Carol Channing marched onto The View today, sporting an awesomely cute granny outfit, disregarded the teleprompter and campaigned for the Arts in public schools instead. Then she sang a "down and dirty" tune while co-hosts and audience awkwardly/admirably watched.

· Novelist Michael Crichton is paying $31 million to get out of his fourth marriage. [Page Six]
· Hot new risque skinny dipping spot: the pool room at the Four Seasons. [Page Six]
· A new Web site, RevoketheOscar.com, claims Michael Moore's film, Bowling for Columbine, is riddled with "invented facts, fabricated events, [and] staged scenes" and should be disqualified as a documentary on the grounds that it is "fiction." [Page Six]
· Cindy Adams offers random bits of trivia: Hugh Grant got rejected by "As the World Turns;" Alice Cooper loves golf; Nine Inch Nails lead singer Trent Reznor uses the name "Steve Austin" when he stays in hotels; and John Le Carre taught Latin at Eton under his real name, David Cornwell. [Cindy Adams]
· OH MY GOD! Carol Channing is getting maaarrriiiiieeeeed! [Liz Smith]
· Brad Pitt's new wax statue at Madame Tussaud's has a "squeezable bottom." Madonna has flooded file sharing services with decoy files for new album "American Life." When users download the files, they get what sounds like her voice, demanding, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" [NY Daily News]