James Brolin and Barbra Streisand.

“Mirella Freni and Pavarotti shared the same wet nurse,” former NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said last week at the Eighth Annual Opera News Awards at The Plaza, sharing a bit of opera trivia before giving the Metropolitan Opera Guild’s distinguished achievement award to the supreme Modenese soprano. “Just imagine the Freudian connotations,” hizzoner continued. “Mirella’s mother liked to say, ‘Guess who got all the milk?’”

Triggering uproarious laughter and a few gasps.

The next morning, Shindigger was still giggling at the Waldorf Astoria for the 2013 Matrix Awards, hosted by Joan Rivers, where pioneering women in media and communications such as Kara Swisher, Joanna Coles, HSN’s Mindy Grossman and Bonnie Hammer received Tiffany & Co. medallions from the likes of Barry Diller, Iman and Ryan Seacrest. Another legendary songstress, five-time Tony winner Audra McDonald, was celebrated as well.

“She has the voice of an angel,” Council Speaker Christine Quinn declared as she bestowed a Matrix on Ms. McDonald. Though it was Ms. Rivers who got in the last line—“Dessert was good, but not worth the calories!”—before hobbling off the stage.

All in all, it proved to be as much of a musical week as a comedic week for Shindigger, though, highlighted by The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s 40th anniversary Chaplin Awards Gala, which honored the epic career of Barbra Streisand and featured a mega-star-studded array of delicious surprises.

“Boy am I excited, this is such a treat!” exclaimed our first surprise, Liza Minnelli, after a standing ovation. “When I saw Barbra perform, I went nuts,” she raved. “I said Mama—it’s just unique and was splendid. She had chutzpah! The real deal!”

Grabbing the mic and a nearby director’s chair, Ms. Minnelli winced, “Now I have to sit down. My back is killing me.” And then she performed such Streisand signatures as “What Did I Have That I Don’t Have?” and “Isn’t This Better” from Funny Lady. (Ms. Streisand would quip later that she had forgotten the former was one of her songs.)

Next, former recipients Catherine Deneuve and Michael Douglas graced the stage.

“Michael and I are very pleased to give you congratulations on this well-deserved honor, and happy birthday!” the French siren purred.

“You were a master,” gushed Mr. Douglas. “It has been my joy over the years to watch you as an artist on stage, and it has been equally as meaningful to be your friend.”

One after another, immortal film stars and celebrity performers paid their respects to Empress Barbra, who sat perched with husband James Brolin in box four, first tier, on the right side of Avery Fisher Hall. George Segal, Amy Irving, Kris Kristofferson and Blythe Danner all said a few words, video felicitations came from Robert Redford and Omar Sharif, and there were musical performances by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (“Hello Dolly”), songwriter Alan Bergman (“The Way We Were”), and a surprise finale by Tony Bennett.

“She asked me why she should do it,” Ben Stiller said drily as he recounted how he convinced the diva to take her role in Meet the Fockers. “Finally, we worked out the creative details, or as she calls it, ‘the money.’”

The funnyman then introduced his Chappaqua neighbor, who just so happens to be the 42nd president of the United States of America.

“I don’t know why, I just never got the nerve to call him up and hang,” Mr. Stiller laughed. “Hey, Bill, wanna come over and order some vegan pizza and play some video games? Watch House of Cards on Netflix?”

President Bill Clinton, taking in the crowd’s awe and rousing applause, played with the wisecrack. “Ben, I accept your offer, and pretty soon House of Cards will be back on,” the former president pledged. “Meanwhile, we can watch a replay of Meet the Fockers and see Barbra give sex advice to old people—like me!”

Awkward laughter filled the hall as the president quickly mentioned his wife, Hillary, and then continued:

“I am very grateful to The Film Society of Lincoln Center for allowing me, on its 40th anniversary, to give the Chaplin Award to my friend. A friend of my family’s and one of the most gifted and big-hearted people I have ever known.”

President Clinton commended Ms. Streisand for her film work, her philanthropic leadership and her many talents.

