Today's New York Post has an Xclusive excerpt from the new book, The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House, written by renowned journamalist Edward Klein. Klein, who is best known for being the most important reporter to misspell the names of people he claims to know a lot about, writes in his new book that Oprah Winfrey has some freaky mind-meld (Shining?) going on with President Obama's mind and therefore the direction of the country, and that Michelle is pissed. Here are the five portions from the excerpt that likely made the book's team of capuchin monkey copyeditors howl with glee. more ›

You didn't think Oprah Winfrey was going to end her long-running television show and not have a plan, did you? Turns out the talk show host has set a new goal for herself: dominate the Broadway stage. On her show Friday, she told Chris Rock (currently on Broadway in Motherfu*ker With The Hat), "It’s the one thing I want to do... It’s my dream." more ›

Oprah may be launching her new network from Los Angeles, but it looks like she's eyeing the East Coast for a new permanent home. According to the NY Post, she was house-hunting yesterday along the banks of the Hudson, and amongst the homes she viewed was a $68 million mansion in Alpine, New Jersey (that's about a 30 minute drive into the city)—on the grounds of the old Frick estate. more ›

Like many people confronted with the cruel reality of homelessness on a night out in the Meatpacking District, Oprah Winfrey reportedly thought she could fake that her purse was empty (really, Oprah?) and have panhandler Julio Bazan be on his way. But that was before she heard his killer material! He joked, "Hey, Oprah, why is it good to date a homeless man? [Because] when you're finished, you can drop him off anywhere!" The joke was so good that Oprah reportedly handed him five $20s through the window of her limo. Bazan says he spent it on booze, underwear and a steak dinner. What, you can think of something better on which to spend it? more ›

While the website for the Oprah Winfrey show is coy, simply saying that today's show will feature "two no-nonsense powerhouses" and "a young trailblazer," everyone knows that the big guests are Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, NJ Governor Chris Christie and Newark Mayor Cory Booker. Zuckerberg is committing up to $100 million of Facebook stock (but what's that really worth?) to a foundation to help Newark's failing public schools, while Christie will cede some control of the school system to Booker. And to those who call this an obvious ploy to divert attention from The Social Network, the movie that paints Zuckerberg as ambitious and coldly calculating, "insiders" claim that's not the case! more ›

Tomorrow, the day that a film about the founding of Facebook opens the New York Film Festival, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will appear on the Oprah Winfrey show to announce a donation of up to $100 million to the Newark, NJ school system. The Wall Street Journal noted, "Newark spends about $22,000 a year on each of its 40,000 pupils, but only about half of its students graduate. Of those who do, only one-fifth go on to four-year colleges. More than 85% of the Newark students at community colleges need remedial help in math and English." more ›

More of the racist comments behind a former power plant employee's $4 million discrimination suit came out today. Suzanne Langford, who worked at Starrett City power plant from 2004-2007, says her white boss called a black worker (not her) "a monkey" and "a gorilla," saying that he "should be up a tree sucking on a banana." He also bore ill will towards Oprah Winfrey; allegedly telling Langford the talk show host "should have died in a plane crash," reports the Post. The Queens woman also claims she was forced to serve as locker room attendant in a men's only area decorated with "sexually explicit photographs" showing "women in various states of undress, in sexually suggestive attire and in a demeaning manner." more ›

Oprah Winfrey, the media mogul-juggernaut, is going to end her successful daytime talk show when her 25th season ends on September 9, 2011. She will be making the announcement on her program today. As for her future, the NY Times says she's expected to "concentrate on the forthcoming cable channel that will bear her name... The move represents an enormous bet — that her popularity and golden touch with programming can sustain an entire cable channel and that she’ll remain a central cultural figure even without the mass exposure of broadcast television every day." more ›

On today's Oprah, the talk show host's interview with the Connecticut chimp mauling victim will be aired. Oprah Winfrey spoke to Charla Nash, whose eyelids, nose, lips and hands were torn off by her friend and employer's 200-pound chimp, at the Cleveland Clinic yesterday; it was Nash's 56th birthday. Winfrey said of their exchange, "I will have to say I've never seen anything quite like what's happened to her, and also never felt a spirit like that that has such resolve to get better and such a sense of resilience. It really made me think that I'll never complain about another thing ever again." more ›

