Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

♦  Is Kate Hudson trying to steal Alex Rodriguez away from Madonna? She was spotted with her "arms completely wrapped around" him at a party in Miami this weekend. But she might just be trying to steal Jason Statham away from his girlfriend, since the two were seen downing dirty martinis together. [NYDN, P6]
♦  A PETA activist pelted Lindsay Lohan with a bag of flour at an event in Paris on Saturday. Sam Ronson responded by dissing the activist on MySpace: "My dog is far more civilized than that person." [People]
♦  Kanye West was arrested in London on Friday after an altercation with a photographer. Now he's suggesting the entire episode was "bogus," and has upset some Brits by comparing himself to Princess Di. [People, The Sun]
♦  Sarah Palin may collect a $7 million advance if she writes a book. [MSNBC]
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♦  Leonardo DiCaprio's romance mojo isn't good this week: On the heels of his break up with Bar Rafaeli, Gisele is banishing the memory of their relationship by selling the jewelry he gave her at auction. The October 15th Christie's sale will include a diamond pendant necklace estimated to fetch up to $150,000. [WWD]
♦  People's "Best Dressed" list, topped by Kate Hudson and including Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Jessica Parker and (of course) Michelle Obama, is a totally random list of averagely-dressed women who happen to have been photographed a lot lately. [People]
♦  Carla Bruni-Sarkozy was photographed in Paris last week for T's winter fashion issue, which comes out October 19th. [WWD]
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• It's no fun living near Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Neighbors in the West Village say the two are "spoiled brats" since they have bodyguards posted outside their apartment on West 13th Street who make neighbors get off the stoop whenever the twins are arriving home, and the twins keep SUVs idling in front of the building for hours at a time. [P6]
• Justin Timberlake has been hinting to friends that he and Jessica Biel may get married soon. [MSNBC]
• Ashley Dupre doesn't like it when randoms make fun of her on the street. [P6]
• Star Jones' new relationship with chef Herb Wilson? The two actually first dated 10 years ago back when she was fat. [NYDN]
• Jennifer Lopez is throwing Marc Anthony a birthday bash at the Bowery Hotel on Sunday. [In Touch]

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• Britney Spears is supposedly furious with her mother over her upcoming tell-all, which accuses the pop star's former manager of grinding up pills and sneaking them into her meals. She should be in a better mood, however, after she reads all the positive reviews from her appearance on the VMAs last night, where she kicked off the show and later won three awards. [P6, NYP]
• Uma Thurman has been buying dresses two sizes larger than usual, which means she must be pregnant. [R&M]
  
• Beyonce showed off her engagement ring from Jay-Z for the first time on Friday night, an 18-carat diamond that cost more than $5 million. [People]
• Newlyweds James Gandolfini and Deborah Lin celebrated their wedding with a second reception inside a Manhattan loft on Friday night, where the Sopranos cast partied until the wee hours. [R&M]
• Fabian Basabe says his wife, Martina Borgomanero, is pregnant. He also is planning to open a restaurant in Coral Gables, in case you care. [P6] 

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Spottings | Samantha and Mark Ronson (left) headed to lunch at Bar Pitti ... Michael Phelps turning up for an appearance on CBS' The Early Show ... Kim Kardashian getting out of an SUV near Times Square ... Lindsay Lohan shooting scenes on the set of Ugly Betty ... Kate Hudson and son Ryder going for a walk through the Village ... Gerard Butler leaving a lunch in SoHo ...  Katie Holmes leaving rehearsals ... Nina Garcia promoting her new book at an event at Saks ... and Adrian Grenier walking through Midtown.

• Alessandra Ambrosio just gave birth, but she isn't wasting any time. She's reportedly already looking to sell pictures of her newborn daughter Anja to the tabloids. [P6]
• Real Housewives star LuAnn de Lesseps went to Todd Rome and Vanessa Brahms' Southampton wedding, where she may have gotten drunk, sang songs, and tried to make out with a married man. This may also explain why she reportedly got into a fight with her husband afterwards in the parking lot of Nello's. [P6]
• Rafael Nadal didn't care much for the photo of him on the cover of last week's New York. The tennis star says it went "further than he was comfortable with." [MSNBC]
• Guy Ritchie says he's not a follower of Kabbalah, and that he and Madonna may "possibly" be adopting another child from Malawi in the future. [OK!, Observer UK]

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• New details about Tina Brown's forthcoming (and Barry Diller-funded) news site: It's going to be called The Daily Beast in an homage the Evelyn Waugh novel, Scoop. [Baltimore Sun, via Gawker]
• Judy Miller is writing for Reader's Digest. [HuffPo]
• Fox is following ABC and launching its own Japanese-inspired game show. [TVDecoder]
• W's September cover with Kate Hudson looks exactly like a Harper's Bazzar cover from 1994. [J'Adore Joey]
• Who knew Larry King was so new agey? [CJR]
• The man acting crazy at an Obama appearance in Ohio earlier this week? He was on assignment for Bloomberg News. [Chronicle.com]

• New revelations from the legal battle between The Weinstein Co. and NBC over Project Runway: It turns out that Tim Gunn didn't get paid a dime for his participation during the show's first season (he got paid just $2,500 per episode for the second), Harvey Weinstein hates Bravo chief Lauren Zalaznick, and Bravo didn't send Heidi Klum a respectable thank-you gift, even after the show became a major hit. [R&M]
• What's financier Jeffrey Epstein doing now that he's behind bars? He's using his free time in a Florida jail to email models back in New York and send them chocolates. [Page Six]
• The bartender who was serving Shia LaBeouf the night of his DUI arrest says the actor was pounding shots and acting a bit crazy. But now cops are suggesting he may not have actually caused the car crash, because the other driver ran a red light. [Page Six, People]

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• Amy Winehouse fainted at home yesterday and spent the night undergoing testing at a London hospital. So far the tests have proved inconclusive and doctors are stumped as to what exactly happened, which clearly means they're not reading the tabloids. [Reuters]
• Remember how Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony said they were raising their new twins without a nanny? Well, that's apparently because the nanny quit. Now the house is full of screaming babies, and Marc has locked himself away to deal with the stress. [Star]
• A pet shop employee in L.A. stopped Paris Hilton from buying yet another Yorkie puppy. Paris' reply? She started screaming "I want my baby!" [Page Six]
• Brandon Davis freaked out in line for the bathroom at 1OAK last week, and yelled at a model for touching his wrist. Now he's in St. Tropez and saying he wants to move to Geneva. What a loss. [Page Six] 

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1) The New York City Ballet's 24th annual "Dance With the Dancers" party was sponsored by Elle and Ferragamo. Fabiola Beracasa, Zani Gugelman, Allison Sarofim, Robbie Myers, Joe Zee, and Olivia Chantecaille wore Roman-inspired outfits, while Tatum O'Neal had everyone wondering what was in her glass. [Elle]

2) At ABC Carpet, magazine people like Joe Zee, Linda Wells, Lucy Danziger and Paul Cavaco helped Kate Hudson launch WildAid, the haircare range she's created with Paul Babaii. [Fashion Week Daily]More