Calacanis had proclaimed on Twitter and in a YouTube interview the end of the TechCrunch 50, the Web startup conference the Mahalo founder hosts with Arrington. Calacanis had told others at this year's conference about a fight with TechCrunch.com publisher Arrington, VentureBeat reported. Arrington played the blasé diva when we called him for comment, saying, "I'm not going to say I didn't have words with him because I have words with people all the time... life will go on without Jason Calacanis."

Now, Calacanis tells VentureBeat, the conference is back on. The short celebrity gladhander has a vested interest in reprising his odd couple conference routine with Arrington, the tall, beefy self-styled don of the Valley's hopelessly geeky startup scene: In an economic environment where other conferences are struggling, TechCrunch 50 remains a financial success for Calacanis and Arrington and, more to the point, a fantastically powerful vehicle for publicity and influence. And, besides, with the name tied to Arrington's trademark, what's to keep him from doing it without Calacanis?

It must be a bit embarrassing for Calacanis to crawl back to Arrington after so loudly storming off. To salvage his dignity, he's now claiming, to VentureBeat, that he was only kidding around, in part because the YouTube interview was conducted by a puppet:

[16:05] jasoncalacanis: I'm just shocked folks are taking this seriously. I mean… a puppet. It was in fact, a puppet.

[16:05] jasoncalacanis: then again, i guess if you hear mike and i fighting it isn't pleasant.

[16:06] paulboutin@mac.com: You were all too convincing. I think you really were Done With This Baloney when you talked to the puppet.

[16:06] paulboutin@mac.com: The makeup video is cute. I'm running it with your quotes.

[16:06] jasoncalacanis: Truth = we fight like rabid dogs and neither of us have to compromise in any other parts of our business.

[16:07] jasoncalacanis: False = we would throw an amazing event like this out the window.

(Top pic: Andrew Mager)

According to Times Twitterers Jennifer 8. Lee and Jodi Kantor, Rohde, his wife Kristin Mulvihill, and his Afghan fixer Tahir Ludin entered the newsroom minutes ago to what Kantor calls a "looooong loud ovation." The assembled Times staffers were in tears.

Rohde delivered a tribute to Ludin, Kantor writes, and told the crowd that Ludin told their Taliban captors, "If you're going to beat David, you'll beat me first."

Lee writes that Rohde advised his colleagues "to cherish our loved ones, enjoy sunset, and relish the fact we are alive."

Rohde was kidnapped near Kabul in November along with Ludin and their driver. Though news of the kidnapping was reported by local news agencies at the time, and freely available on the internet, the Times successfully leaned on more than 40 news outlets (including this one) not to report on his situation. According to an account Ludin gave to the Times, he and Rohde escaped their captors in the tribal areas of Pakistan by climbing over a wall and walking to a Pakistani army base.

Rohde has remained silent about his ordeal thus far, declining to comment even to his own paper. When we inquired about Rohde's situation several months ago, while the blackout was still in place, the Times insisted to us that Rohde's captors had told the paper that his life would be further endangered if news of the kidnapping spread. Since his release, Times executive editor Bill Keller has quoted Rohde saying that his captors were intensely interested in Rohde's ransom value, which would have gone up if public awareness of his case increased. The Times has declined to explain the apparent contradiction.

Asked if the paper plans to publish a first-person account by Rohde of the kidnapping and escape, a Times spokeswoman replied, "There is nothing I can say about this at this point."

You see the couple was rumored to be divorcing last month by Page Six, but now that Tinz (who's big in Japan) has been spotted cutting a rug or two at the Frick Gala with her hedge funder (sorta) husband, it must mean everything's rosy again, right? We contacted Ms. Mortimer, as we often do, and got a statement from her:

When I heard the news that I had been dancing with Topper I felt funny and I felt happy and I also felt a little sad, because sometimes good things don't last, they just frip! frip! frip! fripper away into the wind, like dandelions or one of Guadalupe's wigs that one time in the Hampytons. But I did have fun last night in my yellow dress and Topper's hands were big and meaty and sweaty and he pulled me close to him and he said "Oh Tinsjelica, I have missed you so much" in his growly dog voice and it was the best day I'd had all week. Well, since Tuesday when I found some pennies at the bottom of the washing machine when Guadalupe was showing me how to use it. See, Guadalupe told me she'd show me how to do all her poorlady jobs like sweeping and eating beans and having lots of babies that wear dirty old corduroys just in case the recessional comes for me and eats all my jewels and clothes. Right now I am wearing a bandanna and am inside the refrigerator because it needed cleaning. Tell Topper I miss him and that I will meet him at the top of the Empire State Bridge if he still loves me. He knows it's my favorite place because if you go there on a cloudy day and look out—I mean really look out—on a cloudy day, you can see forever.

Obviously, that's not actually a quote from Tinsley. Image via Getty.

