'Wait' is worth it

The funny folks of NPR's "Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me!" took over the Citi Performing Arts Center last night, taping their weekly news quiz show for the weekend broadcast. On stage: host Peter Sagal, newscaster and scorekeeper Carl Kasell, and this week's panelists - comedian Mo Rocca, advice columnist Amy Dickinson, and the Globe's own Charlie Pierce. At the mike check before the show Rocca assessed his panelist competitors: "I think Amy is the zippiest, Charlie is the wittiest, Carl is the cleverist . . . and I'm the most flexible and the hottest." He predicted the show would be all about the election. "All I want is to be asked about Sarah Palin and her knowledge of Africa."

Jason Isaacs had hoped to be at the ICA Sunday for the screening of his new movie, "Good." After all, he's been right next door in Rhode Island shooting "Brotherhood." But the actor got word this week he's needed in Morocco, where he and Matt Damon are about to put the finishing touches on "Green Zone," the Iraq war movie directed by Paul Greengrass. "Matt's all about the work, and so far from precious," said Isaacs, who's British. "The first day of work on 'Green Zone,' I had to knock Matt about like a rag doll and there wasn't a peep out of him. We got to the end of the day, and he was covered in cuts and bruises." "Good," which is screening as part of the Boston Jewish Film Festival, is a quieter film about two friends in Germany in the 1930s. (Viggo Mortensen costars.) Isaacs shot it a few summers ago during a break in filming on "Brotherhood." "There I was being a Providence gangster and then I'd get off a plane and be a psychiatrist in Germany in 1936," said Isaacs, who also played Lucius Malfoy in the "Harry Potter" films. "It was a weird transition, but that's my job - trying to be other people."

British singer Natasha Bedingfield played a few tracks for a small group of MIX 98.5 fans at the Foundation Lounge yesterday. Owner George Lewis Jr. said she sounded pretty good, despite fighting off a cold. "She wasn't feeling too good," he said. "We made a little tea for her, but she brought her own - you know how those English are."

Less than a month after announcing Emily Rauh Pulitzer's gift of paintings valued at $200 million, Harvard Art Museum is making more news. The museum said yesterday it's getting as many as 75 works from the Friends of the Busch-Reisinger Museum. The collection, valued at about $2 million, includes paintings by German artists Georg Baselitz and A. R. Penck.

The Pan-Mass Challenge was all set to present the Jimmy Fund with a whopping $35 million check last night, the biggest donation ever given to the cancer organization. The money was raised by 5,300 cyclists who rode across the state in August. At a bash last night, PMC founder Billy Starr was expected to hand the check to Dana-Farber president Dr. Edward J. Benz Jr., in front of a crowd that included Red Sox president Larry Lucchino and his wife Stacey, a PMC rider, as well as other cyclists, volunteers and supporters. Taunton's Sarah Borges and her band, The Broken Shingles, signed on to provide the tunes.

Former "Deal or No Deal" model, author, and actress April Scott was all hugs and handshakes with fans at a Little Black Dress party at The Estate Wednesday, before moving on to a similar soiree at Shrine at MGM Grand at Foxwoods last night. In the crowd: club owner Ed Kane, Shag salon owner and DJ Sandy Poirier, and Patriots cornerback Terrence Wheatley.

Geoff Edgers of the Globe Staff contributed to this column. Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.