“When I was president, we had a small list of members of Congress that we called the ‘Just Say Yes List,’” because they were so dogged that you knew you were gonna give in to them sooner of later,” he recalled. “That’s the way Barbra is. In the end, I would say yes.”

And then it was finally time for Ms. Streisand to take the stage.

“My dear Mr. President, thank you for taking the time to be with us here tonight,” she began.

The divine Ms. Streisand spoke about the power of art in trying times and shared numerous anecdotes from her treasured past. “Ever since I can remember, I’ve been called bossy and opinionated,” Ms. Streisand admitted. “Maybe that’s because I am?”

The audience chuckled, and Ms. Streisand raised her voice: “Three cheers for bossy women!” she said.

And through the standing, roaring gala patrons, we swore we saw Mr. Clinton’s wife, in the third row, beaming.

(Photo: Getty Images)

I have been through a lot since 1993. I was one of three of the closest survivors of the attack on the WTC and testified in the 1995 Criminal Trial of Ramzi Yousef. As a Special Agent of the NY Field Office of the US Secret Service I was trained to be a critical incident Counselor and sadly responded to the scene of the aftermath of the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in 1995 -- 6 US Secret Service employees were murdered.

When America was attacked on September 11^th, 2001, I was working at the Waldorf waiting to pick up a head of state. I spent the next six weeks protecting the worlds leaders as they came in to pay their respects.

The primary result of an attack like the one today in Boston is fear. The bombs did damage and injured hundreds and caused death and destruction. But it’s fear and paralysis that are the main goals of terrorists.

Whether this turns out to be a domestic terror incident by a lone wolf or a far more advanced conspiracy, damage to our psyche has been done. That’s the reason terrorists select high-profile targets, even if better opportunities for casualties exist.

The terrorist’s timing here was notable, as well. Complacency has set in--with Newtown and other mass shooting tragedies, the nation has become distracted from terror and its implications. If another bomb goes off in NYC or another high value target--especially if it’s a larger, more advanced device--then anxiety will give way to panic. Judging from early reports, both in the media and from colleagues who funnel me official briefings, this seems to be the work of an amateur. The device did not include projectiles or shrapnel, though ball bearings seem to have been present. Broken glass does terrible damage, though, and most windows here do not have blast mitigation, as they do in Israel.

What will happen now is that the FBI will take charge, as it's domestic terrorism. Does this incident indicate we failed in our security preparedness? I do not believe we have - high profile events like the Marathon get high priority and the first responders seem to have prepared effectively. Every new piece of equipment is tested at events such as the marathon. The fact is, many runners use backpacks to change their clothes--it’s a chaotic and difficult security situation under the best of circumstances. And I'm sure K-9 teams were present but probably overwhelmed.

Large public events in a free society are always tough to coordinate. Sometimes priorities shift or include public safety plans, e.g., closed street routes for Fire/EMS to respond. Attempts to have the remainder of the event and the city remain as functioning as possible. This setting is a lot different from a stadium or arena where walk-through magnetometers and handhelds are used and bags checked to ensure fans' safety.

The coordination of Federal State and City Authorities has been rehearsed in Boston and most major cities. This will help to restore calm. Hopefully it will also help facilitate the real sharing of any intelligence uncovered.

There are some reports of a Saudi National in custody--remember this is an ongoing investigation, so facts are fluid. But the fact that at least three reputable news outlets--Fox, CBS, and NBC--are reporting this despite denials from Boston PD probably indicates that the info was leaked by local PD while Feds want to grill the suspect, who is alleged to be injured. Meanwhile, here in New York City, the NYPD has already amped up its presence and I'm sure the Intelligence Division is in high gear working informants and working with the Joint Terrorism Task Force looking for chatter, clues, suspects, etc.

Even as some of the families of Newtown victims sat in the stands at the Boston Marathon--imagine the horror if they turn out to be among the injured--we are a nation that essentially trusts people to act decently. How many more shoebombers and underwear bombers and Marathon bombers and Unabombers and World Trade Center bombers and Murrah Federal Building bombers we will need to witness before we harden our hearts is not yet known.

