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Who doesn't want to party down in an airport setting? News Corp. had their holiday shindig on Friday, and one enterprising party crasher made it through the bronze gates to feast on international "cuisine" and mingle with the Murdochian minions. Prepare yourself for a ride with the mild bunch:

Freelancers were most explicitly NOT invited to the News Corp. party Friday at the Hilton — but of course I got in anyway! Though still waiting for the pictorial evidence herewith my review:

The theme: Airport lounge, down to girls passing out peanuts and a line that materialized outside the Hilton at 6 p.m. but still took a good half-hour to negotiate. No one was asked to take off their shoes.

The crowd: Very bridge, very tunnel. Diversity the NYT can only dream about. Never seen so many badly dressed women in one place. Think prom night in Las Vegas. Most of the guys in nice suits, and clearly happy to be able to be getting their ladyfriends tanked on free Cosmos prior to moving on when the joint shut at 11.

The food: The "Europe" section of the party had the best chow — fish and chips, baked ziti, fabulous pastries, under a 16-piece orchestra playing lugubrious Mozart ... there were ice pops in the "Latin America" section, but "Australia" ran out of shrimp way too early.

The entertainment: My free henna tattoo still looks pretty good, and we all loved those two sistahs belting out "Proud Mary" on the karaoke stage in the "Asia" room. Rupert Murdoch was glimpsed, and I was thrilled to shake hands with News Corp's newest millionaires — the two gents who sold their Brooklyn and Queens weeklies to the Man earlier this year. [Clifford Luster of Courier-Life and Steven Blank of TimesLedger. — ed.]

The conversation: The question on most lips was whether you, too, had got the festive goodie bag, delivered to your workplace prior to the party. And yes, everybody did get the same thing: a DVD of the "Devil Wears Prada," a lightbulb, and a book, in a plastic bag. Apparently, if you're hosting 8,000 to 10,000 you've got to cut corners somewhere. But this was forgiven. After all, it's Christmas!

[Photo: Getty]