• President Obama's first Congressional address drew in 33.6 million viewers last night, according to preliminary figures from Nielsen. [ML]
• It was Chris Matthews who muttered "Oh, God" on MSNBC last night, right when Bobby Jindal was about to deliver the Republican response. [Politico]
• Fourth-quarter profit declined 77 percent at the Washington Post Co. [NYT]
• Remember the DABA Girls? Yea, well, much of what they told the Times was BS, which is why the paper issued a correction today. [Newsweek, NYT]
• The CW has renewed a bunch of shows, including 90210, Smallville, America's Next Top Model, and—most importantly—Gossip Girl. [Variety]
• Ex-Domino editor Deborah Needleman is "spending more time at the gym" in order to acquire "one of those Connecticut-housewife bodies," FYI. [MM]
• Jared Kushner may be cutting a deal to sell the Observer at Starbucks. [NYP]

Philip Seymour Hoffman back in NYC (but still wearing a hat), standing on the set of his latest movie, Jack Goes Boating ... Keri Russell walking with her son and husband in Brooklyn ... Kate Winslet arriving at JFK after her jaunt to LA for the Oscars ... Alexa Ray Joel shopping and juggling two cups of coffee simultaneously ... Will Ferrell watching the Knicks play at Madison Square Garden ... Taylor Momsen shopping with a friend in Soho ... Heather Mills standing on the sidewalk ... Katie Holmes leaving her apartment ... America Ferrera cuddling with a couple of dogs on the set of Ugly Betty ... and Robert De Niro walking through JFK after his trip to the Oscars.

Condé Nast is "having the worst year of any publisher," or so a "rival executive" tells Keith Kelly today. The facts pretty much speak for themselves, though: While there's been a 24 percent drop-off in ad pages industry-wide, the Joanne Lipman-edited trainwreck otherwise known as Portfolio is down 60 percent, and Wired has seen its ad pages plummet 57 percent. Any good news? Why, yes, there most certainly is. Golf World is doing quite nicely these days, you'll be happy to hear. [NYP]

At least some people are still shopping! "A leather armchair once owned by Yves Saint Laurent fetched 21.9 million euros, or $28 million, at the second night of Christie's auction of Mr. Saint Laurent's art collection. The price made the chair the most-expensive piece of 20th-century design sold at auction. The buyer was Cheska Vallois, the dealer who sold it to the French designer in the early 1970s." [WSJ, Bloomberg]

The Times reports today that Mayor Bloomberg has been secretly expanding his lair on East 79th Street in recent years, since the 7,500 square feet of space on five floors that he already owned wasn't enough, clearly. In "transactions that have gone all but unnoticed," Bloomberg has been buying up space in the building next door, and has since acquired four of the six apartments at 19 East 79th Street, giving him a total of 12,500 square feet to run around in. Presumably this would be plenty of space for a bachelor mayor whose kids don't live with their parents (and whose girlfriend has a posh Park Avenue apartment of her own to go home to). But maybe not!

When the ladies from The Real Housewives of New York City were criticized for being hopelessly out of the touch with the current economic climate, they argued that the show had been filmed before the financial crisis, so it wasn't really their fault. Well, it appears that Jill Zarin has still failed to pick up a copy of the newspaper. OK! asked the fabric mogul's wife where to go to find a rich husband and instead of providing an answer that actually makes sense (move to China?), she reverted to the sort of advice that might have been useful in 2005. "If you want to find a rich husband, go sit in a private airplane terminal," Jill Zarin says. "Anyone coming off a private airplane is probably doing all right."