Scott Alswang spent more than 20 years in the US Secret Service and retired as the Asst to the Special agent in charge of the NY Field Office. He is currently the Senior VP of SOS Security LLC - a large national/international full service security firm, and has provided security for Bill Clinton, Yitzhak Rabin, and Madonna. 

Together at last. (Getty Images)

Hoping to ride the cash cow of Game Change, the mini-series adaptation of the Mark Halperin and John Heilemann book that proved an Emmy-sweeper, HBO decided to pay Martin Scorsese a bunch of cash to make a documentary about the world's most charismatic politician, Bill Clinton.

According to the press release from today:

 HBO and Martin Scorsese will partner for a documentary spotlighting William Jefferson Clinton, 42nd President of the United States, it was announced today by Richard Plepler, recently named CEO, HBO and Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming. Made with Clinton’s full cooperation, the film will explore his perspectives on history, politics, culture and the world, with Scorsese producing and directing, and Steve Bing producing.

“President Clinton is one of the most compelling figures of our time, whose world view and perspective, combined with his uncommon intelligence, make him a singular voice on the world stage,” said Plepler and Lombardo. “This documentary, under Marty’s gifted direction, creates a unique opportunity for the President to reflect on myriad issues that have consumed his attention and passion throughout both his Presidency and post-Presidency.”

“A towering figure who remains a major voice in world issues, President Clinton continues to shape the political dialogue both here and around the world,” observed Scorsese. “Through intimate conversations, I hope to provide greater insight into this transcendent figure.”

“I am pleased that legendary director Martin Scorsese and HBO have agreed to do this film,” said President Clinton. “I look forward to sharing my perspective on my years as President, and my work in the years since, with HBO's audience.”

The Clinton documentary marks Martin Scorsese’s fourth collaboration with HBO, following the documentaries “Public Speaking” (2010) and the Emmy^®-winning “George Harrison: Living in the Material World” (2011), and the hit series “Boardwalk Empire,” for which he serves as an executive producer, as well as winning an Emmy^® for directing last year.

This looks hopeful, though great directors and great politicians don't always make for a fascinating--or even successfully propagandist--piece of art. After all, raise your hand if you've ever seen that mini-doc Spike Jonze did about Al Gore during his 2000 presidential run. Okay, now keep your hands raised if you made it through all 13 minutes of it.

Case closed, your honor. Though on the other hand, this would be a great opportunity for Scorsese to pick out some Rolling Stones tracks that feature Bobby Keys. May we suggest "Happy"?

http://youtu.be/53ZWIIn67ek

I'm FDR and I approve of this message. (Diane Bondareff)

It was not all somber speeches at the ribbon cutting for Four Freedoms Park yesterday.

Naturally, this was an event honoring one the nation's greatest presidents, so there was bound to be some politics in the mix, not just quaint platitudes about FDR and recastings of the Four Freedoms speech as each speaker tried to rhetorically show up the others. What The Observer was not counting on was what sounded like a full-on stump speech for President Obama at the end of Bill Clinton's remarks from the dais in the park at the tip of Roosevelt Island. He did everything but call out the president by name:

Perhaps, ironically, it is altogether fitting that this day was delayed until a time when we knew we could never take the four freedoms for granted, until a time when we, too, would have to decide whether to build a country that benefits the many and not just the few, a time when we, too, would have to shoulder our share of the responsibility from freeing people from fear and want, and we would have to remind ourselves that the freedom of religion requires mutual respect and not intimidation from those who worship differently from us and inspires us to insist that they accord us the same rights.

This is a wonderful day for our country, a day to remember that the words Franklin Roosevelt spoke so long ago still mean something today, partly because we need bold, persistent experimentation, partly because we need innovation and also because we need never to forget that we will never be free of these fears until we are one community of shared prosperity, shared responsibility, and a shared sense of citizenship.

Granted the former president and Harlem hotshot was not the only one to use the opportunity to add a little politics to all the ceremonial speechifying. Mayor Bloomberg spent much of his speech talking not about the park but all the great things the new Cornell Tech campus he helped set up would bring to Roosevelt Island. Meanwhile, Governor Cuomo took the opportunity to praise the passage last year of gay marriage (in which he played a crucial part).

