Novak 'in good spirits'
Conservative political commentator Robert Novak was awaiting the results of a brain tumor biopsy at Brigham and Women's Hospital yesterday. The Chicago Sun-Times columnist, perhaps best known for outing CIA agent Valerie Plame, was taken to the hospital by ambulance Sunday from Cape Cod, where he and his wife were visiting their daughter. "He's in good spirits," said assistant Amanda Carey, who said she wasn't sure when he'd get his biopsy results. Novak, 77, insisted on writing his own media statement from the hospital's intensive care unit yesterday morning, Carey added. "He wanted to write it." In it, Novak wrote: "I will be suspending my journalistic work for an indefinite but, God willing, not too lengthy period." The columnist struck a homeless man with his black Corvette in Washington, D.C., last week and drove away, but the man was not seriously injured and Novak was only issued a $50 citation, according to the Associated Press. Novak kept driving until stopped by a bicyclist, who said the man was splayed on Novak's windshield. Charlie Spiering, a reporter who works for Novak, told the Sun-Times yesterday that "it's really too early to tell" whether the brain tumor affected Novak's driving that day.
Ties that bind
Mark Wahlberg and longtime girlfriend Rhea Durham are closer to setting a date. Dorchester's finest, promoting "Max Payne" at San Diego's Comic-Con International last week, told People they're planning a formal wedding next summer, after baby No. 3 is born in the fall. "I think we have a much better chance at succeeding and staying together," the 37-year-old actor said. "I wasn't prepared to be married - I don't care who it was - at 20 or 30."Youth and Youk
Kevin Youkilis didn't let the uniforms of the South End Youth Baseball Yankees bother him. While waiting for the rain to stop Sunday night, the All-Star first baseman joined Yanks closer Mariano Rivera to sign some autographs for the team sponsored by Davios owner Steve DiFillippo.Around town
Yankee Johnny Damon and his wife, Michelle, dined at Radius with co-owner Esti Parsons and her husband, Drew Parsons, of the band American Hi-Fi. We're told the couples are longtime friends and get together every time the Yanks are in town. . . . Fortifying for his band's triumphant return this week to theIraq War film hits home
It wasn't easy for filmmaker Kip Konwiser to get military families to talk to him about the Iraq War. "We found that the military has put up a wall around families," said Konwiser, whose credits include the Emmy-winning HBO film "Miss Evers' Boys." Fortunately, he did find Carlos Arredondo, the Roslindale dad whose son, Lance Corporal Alexander Arredondo, was killed in Iraq in 2004. Konwiser's film, which is nearly finished, is inspired by Vincent Bugliosi's controversial new book, "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder." Carlos Arredondo became national news when, upon learning of his son's death, he set fire to himself inside a military van parked in front of his home in Hollywood, Fla., where he was then living. (He sustained serious burns, but survived.) "Carlos has used that event to keep people's focus on respecting the soldiers who've died in Iraq," said Konwiser. The film also features Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, who's no fan of Bush but argues against indicting the president for murder. Asked if he's concerned about finding a distributor, Konwiser admitted it could be a struggle. "It's easier to simply dimiss your foe than address any legitimacy in their argument," he said. "Anyone who backhands us is just being lazy."Cultural exchange
Opera student Guo Qianyun of Hangzhou, China, got all gussied up to help kids explore the "Children of Hangzhou: Connecting With China" exhibit at the Boston Children's Museum yesterday. Museum spokeswoman Jo-Anne Baxter said the 17-year-old singer helped 6-year-old Skylar Prior and her sister, 4-year-old Kamryn (above, with Guo), of Damariscotta, Maine, try on exhibit costumes. She'll perform at the museum, telling popular Chinese folk tales of the Monkey King and Lady White Snake through music and dance, this week and next.Damon is girl crazy
It's gonna be a girl for Matt Damon, who told USA Today his wife, Luciana, is "due soon. I'm so outnumbered down here, it's crazy." The father to Isabella, 2, and stepdaughter Alexia, 9, said they'll wait on choosing a name: "We're going to get a look at her and we'll probably keep debating it." Meanwhile, on the other coast, Friend of Ben Kevin Smith has been blabbing to Usmagazine.com about baby No. 2 for Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. Smith also said the couple is looking for a bigger house. How about in Cambridge, near mom?
