Obama And Rick Warren . . . And Now This?

Mormons on the Upper East Side, now evangelicals in Midtown:

Out of the myriad and random tenants that fill the Empire State Building, there is one that seems both perfectly situated, yet jarringly out of place.

It is the King’s College, an evangelical Christian school that is all but hidden in plain sight, occupying three of the building’s floors — two of them subterranean — since 1999. On the one hand, it seems apt that a school claiming close adherence to God’s word would occupy New York’s tallest skyscraper.

On the other hand, most of the college’s 258 students are politically and economically conservative, opposed to abortion and generally against gay marriage, drunkenness and premarital sex. The polar opposites, in other words, of the kind of boozing, godless, kick-up-your-heels, bed-hopping liberals that Manhattan supposedly draws.

Which raises a question: What is an evangelical Christian college doing in the middle of New York?

Location Scout: Empire State Building.

The H Is Over

Jeremy Piven is less Ari Gold than that sniveling little T.A. bitch in Old School:

A real-life fish story has resulted in Jeremy Piven’s withdrawal from the current Broadway revival of the David Mamet comedy “Speed-the-Plow.”

Mr. Piven, the actor and “Entourage” star, left the production this week after having previously sought an early release from the play. Mr. Piven’s doctor said he should not continue to perform because he was suffering from elevated levels of mercury, which may have been the result of large amounts of fish in his diet.

Though there’s still a little Ari Gold in there somewhere:

Mr. Piven had asked earlier this month to be released from the show a week or two ahead of its Feb. 22 closing date, saying that he was exhausted, Jeffrey Richards, a producer of “Speed-the-Plow,” said. Later, Mr. Richards said, the show’s schedule was modified so that Mr. Piven would be able to attend the Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles on Jan. 11.

After making this accommodation, Mr. Richards said, he was informed by Mr. Piven’s representatives that the actor would not return to the show after the Golden Globes. Mr. Piven, he said, had spoken to other actors and managers in an effort to find his own replacement.

“It was rather unusual,” Mr. Richards said. “He was trying to be quote-unquote helpful.”

. . .

At least one person associated with the play seemed less forgiving about Mr. Piven’s departure. Speaking to Daily Variety, Mr. Mamet said, “My understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer.”

Nothing Destroys Holiday Cheer Like A Sex Offender

And “think of all the fellows I haven’t kissed” just doesn’t cut it this time, mister:

For decades of Christmases, it had been a gratifying way to function as a substitute Santa Claus. Every holiday season, thousands of New Yorkers trooped to Manhattan’s main post office and sifted through heaps of dream-encased letters that children had scribbled to the big guy at the North Pole. They picked out the ones that tickled the heart and responded with gifts for otherwise empty stockings.

Then came Thursday.

Gift-giving souls who reported to Operation Santa Claus at the post office on Eighth Avenue and 33rd Street, looking for the familiar cardboard boxes bursting with letters, were instead greeted with no boxes, no letters and no explanation.

The United States Postal Service abruptly shut down public participation in all the Operation Santa programs — in New York and other major cities across the country — at 1 p.m. Wednesday, without offering post offices or letter-seeking citizens any understanding of why.

A Postal Service official in Washington, after an initial, limited acknowledgment of a “privacy breach,” said that at one of the programs, not New York’s, a man whom a letter carrier recognized as a registered sex offender had “adopted” a letter. When postal officials confronted the man, the official said, he said he was sincerely trying to do a good deed, but postal inspectors nonetheless retrieved the letter and notified the family of the child.

The Postal Service, indicating that the closing down of all of Operation Santa might be temporary, said that it felt it was wise to take the precaution.

In The Annals Of Bad Business Plans . . .

. . . this should rank high:

In the great Reese’s tradition of putting together two seemingly mismatched things, a new chess and gaming emporium on Flatbush Avenue has turned Thursdays into Ladies’ Night, where everyone from Bobby Fischer brainiacs to Bobbie Fischer rook-ies can get free chess games all night long.

Pull Back The Curtain And You Find . . . Two Plates Of Cold Chicken

When a “short session over plates of chicken” is literally that — over a plate of chicken:

Day 2 of Caroline Kennedy’s cram session-cum-listening tour of New York took her to Sylvia’s, the Harlem soul food institution, for a lunchtime sit-down at the invitation of the Rev. Al Sharpton — with more than 40 journalists looking on, or at least trying to.

On Monday, Mr. Sharpton defended her against those who have said she is not qualified for the post. They also spoke by phone, and he proposed a meal at the same table where he met with Senator Barack Obama in November 2007. And on Thursday, after a short session over plates of chicken, collard greens, string beans and lemonade, Mr. Sharpton pronounced Ms. Kennedy, who is pursuing an appointment to the United States Senate, “the unique candidate in this, the unique person in this with some unique skills.”

Ms. Kennedy repaid the compliment, calling their tête-à-tête “fantastic.”

It was not clear how much the two actually ate during their meeting; the plates were set out more than half an hour before they arrived, so the food was most likely cold. And with photographers and reporters kicked to the curb, Ms. Kennedy and Mr. Sharpton — who excused himself by saying he had to get to his radio program — wrapped up their conversation in short order.