"Today it is the legacy of this great state to strive to continue that crusade and to build on that progressive tradition" of FDR, Governor Cuomo said. "I believe this state’s success last year in passing a new law that achieved marriage equality for all New Yorkers, that ended discrimination, that established a new civil right, I believe that the marriage equality law followed in FDR’s vision, and I believe that marriage equality law has inspired other states to try to pass similar laws, causing New York to finally lead a progressive movement once again. The crusade continues in New York once again."

Can you blame these guys though? Put a politician in front of a mic, and what do you expect to get?

Former Ambassador William Vanden Heuvel led the charge to finally open Four Freedoms Park. (Diane Donfareff/FFP)

Smile! (Diane Bondareff)

It took 40 years, some 14,600 days, between the creation of Roosevelt Island to the ribbon cutting today for Four Freedoms Park, a memorial to the 32nd president at the island’s southern tip. Today was the greatest of all those days, not simply because Louis Kahn’s dramatic, elemental vision for the park had finally been realized, but also it was a beautiful day, one full of promise, just like the memorial itself.

The bright blue sky, the beaming sun, the crisp fall air, the weather truly was suited to this place. Mayor Bloomberg joked with Governor Cuomo before the ceremony began that he had sent all the rainy weather that had been expected upstate, to which the governor responded that was fine, he would just bottle the water and sell it back to us.

But beyond the levity of friends, families and dignitaries, beyond the excitement of one of New York’s longest-suffering projects being realized, there was an twinge of trauma. The weight of history hung heavily on this place. Seasoned politicos and power brokers jammed the folding seats arrayed on Kahn’s sloping emerald lawn. They were all too well aware of the challenges facing the nation, in many ways as great as when Franklin Roosevelt invoked his Four Freedoms almost seven decades ago.

They live on in the nation, but perhaps nowhere more than on this spot at the tip of an island in the East River, not terribly far from where Roosevelt grew up.

Tom Brokaw felt the strain in his opening remarks. “At a time when we are all wondering about our own resolve as American citizens, when too many ideas that are small and divide us suffocate the old ideas that were big and united us, this was a very big idea, the four freedoms,” he intoned.

“We gather not just to honor the four freedoms but to recommit to their place in the lives of everyone, everywhere in the world.”

Mayor Bloomberg felt the strain as well, though he believed it a call to action. “It is my hope that all of those who visit this park will be inspired to take up the challenge that president Roosevelt left for us, of securing and protecting these four freedoms,” he said.

How could such a simple seeming design continue to convey the depth and breadth of the American progressive movement, of FDR himself, across the span of decades, across generations, realities? Governor Cuomo gave all due accord to the project’s architect.

“This memorial is also a tribute to Louis Khan and his vision, that he could design a memorial that would lay dormant for years and years and be picked up and it would be just as vital and current as the day he drew it,” the governor said.

Yet none of the speakers grasped the challenges, both past, present and future, quite like former President Bill Clinton. He even saw a certain symmetry in the horrible delays that had kept the project from being built for so long. He recalled his experience of dedicating the FDR memorial on the banks of the Potomac in 1997, the feeling and hope that had instilled in him, and how those feelings were now mixed by the challenges that once again faced the nation.

"We have gained a lot of freedom, in civil rights and women's rights, the ability around the world to minimize human suffering with prosperity and healthcare, to minimize the cost of human tragedy," President Clinton said. We have again been tested by fear, and too many of our neighbors here at home struggle to find freedom from want. This park should always remind us that those dreams are worth pursuing."

"Perhaps, ironically, it is altogether fitting that this day was delayed until a time when we knew we could never take the four freedoms for granted."

After the event, Ambassador William Vanden Heuvel, the man who saw this project through, was mobbed by well wishers—his ovation before the red-white-and-blue ribbon cutting outshone all the famous politicians who went before him. Not surprisingly, he had a more optimistic view of the 13-ton granite blocks and rows of Linden trees he helped midwife on this site.

"I think it's for the good times and the bad," the ambassador said. "Franklin Roosevelt was a great president because he gave hope to people."

