Locals shine at Golden Globes
As he entered the NBC-Universal after-party, Concord's Steve Carell beamed almost as brightly as the Golden Globe he'd just won for ''The Office." But Carell quickly disappeared inside the Beverly Hilton ballroom, consumed by an overflow crowd that included his ''Office" castmate and Newton native John Krasinski, as well as Massachusetts Film Bureau boss Robin Dawson and Niche Media's main man Jason Binn, publisher of Boston Common magazine. Dressed in red and standing 6 feet tall, Wareham's Geena Davis (the winner for TV actress, drama) was hard to miss, as was former Pops maestro John Williams, who seemed perplexed by his many screaming fans. (Williams walked away with more hardware, winning the Golden Globe for his ''Memoirs of a Geisha" score.) How hot was the NBC party? Media mogul Rupert Murdoch was there, and not upstairs at his own affair -- the 20th Century Fox party -- where the very gracious Maine native Patrick Dempsey made it a point to congratulate arriving winners Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon.
Other familiar faces making the rounds Monday night included Medford's Maria Menounos and Dorchester homey Mark Wahlberg, who showed up with his pregnant girlfriend, Rhea Durham.
Cross has her eyes on a different prize
The line of the night may have been uttered by Marlborough's Marcia Cross, the flame-haired ''Desperate Housewives" star who lost out to the lovely Mary-Louise Parker in the best TV comic actress category. ''Who needs a statue? I have a man," said Cross, who got engaged last summer to businessman Tom Mahoney.High-def ‘honeys’ and ‘horribles’
As anyone who's ever watched it knows, high-definition TV is compassionless. So it was only a matter of time before some smart aleck compiled a list of celebs who look better -- or worse -- in high-def. That person is Phillip Swann, president of TVPredictions.com, whose Top 10 HDTV --''honeys" and ''horribles" is worth a look. Among those faring well in this unforgiving medium, Swann says, is Ben Affleck, whose smooth skin should stand him in good stead going forward. (He's honey No. 4 behind Jessica Alba, Eva Longoria, and Anna Kournikova.) Among the horribles was Clint Eastwood, whose face, says Swann, looks like his first TV show -- ''Rawhide."That’s Dr. Coleman to you
Legendary jazzman Ornette Coleman received an honorary doctorate of music yesterday from the Berklee College of Music. The father of free jazz, Coleman was awarded the degree during the school's annual faculty music conference. Asked by Berklee professor Bill Banfield what it felt like to be a doctor, Coleman replied, ''I need a doctor." In truth, the 75-year-old sax player said he was thrilled: ''I am very happy and honored today to be standing here experiencing something I never believed I would achieve."Houston, Brown about to split?
Is it finally over for Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown? Maybe, according to Daily News gossip Lloyd Grove, who reports that the Roxbury-bred R&B singer is telling friends and even some strangers that he and Houston have a problem. During a recent visit to Foxwoods Casino, Grove writes, Brown was asked by a female admirer about his wife. ''We ain't together no more. We're getting a divorce," replied the not-so-New Edition singer. The revelation comes a week after pics of a haggard-looking Houston surfaced on the Internet. A Bravo spokeswoman told us yesterday the network hasn't decided yet whether there will be a second season of ''Being Bobby Brown."Irish eyes smile on Chomsky
It looked for a while like MIT linguistics professor Noam Chomsky would be forced to postpone a series of lectures he was scheduled to deliver this week in Ireland. The reason? The absent-minded professor's passport was out of date. According to the Irish Times, Chomsky was allowed to enter the country only after Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern intervened on his behalf. The chats by Chomsky have been heavily promoted. ''While Dr. Chomsky and the Irish government might not see eye-to-eye on a number of matters involving world affairs, it is important that his views and his voice would be heard as scheduled," said Ahern's spokesman. Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253. 
