LOVE AND XXXS

Nicole Kidman and action movie hero Vin Diesel, who stars in "XXX," had
dinner together at the Polo Lounge in Beverly Hills on Sunday night,
reported the New York Daily News, which said she was giggling at his
witticisms. Kidman's PR person said they were talking about working together.

Could be he was witty; could be there's a project; could be this scene took
place in public to enable columnists describing it to give Diesel's new
movie a boost. So there.

Meanwhile, shooting "Saving Private Ryan" in England, Diesel turned 30, so
Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg threw him a dinner party. Diesel told GQ
that he flew his mother to the party, and was so excited that he asked her,
"Mom, aren't you stoked? You've got Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg hosting
a party where your son is the guest of honor. Doesn't that bug you out?"

In a motherly sort of way, it did. "I know who you are," she told the honoree.

REACHING OUT: At a fund-raiser for the athletic department of the
University of Nevada at Reno last week, at the mansion of Nevada Gov. Kenny
Guinn, Joe Montana sat at the governor's table and watched as three 49er
jerseys he'd signed were auctioned for $20,000 each, and three helmets for
$25, 000 each.

Among others sharing the table were former pro football player Joe Martin,
who put the event together, and Jack McLaughlin, Nevada state
superintendent of public instruction. Martin, a skillful networker whose
college roommate was Roy Disney, has passed along to Clint Eastwood a Dirty
Harry screenplay written by the Nevada official. "Everybody has hobbies,"
the screenwriter/educator told TIC.

S.F. FROM AFAR: San Francisco Supervisor Mark Leno, who was at Rita
Moreno's Plush Room opening the other night, described debating medical
marijuana policy with Clinton drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey on Monday's
"Donahue" show.

Before the debate, McCaffrey said he'd be "talking with some pothead from
California," and after the debate, he described Leno as "an improved
version of Tom Cruise" who will "make a good icon to push this cause." Of
course, Leno wasn't reluctant to pass along the news that he'd been
compared to Cruise. He said, however, that he was mentioning it because
McCaffrey's tone of voice was sarcastic, and he took it as an anti-gay crack.

GLIMPSES: The Sunset District's Chris Isaak was spied by Kim Becker at
Hotei last Sunday night, having dinner with a blond woman in a black
off-the-shoulder blouse (Ninth and Irving is a dressy location), and
perusing a local real estate magazine.

"Brady Bunch" star Barry Williams was at Justin Herman Plaza on Thursday
morning, posing for pictures with a peanut the size of last week's beached
whale on a truck emblazoned "American Peanut Tour." In other news of
commerce, the Duchess of York's picture was on free shopping bags
distributed Wednesday by Westfield Shoppingtowns, which owns the San
Francisco Centre. (Hard times for the royals: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince
Philip "seemed unfazed," wire services reported, when eggs were thrown at
their car during a tour of northern England.)

Furthermore, Billy Idol, Don Henley, k.d. lang and Andy Garcia worked out
at Sports Club/LA in San Francisco this week, and Anthony Hopkins, Hannibal
Lecter with a parasol-bearing drink, was spotted at the Fairmont Hotel's
Tonga Room.

OVER THE BOUNDING MAIN: Larry Ellison skippered his own boat to victory
last weekend in the IACCSF II Moro Trophy Regatta, "sidelining two of the
world's best skippers" he'd hired to do the job, says a TIC spy. Practice
makes perfect, but the spy says most sailors think "Larry could do with a
lot of practice if he is to get behind the wheel of his yacht in the
upcoming America's Cup."

And at Sunnyside Marina in Lake Tahoe on Wednesday, Clint Eastwood came in
for repairs on his Sea-Doo contraption, its stern line having been "sucked
up in his intake and wrapped around propulsion components," TIC spies said.
The Marina staff fixed the problem and pronounced their low-key customer a
regular guy who lent a hand in lifting the thing onto the forklift," tipped
well and was last seen skiing into the sunset on water. Eat your heart out,
Jesus.

IF YOU CAN MAKE IT THERE

"When I think about New York, it really boils down to this triangular piece
of pizza. That, and the girls."

- - Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers on why he loves New York, in Rolling Stone.