For anyone who is fortunate enough to visit the park, in good times or in bad, looking out on the city from one of its greatest and most singular vantage points, it would be impossible to take anything for granted. "I think this is the greatest view in the entire city," Mr. Vanden Heuvel said.

Even the Marine Corps. Marching Band, which closed out the dedication ceremony, was looking ahead, hopefully, but also with a reminder of struggle. Their song? "Good Times Are Here Again." Staring out over the waters of the East River, Midtown, Queens, Brooklyn, the bridges, the world, all glistening beyond, the crowd could only hope so.

Ms. Lewinsky, the woman who will forever be the intern with a stained blue dress, has decided to capitalize on her long-lived fame and sullied name. The Post reports that she got a $12 million book deal, although the publisher has not been disclosed. That’s a lot of money (especially in these days of austerity and low book advances) but apparently Ms. Lewinsky has the goods.

The book will have details about the Clintons' (allegedly non-existent) sex life, Ms. Lewinsky’s previously, miraculously unpublished love letters to the President (she was apparently very much in love) and more details than anybody could ever want to know about Mr. Clinton’s sexual proclivities (where there’s a cigar….there is apparently worse).

It isn’t that Ms. Lewinsky is so eager to retell her story. She just needs some cash. Ms. Lewinsky, now 40, got a master’s degree, briefly worked as a television reporter in England and designed a line of handbags.

“No one will hire her and she can’t get a job because of Clinton,” a sympathetic friend told The Post. “She needs to make money somehow.”

We hope she still has an extra-large handbag lying around - $12 million is a lot of dough.

Of course, the first signs of any impending apocalypse comes via celebrity news.

So consider this your final warning: take heed of these four horsemen that portend the world collapsing in upon itself like a dying star (or at least one considering Celebrity Rehab) and repent. Repent!

President Clinton.

Wednesday, October 5

Walk It Off

El Camino de Santiago is an ancient religious pilgrimage that for centuries has led Christians to a cathedral in northwestern Spain. It’s said to be the final resting place of Saint James. It’s also the subject of a new film, The Way, starring Martin Sheen and kin, Emilio Estevez (what, they couldn’t get Charlie Sheen?), as, what else, a father-son duo. But tragedy strikes! Mr. Estevez—who also directed the film—plays a character who gets caught in a Pyrenees storm, and his father has to come to Galicia to collect his remains. The film premieres Wednesday at the School of the Visual Arts, in conjunction with the Walkabout Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to donating wheelchairs around the world. As far as religious pilgrimages go, the one from the screening to the after-party, at the Mondrian Soho’s Imperial No. Nine, is decidedly less treacherous, even if you take the subway. If you survive, the late-night bash is sure to impress, with the likes of Ivanka Trump, Mike Myers, Christy Turlington Burns and Chris Pine joining keynote speaker Bill Clinton in the fund-raising. With all these saints of entertainment involved, let’s hope things get ecstatic!

An evening to celebrate the Walkabout Foundation: 7:30 p.m., screening at the School of Visual Arts, 333 West 23rd Street (between Eighth and Ninth avenues); 11 p.m., after-party at Imperial No. Nine at Mondrian SoHo, 9 Crosby Street (between Howard and Grand streets). Tickets available at www.walkaboutfoundation.org. $300 for cocktails, screening and after-party, $125 for after party.

Thursday, October 6

Pretty in Pink

Polo Guru Ralph Lauren showed his spring/summer 2012 collection on the last day of New York Fashion Week, as he often does, and brought to the runway a shimmering bunch of looks that came off as resolutely American, rooted deep in the mythos of the Roaring ’20s. It was lovely. One thing missing, though? There wasn’t that much of the color pink in there. Some airy peach tones, splashes of silver and burnt-gold beige, but none of that soft feminine hue. The brand is more than making up for that with the party for the 2011 Lauren Pink collection, which goes down Thursday night at Lord & Taylor. The event, co-hosted with Glamour, will allow visitors some choice deals on threads, as well as trays of cocktails and hors d’oeuvres (of course). And it being fall, there’s a cause to benefit from all the haute shopping. The Polo Ralph Lauren Foundation’s Pink Pony Fund—a global effort to fight the effects of cancer—will receive 10 percent of all the proceeds, and additional donations will earn you a big pink balloon. So head over to Lord & Taylor to shop, sip bubbly and maybe indulge in some casual helium intake, all for a good cause.

