New York, Feb. 28-March 4 – Now we know why Leonardo DiCaprio may have been reluctant to be seen in public with his lady, Gisele Bundchen, despite her beauty. Two days after their first appearance as an official couple at the Oscars, we found Gisele standing in the middle of Times Square, hawking bras for Victoria’s Secret.

Lil’ Kim couldn’t make the L.A. Oscar party scene because she had to appear in court early the next morning in connection with a 2001 shooting incident. The rapper, formerly famous for wearing next-to-nothing, continued to flaunt her new persona, primly attired in a pantsuit.

With Lil’ Kim on trial and supermodel Gisele pushing pushups, actress Meryl Streep no doubt had plenty to say to United Nations delegates at the 49th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

We were left wondering about the state of one woman when Matthew McConaughey rolled his Airstream trailer into the Big Apple on his nationwide tour promoting his new flick, Sahara. Apparently the trailer has everything he needs except for Penelope Cruz.

Gentrification on the Lower East Side is out of control - Bruce Willis, Ben Kingsley, Morgan Freeman and Lucy Liu have all been strutting the nabe. Oh wait, they’re shooting Lucky Number Slevin, and the cut on Josh Hartnett’s face is from the movie, not a mugging.

Robert De Niro and Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos held a press conference announcing a short-film competition in connection with De Niro’s Tribeca Film Festival. When they opened the floor to questions, someone piped up, “Hey Bezos, where’s my book? I’ve been waiting for it since Christmas".

New York, March 1-3 – We were thrilled to receive a free DVD when Jennifer Lopez appeared at a Manhattan Virgin Records store to promote her new recording, Rebirth. Quaking with excitement, we played it the minute we got home, but couldn’t take it for more than 30 seconds. Only this time, it wasn’t J. Lo’s performance that induced nausea, but scenes of furry little creatures being bludgeoned, blood flying everywhere. This charming bit of film magic was the handiwork of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who have targeted Lopez as the latest animal cruelty queen for wearing fur and using it prominently in her new clothing line called Sweetface. J. Lo apparently hasn’t gotten PETA’s memos; she wore a fur-trimmed cape to this delightful rendezvous.

The in-store appearance was only one stop on Lopez’s publicity blitz for the new album. She also performed for the bleary-eyed early risers at the Today Show in Rockefeller Center; popped in to MTV’s Total Request Live and capped Thursday night at the Hammerstein Ballroom for Hot 97’s Full Frontal Hip Hop concert, where Omarion, Fabolous and Fantasia also appeared.

PETA photo by Joy E. Scheller

Los Angeles, March 2 – Someone we know happened to have a whole case of Girl Scout cookies with her at the premiere of Their Eyes Were Watching God, and she offered star Michael Ealy a cookie if he’d pose with his newish girlfriend, Halle Berry. “Just one cookie?" Ealy asked, disappointed. Our friend then upped the ante to a whole box. “Do you have Thin Mints?” Ealy inquired, with more interest. “Yeah, I’ll give you two boxes if you’ll pose with Halle,” our little sparrow responded. Ealy seemed ready to give it up for the Thin Mints, but Berry apparently had other ideas, staying demurely inside her car until he’d entered the theater. Oprah Winfrey produced the flick, but we didn’t find out which is her favorite Girl Scout cookie.

New York, March 2 – In its continuing effort to shed its stodgy image, the New York Stock Exchange invited Motley Crue to ring the closing bell on Wednesday. (Being so hip, the NYSE folks realized they’d never get these dudes out for the 9:30 am opening bell.)

The guys came into the hall about ten minutes before the close of trading, and scattered shouts of “Rock on!” rang out from down on the exchange floor. Someone tried to throw a book up to the group so that Tommy Lee could sign it. The occasion was to mark Viacom subsidiary VH1’s sponsorship of Motley Crue’s reunion tour. Nikki Sixx wanted a souvenir; as they left the podium, he picked up the gavel and slipped it into his pocket.

Los Angeles, February 27 – Gosh, we just woke up with hangovers, and realized we never told you about the post-Oscar bashes. We went positively mad trying to decide whether to go to Elton John’s AIDS Foundation party or Graydon Carter’s Vanity Fair party, so we listened to two of our multiple personalities and hit both. And both parties glittered, literally dripping with Hollywood stars.

Now Elton is practically royalty, being both a knight and a queen, but even he was outranked in Hollywood when Elizabeth Taylor showed up. The septuagenarian hobbled her way down the red carpet, astonishing everyone, before relaxing back into a wheelchair. Indeed, Elton’s party had a slight English accent, what with the London-born Liz, young British R&B star Joss Stone, comedian Eddie Izzard, and a performance by the Scissor Sisters, the American group beloved in Britain but virtually unknown in their own country.

Both parties were close by in West Hollywood, and many folks toddled back and forth between the two. We spotted Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross, Christina Aguilera, Donald and Melania Trump and Pamela Anderson at both.

Los Angeles, March 1 –We thought something called "Saks Fifth Avenue’s Unforgettable Evening" would be the mother of all sample sales, so we rushed to the Beverly Wilshire, credit cards in hand. But whoa, we thought, stars like Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Courtney Cox Arquette, her Friends costar Lisa Kudrow and Jay Leno don’t have to paw through racks of marked-down schmatas. Designers send fashions to people like that.

It turned out that the Entertainment Industry Foundation was honoring uber-athlete (and cancer survivor) Lance Armstrong to raise money for women’s cancer research. Robin Williams hosted - he and Armstrong are good friends - and Armstrong’s lady, Sheryl Crow, performed. The crowd was dressed to the nines, and Claudia Schiffer whispered that everyone has extra dresses during Oscar week.

Los Angeles, February 28 – We spoke too soon when we said that awards season had ended with the Academy Awards. The very next day we line-danced over to Paramount Studios, where Usher and Alicia Keys both won big at the 19th annual Soul Train Awards. Not only did the two R&B stars each win multiple awards, they were jointly recognized for their hit duet, “My Boo”. Destiny’s Child, Jay-Z and Ciara also won awards.

Nicole Richie was with her fiancé, Adam Goldstein, aka DJ-Am, and was still proudly showing off her engagement ring. Nicole hosted the show, along with Fantasia, Brian McKnight, and Nick Cannon. You can catch the Soul Train Awards on TV in mid-March.

Los Angeles, February 27 – Now that the Academy Awards ceremony plopped the crown on the seemingly endless awards season, we’ll be at loose ends next weekend without at least one filmland back-patting extravaganza. But on the bright side, we won’t have to spend yet another evening with Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, Leonardo DiCaprio or Jamie Foxx again for a while. They’re sweet, but enough is enough.

After months on the Aviator publicity trail, DiCaprio had his lady Gisele Bundchen on his arm publicly for the first time at the Oscars.

One recently split couple did the sibling thing; Jake Gyllenhaal brought sister Maggie, while his ex, Kirsten Dunst, was with her brother, Christian. Jay-Z was a bit lonely, since his lady, Beyonce, spent most of her time at the Oscars on the stage, singing. (She sang so often, at times we wondered if we’d stumbled into the wrong studio, and were watching a Beyonce special.)

And Beyonce may have been dripping with diamonds, but Johnny Depp was more discreet, hiding his bling in his mouth. It seems Depp’s gold-capped teeth are for his Pirates of the Caribbean sequel.

At one point backstage in the press area, some less-famous awardees were intimidated by the pack of screaming journalists vying for their attention, when Samuel L. Jackson strode in and announced, “Let me show you how this is done”. Jackson sat down on the riser, and the room was immediately pin-drop quiet. “This is how it’s done”, he said, and got up and walked out.