9021-Oh Yes: Jennie Garth was recently photographed filming scenes for the new season, looking appropriately guidance counselor-esque, sporting the latest fashions from the Coldwater Creek catalog. What happened to 1992 when Kelly Taylor was slutting it up at the Beverly Hills Beach Club, betraying her friend, and licking Dylan's sideburns? Sure, it may be an unrealistic portrayal for her character now, but perhaps just a dash of the Collin-adoring, coke-snorting Kelly from 1996 wouldn't hurt.

More details on David Silver and Peach Pit impresario Nat Bussichio after the jump!

9021-Oh My: Fire up those mega-burgers, because Joe E. Tata is back for the pilot – and possibly additional episodes. Will Nat Bussichio's little-seen wife return? Or will be continue down Creepy Street hanging with 30-year-olds and dispensing heavy-handed and inevitably grease-laden advice?

9021-Oh No: Unfortunately, West Beverly's greatest dancer and Color Me Badd stalker, David Silver, will not be returning to the beloved zip code. Besides, Brian Austin Green has bigger fish with down-playing his status as possible Megan Fox Maneating victim. As he told The Insider, "We're solid. We've lived together for three years. We have tattoos of each other's names." Which, of course, means Notorious BAG will soon be visiting his local tatoo-removal establishment.

• Peach Pit Owner Nat To Star On 90210 Spin-Off [USMagazine.com]

Why is this so monumental? Well, back in the day New Edition and NKOTB hated each other. New Editon was all, "We've been around longer and we're actually better, but they get all the attention because they're white." But now, careers have faded, bank accounts have thinned, and the hatchet has been buried. To celebrate their new found friendship, the two bands have recorded a track called "Full Service," and according to writer RedOne (who?), "It sounds very universal and melodic and has both sides in it: The R&B, which is New Edition and the pop side for New Kids. It's very uplifting. Right away you start feeling good and every part feels natural to each one of the guys." People Magazine added that that everyone "munched on sushi in the studio and the guys prayed together before recording." How cute!

Still no word on a release date for this sure-to-be-classic track, but go ahead and take a deep breath. That's what a masterpiece smells like.

• New Kids on the Block & New Edition Record Together

Call it a magic moment, call it a completely forced photo opp, but the Cruises and Beckhams did briefly pose on the carpet before entering the Gala. And though Victoria certainly didn't look happy about it, her nipples sure did.

Amidst the sea of designer gowns, we thought Eva Longoria's dramatic ruffle-adorned number was most impressive. Busy and over the top maybe, but her petite little body suddenly looked voluptuous and the midnight purple color was the perfect choice.

Thandie Newton usually kills on the carpet, so we were baffled to see her in this very Madonna circa 1995 S&M lingerie-esque ensemble. And poor Mischa Barton, possibly still smarting from those unflattering balcony bikini pictures, chose a shapeless dress that was boring on the bottom, modern Bride of Frankenstein on the top.

[Photo credits: Getty, Wireimage, Daily Mail]

• TOMKAT AND THE BECKHAMS TURN ON SOME OLD-FASHIONED GLAMOUR - BUT WAS IT TOO OLD FOR POSH? [Daily Mail]

The first part of the special airs May 2.

• Oprah's Two-fer With Tom [AccessHollywood.com]

It was, in no uncertain terms, a life-defining moment for the superstar, who'll no doubt address that and the many exciting developments that followed when he returns to Winfrey's show for a two-part special airing May 2 and 5. (The occasion: The 25th anniversary of Risky Business, a milestone only slightly less anticipated than Top Gun's own quarter-century birthday in 2011, marked by an historic reunion between Cruise and a 270-lb Val Kilmer on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.)

• Tom Cruise returns to Oprah show [BBC]

Even though Eddie's out of rehab, David Lee Roth apparently spent his guitarist's extended detox time in a spinning class, and Eddie's teenage kid is filling in, the video package of the band's more athletic days of the mid-80s is overpromising what fans might see at their show; if Roth gets carried away and attempts even one of his patented scissor kicks, he's likely to grievously tear his fifty-plus-year-old groin, forcing the guys to unchain Sammy Hagar from a radiator backstage and do a set from 5150 and OU812.

• Van Halen 'jumps' back on tour [LiveVideo.com]

The pic got close to happening about two years ago, but progress halted when Cattrall backed away.

She wanted script control and a salary close to that of Parker, who was more highly paid than the others because she was co-executive producer of the series. Whatever tensions existed are gone now, sources said. Cattrall has a deal she's happy with, one the sources said gives her input on her scenes, a fat salary and a future series deal with HBO.

How exactly director/writer/series EP Michael Patrick King will tackle the challenge of adapting the foursome's fabulous adventures into a feature-length treatment remains to be seen, but if the project's working title is to be trusted, Sex and the City: Expensive Shoes and Horny, Aging Ladies will deliver all the Choo-porn and hotflash-fueled fucking fans of the show can handle.

• 'Sex and the City' heads to theaters [Variety]

• Alec Baldwin returns to CAA [Variety]
• Previously: The Agent Dance Special Alec Baldwin Edition: Actor Leaves CAA [Defamer]