The Fall 2011 Lauren Pink Collection, 6 p.m.-8 p.m., Lord & Taylor, 424 Fifth Avenue, fifth floor; invitation only.

Friday, October 7

Pistols and Portraits

Last summer, a new spot in the meatpacking district had the cute idea of repurposing the grit and grime of ’80s East Village to the city’s most notoriously bottles ’n’ models hood. It’s called Gunbar, and though it’s got stickers and neon all over the place (and maybe there’s a dirty corner or two), it comes off more like an exhibition on The Dive Bar set to open at the Met in 2200. For its next trick, Gunbar will open a show by street artist and graffiti maven Aliosha Daumerie—or, to use his nom de tag, Senz—who has spent time terrorizing blank city spaces here and in Paris, as well as in conjunction with agnes b. and Alice+Olivia. Will all this be enough to justify $14 cocktails? Or the mini tattoo parlor, set up for the truly dedicated scene rats? There is a certain excitement in Senz’s unhinged take on street art. But maybe you should take the broke-artist route and pregame the thing before with a brownbagged bottle of Wild Irish Rose.

Aljosa Daumerie a.k.a. Senz at Gunbar, 9 p.m.–late, 55 Gansevoort Street (Ninth Avenue), (646) 427-0457, www.gunbarnyc.com.

Saturday, October 8

Fasting? Nyet Anymore

This Saturday, the city’s Jewish population will spend the daylight hours trying desperately to distract themselves from the aromas, textures and imagined pleasures of New York’s culinary offerings. It’s Yom Kippur, which means no food or beverage from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday. O.K., yeah, it’s only one day, but things get pretty rough around Saturday afternoon, when one begins to aimlessly stare out the window waiting for darkness, sugar levels low, stomach rumbling, no end in sight. Oh, and all your goy friends are gloating over Twitter and Gchat about the huge sandwich they just ate, accompanied by a beer, and then another beer, and then ... Right. And then you shut your laptop and weep. The silver lining of this otherwise cruel day of starvation? The epic guilt-free gluttony of the break-the-fast meal. The Russian Tea Room, that old-timey vodka den on West 57th Street, is hosting one hell of a feast Saturday night after the sunlight washes away. End your noneating streak with borscht, chicken liver, and zakuski­—“a tasting of latkes, smoked fish and leak, and potato blini with red caviar.” Um, yes, please. Follow that up with lamb stew and fried chicken. Then polish that off with what can only be some world-class kugel. After all that, you’ll want to fast Sunday, too.

Sundown, the Russian Tea Room, 150 West 57th Street, (212) 581-7100, www.russiantearoomnyc.com; prices vary.

Sunday, October 9

Lemony Fresh

In 1992, the Lemonheads released their fifth and best album, It’s a Shame About Ray, a near-perfect collection of sunny pop that made lead singer Evan Dando’s drug problems sound like a walk through a park holding the hand of a nice, flannel-clad girl. How many bands can do that now? Not many, but if you want to see the real thing go down, head over to the Bowery Ballroom, where the reunited band will play the album in its entirety. No doubt the crowd will clap along to “Kitchen,” follow Mr. Dando’s hard yelps on “Alison’s Starting to Happen,” and thank the lord that the singer survived his addiction to crack cocaine when he breaks out “My Drug Buddy,” the best song about scoring since Lou Reed was waiting for his man. With luck, they’ll even run through the album’s two pitch-perfect covers, the radio-hit version of “Mrs. Robinson” and the heartbreaking “Frank Mills,” from Hair. Yes, yes, we really like the Lemonheads. But how can you not? And it’s not like Nirvana’s playing Nevermind in its entirety this year so, grunge fans, this might be your best bet.

The Lemonheads performing It’s A Shame About Ray, doors open 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m., the Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, www.boweryballroom.com; $22 advance, $25 day of show.

