the relentless and unsophisticated manner in which he waved his paddle. (More seasoned buyers would have been more discreet and wily.) more ›

- When translated into Snoop Dog speak, Gothamist is entirely typo-free! more ›

Last night, the premiere of King Kong was held in midtown, but the PR folks also dragged out a huge King Kong model to place in Times Square, probably getting soggy from the snow (we're sure he smelled like a real ape after that). Gothamist has been watching some King Kong coverage lately since we can't escape it, and we have two observations: (1) Damn, did Peter Jackson lose a lot of weight; and (2) Charlie Rose still gives the worst interviews - his interview with Adrien Brody went nowhere in the ten minutes we watched...Antiques Roadshow is more exciting! The Mayor also proclaimed it King Kong Day - what do we do next year to celebrate? Climb the Empire State Building? more ›

With QEFTSG breaking Bravo's rating records, Gothamist takes a look at the previously highest-rated program, Inside the Actor's Studio with James Lipton Since Gothamist is a huge movie fan, when we watched the show for the first time, we thought, "Wow, this is great, this guy talks to really interesting actors and get them to discuss their craft." See, there was a day when we were naive and hopeful. Now we realize James Lipton is peddling around the most annoying panderfest - it's like Charlie Rose plus Jay Leno without anything interesting. And we hate how Lipton tries to show off his French when he says "Bernard Pivot" when he's about to do the 10 questions, which Gothamist always felt was the poor man's Proust Questionnaire. more ›

Finally, someone sums up the biggest problem with Chicago: Margo Jefferson complains how the editing in Chicago takes away from the essence of Chicago, which is the dancing. Yeah, there's all the blah blah about the movie musical being revised, but there's been no great dancing or great singing yet. When I think movie musical, I admit I think Singin' in the Rain, Wizard of Oz, Funny Face, On the Town. Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire or Cyd Charisse whose legs were so long that Gene Kelly had to tailor choreography for her, to hide the fact she was taller than him in Singin' in the Rain. I think Bill Condon, the screenwriter, did a good job in streamlining the story, but when I see the cast of the movie on Charlie Rose, bragging about how all the cutting between scenes was in the screenplay, I think it sucks, because part of the pleasure of watching a movie musical is seeing them dance, not dance in the dark. And for the millionth time, why not Bebe Neuwirth reprising her stage role as Velma in the film? Right, blah blah star power.
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