• Alex Rodriguez may be moving into 15 Central Park West, after all. Six months after reports surfaced that the scandal-plagued slugger was looking to buy a four-bedroom in the building comes word that he has his eye on a two-bedroom, $30,000-a-month rental. The timing should work out nicely: He's currently in contract to sell his old place at Trump Park Avenue. [Page Six]
• Eve Weinstein, the ex-wife of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, has lowered the price of her sixth-floor apartment at 1133 Fifth Avenue, which she first put on the market back in December for $13.5 million. The four-bedroom spread with private elevator landing is now listed for $12.5 million. [Cityfile, Sotheby's]
• Moby and Stacey Bendet are on the hunt for a tenant in Los Angeles. The duo teamed up in 2008 to pay $2.95 million for a Hollywood Hills property that they intended to use as a "style salon" and recording studio. It's now available for $15,000 a month. [Real Estalker]

"Wrapping around block of the Sheraton New York Hotel for hours, more than 5,000 people—many in business attire—waited in single-file lines for a chance to submit resumes and chat briefly with recruiters... Outside the event people exchanged leads, shivered, and some tried to sneak in through back doors or employee entrances." [Financial Times, photo via Flickr]

Yesterday it was revealed that the Post had decided to part ways with longtime gossip Liz Smith. Her last column will appear in the paper tomorrow. But before she heads out the door, you can have a listen to the voicemail that greeted callers when the 86-year-old was running around town hunting down juicy bits of gossip (or, say, having long lunches with her pals). It's our farewell salute to an industry legend. Best of luck, Liz, and thanks for the memories. [Previous voicemails]

Furrier, social fixture, and permanent PETA target Dennis Basso turns 55 today. Téa Leoni is turning 43. Chelsea Handler is 34. Reclusive billionaire hedge fund manager Bruce Kovner is 64. Longtime CBS newsman Bob Schieffer is turning 72. Access Hollywood's Nancy O'Dell is 43. Actress Rashida Jones is turning 33. Actor Sean Astin is 38. Julio Iglesias, Jr., the son of Julio and brother of Enrique, is turning 36. Sally Jesse Raphael is 74. And Carrot Top turns 44 today.

• Citi chief Vikram Pandit is still working out the details of a rescue package that would turn over as much as 40% of the bank to the federal government. He'd really love to hang on to his job as part of the deal, though. [WSJ]
• In a last-ditch effort to raise cash, Citigroup is looking to sell off both its Japanese investment bank and brokerage. [Reuters]
• John Thain "sneaked in a side door" to answer Andrew Cuomo's questions for a second time on Tuesday, and provide more detail on the billions in bonuses Merrill Lynch handed out just before the firm was acquired by BofA. [NYDN]
• AIG is now facing two "distasteful" options: sell "prized assets to competitors or hand over a big part of its business to the federal government." [NYT]
• Connecticut is planning legislation to regulate the hedge fund industry. [DB]
• You can thank Ben Bernacke for the Dow's rally yesterday. [NYT]
• Existing-home sales tumbled to a nearly 12-year low in January, and prices took a double-digit drop. [WSJ]

Beth Ostrosky—or Beth Ostrosky Stern, as she'd like to be known these days—has sealed a deal to write a book about dogs, according to Publishers Marketplace: "Animal-rights activist (and wife of Howard Stern) Beth Ostrosky Stern's user-friendly guide for anyone who owns a dog, covering everything from tips for doggie dental hygiene, diet, health, and etiquette to planning the perfect party for your pooch, to Jennifer Bergstrom at Simon Spotlight Entertainment, with Emily Westlake editing, for publication in Spring 2010, by Richard Basch at Don Buchwald Agency (world)." Presumably she shared the section on "doggie dental hygiene" with the owner of this particular pooch before going in for the photo op. [Publishers Lunch, sub req]

• Diane von Furstenberg had a really lovely Oscar weekend, thanks so much for asking. [DVF]
• Rachel Zoe is denying that clients Cameron Diaz and Debra Messing have abandoned her. "Styling is still her number one priority," a "source" says. [SW]
• Layoffs: Neiman Marcus is cutting 450, Valentino is downsizing its NY office, and there are rumors Coach is trimming staff, too. [WWD, WWD, Racked]
• Thakoon reflects on last week. [NYO]
• Chloe Sevigny's second collection for Opening Ceremony hit London on Sunday evening. [WWD]
• Reports from London Fashion Week as it winds down. [Vogue UK, NYT, AFP]
• The gloomy mood in Bryant Park last week appears to have made its way to Milan: Just Cavalli has cancelled its runway show for Thursday. [NYM]

