The date: February 12th
The time: 9 p.m.
The place: Nobu 57, 40 W. 57th Street.
Sighted: "Saw Hugh Grant going into Nobu 57. He must love Japanese cuisine actually."

Just one day after news surfaced that evil agenting monolith CAA has lost high-profile client Kate Hudson to rival Endeavor, Var reports that the Hugh Grant has decided that he no longer requires the agency's help in procuring the kinds of stammering-friendly roles for which he's known, choosing to have his legal representation assume all of the baby-gobbling responsibilities related to the advancement of his career:

· 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]

· Hugh Grant on acting: "I kind of hate it. In fact, I hate it quite a lotall acting, but especially movie acting." He says he's quitting acting and wants to find a nice girl and settle down. [Page Six]
· The New Yorker has been fielding irate phone calls from people who mistakenly think New York magazine's embedded reporter, Michael Wolff, is working for them. The callers are angry that Wolff ("that racist reporter") asked Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, who is black, why he was fielding questions instead of his boss, Gen. Tommy Franks. [Page Six]
· Filmmaker Joel Soler, who just finished a documentary on Saddam Hussein, reports that the evil dictator of the moment, perhaps taking his cue from J-Lo: "likes everything pure and white. Before he goes to sleep, a doctor checks the temperature of the room." [NY Daily News]

· The NYT spikes a column on the PR industry criticizing a technique used by Raines' fiancee. [Page Six]
· Art curator Baird Jones acknowledges that he's "intentionally curating artists who are about to die." [Page Six]
· Limelight-era debauchery was revived on Wednesday at a party for Sundance entrant, "Party Monster." Drag queens, disco balls, and full-frontal nudity were involved. [Page Six]
· Corcoran raids other real estate firms to net top producing competitors. [Page Six]
· Richard Gere never curses. Visitors that do are asked to leave his home. [Cindy Adams]
· Mariah Carey: "Saying a man should like me for my mind sounds like I think I'm Einstein. But I'd like someone who doesn't accuse me of making up words like 'segue.'" [Cindy Adams]
· Miramax may be considering a big-screen version of "Guys and Dolls" with Vin Diesel. [Liz Smith]
· David Gest and Liza Minnelli celebrate their one-year anniversary. Frightening. [Liz Smith]
· When Steve Bing dropped by the set of "Kangaroo Jack," actors Jerry O'Connell and Anthony Anderson began singing Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean"The kid is not my son. Sandra Bullock on Hugh Grant: "He's a bit poofy and queenie, and he warned me he'd have hissy-fits, or 'tanties,' as he calls them." Hugh Grant on Sandra Bullock: "[She] kissed me like she'd never been kissed before in her life. I hesitate to use the word 'desperate,' but that flashed through my mind." [NY Daily News]