Oprah filmed her show in Central Park today (it's not her first time going live from New York), getting visits from Mayor Bloomberg, Mariah Carey, Hugh Jackman, Regis & Kelly, and more. Plus, she was all decked out in her Mad Men-era clothing (side effect of having Don Draper and his missus appear on your show, we suppose). The episode from uptown airs today at 4 p.m. (but you're at work, right? So you'll have to catch the re-run at 1 a.m.); the Mad Men episode airs Monday. And for all you subway readers, she picked Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan as her next book club book, though it sounds a little too intense for a commute. more ›

Newsweek's cover story this week is about Oprah Winfrey and "Why Health Advice on Oprah Could Make You Sick." Ouch! The first example mentions how actress Suzanne Somers was on the show, explaining her hormone therapy regime ("She smears progesterone on her other arm two weeks a month. And once a day, she uses a syringe to inject estrogen directly into her vagina"), prompting Oprah to say, "Many people write Suzanne off as a quackadoo. But she just might be a pioneer." While Oprah did have critics present, they weren't given the prominence Somers had; Albert Einstein College of Medicine director of endocrinology tells Newsweek that Somers "simply repackag[ed] the old, discredited idea that menopause is some kind of hormone-deficiency disease, and that restoring them will bring back youth." While many of Oprah's medical endorsements are taken to task, Newsweek does give props for Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Columbia Presbyterian cardiac surgeon: "On one show, 'Everybody Poops,' Oz conducted a genuinely fascinating seminar on what comes out the other end. (It should be shaped like an S and 'hit the water like a diver from Acapulco.' Who knew?)" more ›

Almost a year after calling Barack Obama "The One," Oprah Winfrey is celebrating his victory. During her post-election special--which will air at 4 p.m. on WABC 7 (and repeat at 1 a.m.)--there were guests like David Gergen, Rep. John Lewis, Peggy Noonan and Gloria Steinem and some special ones. And Oprah, who is excited she can finally "unleash" and discuss politics, also held up the Chicago Sun Times and waved a flag! Winfrey spoke to Power 105.1's Ed Lover yesterday and said (audio) that she'd welcome Sarah Palin as a guest. more ›

Oprah Winfrey introduced one of her favorite things people at what the NY Times called "the largest spectacle of the campaign cycle" - the Oprah for Barack Obama rally in Des Moines, Iowa. Winfrey said, "For the very first time in my life, I feel compelled to stand up and to speak out for the man who I believe has a new vision for America," and told the audience of 15,000 said, "I am... more ›

Robberies are down a little more than 8% from a year ago, but the New York Post reports that some spots around town have seen stunning jumps in the incidence rate of muggings. In 18 of 76 precincts in NYC, robberies are heading up rather than down, like in the rest of the city. Assaults, however, are static citywide--increasing from 15,025 to 15,097 which is statistically insignificant. The increase in robberies is anomalous mostly because... more ›

Trisha Meili, the woman who was brutally attacked and raped while jogging in Central Park in 1989, is no fan of Oprah Winfrey's line of questioning. Five years after she gave her first interview to Winfrey's magazine O, Meili spoke to NY1. First, here is an excerpt of the 2002 interview Meili (who did not disclose her name at that time) gave to Oprah:Oprah: When I first heard about you, I thought, why were you... more ›

OMG OPRAH! After weeks of anticipation - and insane craigslist listings - a few thousand lucky fans got to watch the season premiere of Oprah from the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden. The show featured David Letterman and a performance from Lisa Marie Presley. And, yes, Oprah Winfrey did start off the show with "Hellloooo, New York." more ›

Leona Helmsley sure loves Trouble. Trouble, her dog, that is. How much did Helmsley, the hotelier who was known by some as the "Queen of Mean" and passed away last week, love her pooch? Enough to leave the white Maltese $12 million in her will, more than she left four of her grandchildren. In addition to the $12 million trust, when Trouble dies, she'll be buried next to her former owner in the family mausoleum. The dog appeared in ads for the Helmsley Hotels and was usually seen by Helmsley's side in her later years. more ›

Yesterday tickets went on sale for the two Oprah Winfrey show tapings next month (September 10th and 11th) at the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden. The internet went into overload immediately, shutting down the ticket websites. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an armed carjacking at the intersection of 164th St. and the Union Turnpike in Queens, an unconscious firefighter at 51st St. and 5th Ave. in Manhattan, and a slashing on Myrtle and Wyckoff Aves. in Brooklyn.
• Mia Farrow is speaking out against the atrocities in Darfur.
• This is the summer of our discontent. The beach season is winding down with below-average-temperature weather and rain and clouds.
• An eight-month-old boy is doing well after receiving a quintuple organ transplant of a liver, small bowel, pancreas, colon and stomach at the Childrens Hospital of Morgan Stanley New York-Presbyterian.
• Experts begin testifying on causes of steampipe explosion. Any conclusions are likely to be a couple of months away.
• A new law signed by Gov. Spitzer can force rape suspects to undergo HIV testing.
• Oprah Winfrey will leave Chicago behind to tape a show in NYC this September. We predict Dave Letterman as a guest.
• A slideshow of NYC in the apocalyptic future without humans to scoop poop.

