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As is so often the way, the teasing, lunatic foreplay of Sharon Stone's Basic Instinct 2 media blitz provided more hard thrills than the act itself. The movie ended up opening in tenth place, the box office equivalent of America taking one disinterested look at Stone's aging goods, then rolling over and getting itself off to the mental picture of Queen Latifah's woolly mammoth. But there's no fun in focusing on failure; instead, let's return to the Sharon-crazy we know and love, with an item in today's Page Six in which Stone's maternal instincts found themselves at odds with her well documented predilection towards the better things in life:

THERE'S a good reason why Sharon Stone had a first-class seat last Friday flying from New York to Los Angeles while her 9-month-old son, Laird, sat in coach with his nanny. "First class was sold out," a spokeswoman explained. "She tried to get them seats in first class but couldn't, and she didn't want them on a separate plane." Stone - whose "Basic Instinct 2" was savaged by critics and grossed a paltry $3.2 million its opening weekend - did venture back among the hoi polloi to visit her tot and to tell the nanny to keep him in his seat, for safety's sake, even if he wailed - which he did.

While those of the more conservative school of parenting may question Stone's choosing unlimited cocktails and dinner served on bone China to sitting with her infant child, we think ultimately the actress' insistence that the two be booked on the same flight goes a long way towards demonstrating her fitness as a mother. That said, we have a hard time condoning her habit of using a small-dog cargo cage to transport Laird on and off her many air travel commitments.