There have been very few moments in his life when Donald Trump has not been willing to go on cable television to pontificate on the state of the real estate market. But it's only been a week since Trump's casino empire went bankrupt, so this might just be one of those moments (although given the new season of The Apprentice debuts next week, it's safe to say the shilling will begin again soon enough). But what do you do if Donald won't come on and Don Jr. isn't available and Ivanka Trump can't even be bothered to throw on a cocktail dress and grace Fox Business's classy barroom set with her presence? You turn to Eric Trump, naturally! Sure, he graduated college about 15 minutes ago and wasn't even around for the boom market much less understand the causes of the current real estate crisis. But he's been very well trained, clearly. Take a long, hard look, folks. We have a sinking feeling we're going to be seeing a lot of him over the next, oh, four decades or so.

• A peek inside Keith McNally's revamped Minetta Tavern, which will be opening its Macdougal Street doors in a few weeks. [GS, Eater]
• The slick restaurant inside the new Armani flagship is now open. [Eater]
• Co. gets a mixed review (and two stars) from the News today. [NYDN]
• Gotham Bar & Grill has lowered the price of its three-course lunch. [Zagat]
• Trouble seems to be brewing at Tribeca's Mai House. [Eater]
• A roundup of dining options on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. [AMNY]
• Anita Lo on recessionary dining habits: "All they want is burgers." [NYP]
• Wondering what Bobby Flay looked like circa 1991? You're in luck. [Zagat]
• Did you know today was Fat Tuesday? Here are a few spots to go to stuff yourself. It also happens to be National Pancake Day, too, so you know. [GS]

Much like the Amish and freaky polygamist cults living in the Nevada desert, members of America's wealthiest—and Waspiest—households don't pay any attention to the annual glitz-fest on Oscar night. At least that's what band-aid heir Jamie Johnson says in his latest column on "the secret lives of the super-rich" for VF.com:

So you stop off at your money manager's office atop some gleaming Midtown office building and you find him in a vast office filled with priceless art work, sitting behind an antique desk dressed in a $10,000 custom-made suit, and fingering photos of a new beachfront estate in East Hampton he's had his eye on. Should that be a warning sign you've invested your money with the next Bernie Madoff? That's what the Wall Street Journal's Wealth Report wonders today, pointing out that the recent crop of fraudsters all seemed to very much enjoy parading around their riches:

The Post is dropping gossip columnist Liz Smith. The reason? The economy, naturally. "Like so many other newspapers around the nation, we are buffeted by unprecedented economic gales," Col Allan, the Post's editor, explained in a letter to Smith earlier this month when he informed her that the paper had decided not to renew her $125,000-a-year contract. But if you're thinking the 86-year-old gossip is planning to retire her quill pen, think again! Smith says she'll continue turning out a column five days a week for syndication to other newspapers, she'll be penning a twice-a-week column for Daily Variety, and she's also signed on as a contributing editor of Parade magazine. Oh, and she'll be contributing to wowOwow, the website for elderly women that she co-founded last year, where, she says, she's looking forward to posting scoops "free from the constraints of newspaper deadlines." [NYT]

The DKNY ad at the corner of Broadway and Houston has been around for years. But it won't be there for much longer. Hollister, which is owned by Abercrombie & Fitch, is taking over the space and is now planning to kill off the image of Lady Liberty and the Twin Towers—with the help of 15,000 square feet of dark gray paint, no less. Dark days indeed! [Curbed]

Are you employed? Do you have at least a $20 bill in your wallet? Then please go out and buy something. Anything will do. Yes, this includes you, too, Brian Williams. [CNN Money]