Penthouse is a model investment for Gisele

Who needs the runway when you've got real estate? Gisele Bundchen this week put her Manhattan penthouse on the market, and the asking price - $10.9 million - is more than three times what the Brazilian beauty paid for it five years ago. Not bad considering Bundchen is already the world's wealthiest supermodel. The two-bedroom, two-bath condo in the West Village includes a landscaped roof deck and terrace, a hot tub, fireplace, and windows on all sides. Tom Brady's girlfriend paid $3 million for the triplex in '03 and then customized the bathrooms and built additional closet space. (She probably needed storage for all the expensive swag she receives from Louis Vuitton, Victoria's Secret, and Colcci, among others.) According to the New York Post, Bundchen has purchased a larger townhouse elsewhere in the Village.

Author Douglas Brinkley has agreed to give back the $200,000 advance he received from Penguin Group USA Inc., for failing to deliver a biography of legendary Beat Generation writer and Lowell native Jack Kerouac. The publisher had sued the historian because he didn't finish the book in time for this month's 50th anniversary of Kerouac's classic novel, "On the Road." According to Boston attorney George Tobia, who reps both Brinkley and the Kerouac estate, the dispute has been resolved and the money will be returned. "There were some other projects that delayed it, but they kind of blindsided us by filing [suit]," said Tobia, contacted yesterday. "We said, 'Hey, look, you can have the money back or the book.' Doug's still going to write the book." Penguin had contracted with Brinkley in 1998 for the biography, but he didn't deliver it by the deadline of June 30, 2006.

The gigs just get bigger and better for Franklin phenom Andrea Ross (inset). The 16-year-old Noble & Greenough student has landed the lead in the US touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's show "Whistle Down the Wind." Hardly a secret around here, Ross has been singing since she was 8, and won an Elliot Norton Award in 2004. Her association with Webber began when he signed her to his entertainment company, and then assisted on her debut CD, "Moon River," which was released in the UK earlier this year. "He's been very supportive," Ross told us yesterday from Hartford, where "Whistle Down the Wind" makes its next stop. "[Webber] had been dropping little hints about the possibility of a tour in the US and that it'd be a great role for me." Asked if she's exhausted or exhilarated, Ross laughed. "Both, but I love touring so much."

Looks like Oedipus (inset) is finally settling down. The former WBCN DJ is engaged to a Thai attorney named Amy Oonpool (inset), and the happy couple is planning to tie the knot in March. The two met last winter, not long after Oedipus arrived in Bangkok to spend five months studying at Chulalongkorn University. (A Buddhist, the Boston radio personality has been traveling to Thailand since the mid '80s.) "Through some kharmic confluence, we bumped into each other the first week I was there," says Oed, who left 'BCN in 2004 after 29 years with the station. Following the wedding in Thailand, which will feature a full Buddhist ceremony, the couple expects to be bi-continental, splitting their time between Boston and Bangkok.

Brandeis history professor Jane Kamensky and Harvard history prof Jill Lepore are temporarily setting aside more serious academic pursuits to write a book together. And not just any book. Called "Blindspot," the novel is described as an erotic romp about a woman who disguises herself as a boy to serve as an apprentice to a Boston portrait painter during the American Revolution. Lepore's last book, "New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan," was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Actress Bridget Moynahan was out and about with her new baby this week. Young John Edward Thomas Moynahan accompanied mom to the Bel-Air Bay Club, and Tom Brady's boy brought along his monogrammed blankie. But, wait. Seems JET is actually only JEM. Hmmm.

Peter and Bobby Farrelly's latest funny flick, "The Heartbreak Kid," premiered in LA the other night and all the stars showed up. Among those walking the red carpet were Ben Stiller and wife Christine Taylor; Stiller's parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara; Weymouth's Rob Corddry and his wife, Sandra; Michelle Monaghan (whose other new movie is Ben Affleck's "Gone Baby Gone"); Cybill Shepherd; Jane Seymour; and Viacom boss Sumner Redstone.

The Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, a.k.a. GLAD, honored Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally last night at its annual Spirit of Justice Award dinner, held at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel. Previous winners include playwright Tony Kushner and Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe, both of whom were on the guest list last night. McNally's plays include "Love! Valour! Compassion!" and "Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune."

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