Monday, October 10

Titanic Mechanics

James Cameron’s been the self-proclaimed “king of the world” going on 13 years now, but it can’t hurt the guy’s ego to hand over another award every year or so. On Monday, he’ll head to Hearst Tower to pick up the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Leadership Award, for his innovative camera technology that made immeasurable leaps in the art of filmmaking (to put things in Cameron-ian hyperbolic terms). Remember when he dunked a camera underwater to find some rotting ship, and then made a movie about that? Or the time this Austrian-accented robot came from the future to kill the savior of mankind? Or the time astronauts discovered some crazy planet with dinosaurs and skyscraper-size moving plants and … O.K., we’re still a little hazy about what Avatar was about. Being honored with slightly less fanfare than Mr. Cameron will be the team from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory that built the Mars rover, the scientists who pioneered innovation that helped a paralyzed man move his legs voluntarily, and a team of doctors who developed universally compatible blood vessels for surgery. Mr. Cameron, though, is the undisputed headliner.

Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards, Hearst Tower, 300 West 57th Street, 959 Eighth Avenue, 8 p.m.;
invitation only.

Tuesday, October 11

Katie Couric Says, ‘Wear Sunscreen’

With her new daytime talk show, Katie, not set to air until fall 2012, ABC News correspondent Katie Couric has taken up charity function duties with enthusiasm, appearing at film premieres, benefits and other events all around town. Next Tuesday, she’ll helm the Skin Cancer Foundation’s Annual Skin Sense Award Gala, a bash at the Plaza to raise funds and awareness for the disease. Summer might be over, but the hot rays can still come through the clouds, no doubt, and Ms. Couric will be the one to remind everyone that you can never be too careful. Can we be so bold as to predict a certain S.P.F.-rated skin balm might be in the goodie bags at the end of the night? We don’t want to be presumptuous. Either way, attendees will get to mingle over cocktails with the likes of Julia Stiles, Gretchen Mol and Tony Sirico, who will forever be known as Paulie Walnuts from The Sopranos. If Paulie tells us to lather on the S.P.F.-50, we’ll listen, that’s for sure.

The Skin Cancer Foundation’s Annual Skin Sense Award Gala, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Step and Repeat/Entrances, 8 p.m. dinner, the Plaza, Central Park South, (212) 759-3000. Tickets, which start at $1,750, are available at http://www.skincancer.org/Events/.

Wednesday, October 12

Va-Va-Valentino!

For someone as worshipped and reclusive as Valentino—Italy’s most revered living designer—it seems the guy is all over the place these days. We had the otherworldly experience of watching the man walk up the Lincoln Center steps to the tents during Fashion Week, as a mob of onlookers darted toward him, hoping for a picture, before he was whisked to the front row of the Diane von Furstenberg show. And once he arrived there, few other people in attendance mattered. Then, a few nights later, he showed up at the once-ratty former strip club Westway to sign karaoke with Carine Roitfeld. He went with “My Way,” if you haven’t heard yet. Then it was off to Europe for the next three rounds of spring/summer collections—including his own in Paris—but the parties in his honor continue in New York. Last week saw a kick-off luncheon at the Valentino boutique that served as a preamble to the real party: a blow-out at the Four Seasons next Wednesday held in conjunction with the Museum of the City of New York and Graff. The New York After Dark party is always a good one, so try not to miss out. Unless you’re stuck in Italy, that is.

Museum of the City of New York Director’s Council, New York After Dark, Four Seasons Restaurant, 99 East 52nd Street. Tickets from $250.00. Contact: Stephen Diefenderfer, (917) 492-3326, www.mcny.org.

Waiting in the wings.

Bill Clinton is writing another book! Called Back to Work, it's going to tell everyone how to get America “back into the future business.”

In a statement from Knopf, the book is said to detail "how we can get out of the current economic crisis and lay a foundation for long-term prosperity. He offers specific recommendations on how we can put people back to work, increase bank lending and corporate investment, double our exports, restore our manufacturing base, and create new businesses. He supports President Obama’s emphasis on green technology, saying that change in the way we produce and consume energy is the strategy most likely to spark a fast growing economy and enhance our national security."

This sounds like a political agenda...