Interesting, fluffy political article in the NY Times about the diverging political allegiances of two high-profile friends. Oprah Winfrey has made no secret of her support for Senator Barack Obama - she's throwing him a fund-raiser at her California home. Maya Angelou, however, has endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton (and even appears in a video on HillaryClinton.com). Neither woman had comment for the Times. more ›

Forbes has put out their list of the Top 100 Most Powerful Celebrities, something to bicker about at the water cooler, no doubt. Here are some of the top-ranked New Yorker's and their earnings: more ›

On Tuesday "The Oprah Winfrey Show" became a platform for the Hip-Hop community to respond to the Don Imus controversy with a panel discussion featuring Russell Simmons, Dr. Benjamin Chavis, Kevin Liles, Common and more. more ›

A year after moving his show to the station, Howard Stern received a bonus worth nearly $83 million (22.1 million shares) from Sirius Satellite Radio today ("for surpassing subscriber goals set in a 2004 contract that had already turned heads with its $500 million compensation package"). more ›

Broadway's big night celebrated two hit shows, both with word "Boys" in the title. "Jersey Boys," the musical about singing group, The Four Seasons, won Best Musical and two actors won Best Actor (John Lloyd Young) and Best Featured Actor (Christian Hoff), and "The History Boys," a play about British education, won Best Play, Best Direction and Best Actor (Richard Griffiths). The speeches were all very heartfelt, touching and classy - Frances de la Tour, who won as Best Featured Actress in The History Boys, graciously thanked the crew and said she felt at home in "New York, New York." LaChanze won Best Actress in a Musical for The Color Purple, and thanked Oprah Winfrey at the very end. And Cynthia Nixon won Best Actress in a Play for The Rabbit Hole, and called herself a theater geek. The team behind The Drowsy Chaperone, the throwback to the 1920s musical, won a bunch of big awards, including Best Book and Best Score, with its Canadian creators thanking America. more ›

The stepfather of Nixzmary Brown, the 7 year old beaten and tortured to death last month, claims that Brown was a "devil" and that's why he had to beat her. Statements written by Cesar Rodriguez were made public: "With no intention of causing her death, I carelessly corrected my stepdaughter's actions. I took it upon myself to defend the safety of my other five beautiful children." Yeah, and that would be accomplished by hitting her head against the bathtub faucet? Tying her up to a chair? Starving her? Rodriguez and Brown's mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, were both charged with murdering the girl, and pleaded not guilty yesterday. NY1 reports that Rodriguez's lawyer even said that another person "was to blame for the child's death, but would not identify the person." And what's more, Rodriguez wants to create a fund for abused children - and wants Oprah Winfrey to help out! more ›

I got paid to write Kissing a Fool, and it was movie money, made from working on those types of films, that allowed me to write a book. No different than working any type of job while trying to work on something better. more ›

- Derek Jeter, the product of an interracial marriage, gets hate mail for his interracial dating habits more ›

The NY Times has a profile of Kerik, and his story is definitely the stuff of a movie (his mother abandoned his family when he was 2, and he later found out that she was a prostitute, perhaps killed by her pimp). Which is probably why, when Kerik published a book, The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice, Oprah Winfrey featured him on her show. Kerik looks like he's had a lucrative career on the speech circuit; according to the Washington Speakers Bureau, Kerik was making $25,000-40,000 per speech, with topics like "My Time in Iraq," "Crisis Management," and an overview of the WTC attack. more ›

The Times looks at the beautiful partnership that is reality TV guru Mark Burnett (a former nanny too!) and Donald Trump, what with the reality show, The Apprentice, about aspiring moguls vying for a job with the Donald on deck. The most amusing part was research that compared the Donald with celebrity entrpreneurs: "Mr. Trump was considered less appealing to see in a reality show than Oprah Winfrey or Ted Turner, but more engaging than P. Diddy or Martha Stewart." more ›