Reliable Source

Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger arrives at a Jan. 24 celebration in his honor with his wife, Lorrie. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

"The hero sex really helps a 20-year-old marriage."

-- Lorrie Sullenberger, wife of Hudson River superstar pilot Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, when asked whether his insta-celebrity helped or hurt their relationship, in an NBC "People of the Year" special to air Thursday. "Rock star sex," Sully added.

State dinner flashback: This Nov. 4, 1971, photo shows President and Mrs. Richard M. Nixon, at left, and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India standing with performers from the New York City Ballet in the East Room of the White House. (AP Photo)

Good afternoon, everyone. Roughly 30 hours left before Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh joins President Barack Obama at the first state dinner of his presidency.

And, of course, everything at a state dinner is freighted with underlying significance. Will the food include vegetables from the White House's garden? What will First Lady Michelle Obama wear? And what will it all mean?

Robin Givhan has another question: How will the Obamas -- who trumpet the common man (and woman) -- put their mark on state dinners, typically elite, exclusive affairs? Remember back in February, when White House Social Secretary Desirée Rogers suggested holding a sweepstakes, so average Americans could win a seat at a state dinner? Givhan asks: "Did we miss the Twitter alert on some secret lotto?"

Tomorrow night's dinner will be held in a tent on the White House lawn:

As for the White House, a spokesperson says the tent is a matter of practicality. It allows the Obamas to accommodate more people. And more people is a good thing because that is a reflection of the administration's desire to make the White House feel more accessible.

Four hundred people down. Only 304,059,324 more Americans to go.

Elsewhere in today's Style section: Howard Kurtz profiles Emily Miller, whose story is so only-in-Washington-esque that we don't have room to begin to explain it here. Tom Shales on ABC's newest reality show, "Find My Family." And the very latest Michael Jackson news! His white glove sells at auction for $350,000; he's still breaking records at awards shows, five months after his death.

Tips? Sightings? E-mail us: reliablesource@washpost.com. And follow us on Twitter: @ReliableSource.

A sculpture in front of the ruins of Peggy Cooper Cafritz's art-filled D.C. home after a disastrous July 2009 fire.(Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

This is the kind of year Peggy Cooper Cafritz is having:
Four months after a fire burned her art-filled mansion to the ground, she just endured another blaze -- this time in the Georgetown apartment where she relocated after losing her home. A clothes dryer burst into sparks and flames, charring the laundry room and filling her new place with thick smoke.

"It was ..." she told us, searching for the right word "... discombobulating."

Cafritz in 2000. (Mark Finkenstaedt for The Washington Post)

Cafritz, 62, moved into the Water Street condo in September; the latest fire broke out two weeks ago. This time, the flames were contained -- but smoke invaded every cranny, and all her clothing had to be cleaned to remove the acrid smell.

The longtime civic activist spoke to us last week, her first extensive public comments since losing her home. "I'm putting one foot in front of the other," she said.

In late July, while the former D.C. school board president was visiting friends on Martha's Vineyard, a two-alarm blaze gutted her sprawling home on Chain Bridge Road -- and destroyed one of the country's major collections of modern African American and African art, just as it was being showcased in the August issue of O magazine. (Some reports valued the collection at $15 million; Cafritz declined to comment on the amount.)

A report from investigators last month determined the fire was accidental, likely sparked by oily rags left in a trash bag on her porch. Firefighters reported that their attempts to battle the blaze were hindered by inadequate water pressure from nearby hydrants, which has led to a larger review of city water supply issues.

In September, Cafritz's insurance company moved her into the luxury waterfront condo where she could begin the process of reconstructing her life. She now has to inventory and submit claims for everything she lost -- "you have to list every sock, even lint," she said -- and is "overwhelmed with everything I have to do. It's intense."

Her biggest decision: whether to rebuild on her original Chain Bridge lot -- "I'm definitely thinking about that" -- or start fresh in a new location.

Then there's the more complicated question of replacing and rebuilding her famed art collection, amassed over 20 years. "It's a very slow process," she said. "I don't think there was anything in the fire that is salvageable." A few pieces were pulled from her basement, but Cafritz said they were "severely damaged. I don't think they could be restored."

Artists represented in her home have already offered to help. Photographer Hank Willis Thomas, who creates works exploring African American identity, has agreed to reprint his work for Cafritz at cost. Others will likely follow, when possible.

But, she said, "it's doubtful I'll be able to rebuild my collection as it was." Cafritz bought works from now-famous artists when they were relative unknowns; now similar pieces are selling for 10 times what she paid.

"I will continue to collect," she said. "I'll just have to start looking for new, younger artists."

Tracy and O'Donnell, before the three kids. (Courtesy of Norah O'Donnell)

Sellers: Norah O'Donnell and Geoff Tracy
Asking price: $1.695 million
Details: The chief Washington correspondent for MSNBC and her restaurateur husband (of Chef Geoff's fame) are ready to move on from the four-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath colonial they bought near Washington National Cathedral in 2005 for $1.465 million. Why? "Three reasons," O'Donnell told us: "Henry, Grace and Riley" (their 2 1/2-year-old twins and their 16-month-old younger sis). One-car garage, flagstone terrace with built-in gas grill -- and a predictably stupendous kitchen (six burners, double oven). Still looking for the bigger house.

Jon and Kate, in happier times. (Mark Arbeit/Associated Press)

Settled: Jon and Kate Gosselin, who resolved all their split-up issues in an all-day mediation session Saturday in Pennsylvania, sources told People this weekend. She'll have primary custody of the eight kids that turned them into reality-TV royalty, and he's not disputing it. Only sore spot: She refused to accept his farewell gift of flowers. Their divorce could be final by the end of the year.

Taylor Lautner (Dave Hogan/Getty Images)

Good afternoon, everyone. The big day is finally here -- or at least the next incremental big day along this strange, manic "Twilight" journey. The saga's second film, "New Moon," opens today. (Yes, this is why your local multiplex is crawling with angsty tweens.)

So, how is it? Michael O'Sullivan says "New Moon" is full "visceral pleasures," not least of which are actor Taylor Lautner's abs:

When Lautner -- who reportedly put on 30 pounds of muscle for the bulked-up role of someone who has just found out he's a teenage werewolf -- takes off his shirt in the movie, the audience let out something between a gasp and a scream. It was like nothing I have ever heard in any horror movie. The kid's abs are the best special effect in the movie.

Also opening this weekend: "The Blind Side" ("much better than its ads, largely because it's based on the true story of Michael Oher and Leigh Anne Tuohy") and "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" (a Werner Herzog movie starring Xzibit and Nicolas Cage, that Ann Hornaday actually says isn't bad).

Elsewhere in today's Style section: Paul Farhi profiles local traffic guru Bob Marbourg. Sarah Kaufman bemoans the hegemony of "The Nutcracker." And Jason Horowitz is still hot on Sarah Palin's book tour trail.

Tips? Sightings? E-mail us: reliablesource@washpost.com. And follow us on Twitter: @ReliableSource.

An entry by Amy Martin to the Public Option Please art contest.

Urging artists to promote health-care legislation -- isn't that what got the NEA in trouble a couple of months ago?

This time, though, the push is coming from an advocacy group, Public Option Please, now seeking a political-aesthetic heir to Shepard Fairey, who can sway the minds of voters with clever graphic design.

Politicizing art? Art-icizing politics? Why?

"It allows people to participate in the movement for health care in a way that's not political policy-wonk talk -- to engage people emotionally," said Jane Hamsher, the lefty-blog royalty who is spearheading the campaign with a contest to pick the best poster. "We've had too much discussion about bending the cost curve, and not enough about health care as a human right."

Of course it was one thing for Fairey to turn an image of Barack Obama into the striking "Hope" poster -- he's a photogenic guy! -- another thing to dramatize the argument for government-funded health insurance. You can vote for your favorite on the group's Web site, though the winner will be picked by a panel of judges including Arianna Huffington, Margaret Cho and Jesse Dylan.

Hey, why not Yosi Sergant (the publicist behind "Hope," who resigned his NEA job after a conference call in which he exhorted artists to support the Obama agenda)? "He's been advising us," Hamsher said.

Martha Stewart poses with her dogs Francesca, left, and Sharkey, during a taping of "The Martha Stewart Show" in October. (AP Photo/"The Martha Stewart Show")

"All I can think so much is what I could have done with all of that, and for the good of mankind."
-- Martha Stewart on "Nightline" Thursday, saying she probably lost "more than a billion dollars" when she served five months in prison for lying to investigators about a stock trade.

Brit Robert Pattinson plays the vampire Edward Cullen in "Twilight." (Peter Sorel)

Any smart blogger knows the best way to get hits: Mention "Twilight." Count in British Ambassador Nigel Sheinwald:

"It seems an immutable law of Hollywood that the finest baddies in American film are always played by Brits," he blogged this week under the heading "A Bloody Good Show." Examples: Robert Pattinson, Stephen Moyer, Kate Beckinsale, Christopher Lee and Gary Oldman all carrying on the "established pedigree of undead Brits terrorising their transatlantic victims ... Could it be the British climate that creates the pale and pasty complexion necessary to portray authentically Bram Stoker's monster? Or is it our 'deadpan' humour, putting the grave into graveyard, that makes us Brits especially suited to vampire kitsch?"

Anyway, he's a proud man: "There is nothing undead about the vibrancy of the UK's cultural and media life."