MAYBE THEY SHOULD JUST HIT A JACK-IN-THE-BOX: So where will the A-list crowd (not to mention the B- and C-list ones) migrate to after the last statuette has been doled out on Oscar night and the last Governor's Ball lamb chop has been nibbled? Following the cancellations of Ed Limato's pre- and Vanity Fair's post-Oscar bashes, two of the town's most high-profile private events have also called it quits: Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg's pre-Oscar lunch, and Dani Janssen's post-Oscar night capper, which began before most starlets were even born. Top party planners in Hollywood believe even more fetes will follow suit, but at least a handful of the biggest are still on: The Chopard/Elton John AIDS Foundation post-party at the Pacific Design Center (which used to do battle with Vanity Fair just a block away at the now-shuttered Morton's), and Variety's no-press-invited Night Before and Night Before the Night Before parties. One party planner speculated that both will hold strong because they benefit charities (Variety's Night Before benefits the Motion Picture & Television Fund). There's no confirmation yet as to whether party boys Patrick Whitesell and Mike De Luca will hold their after-after-hours parties but, without anything to attend before, that doesn't seem likely since part of their appeal was that they were the last stop.

As for the other Friday-night, agent-hosted fetes of Endeavor's Ari Emmanuel and CAA's Bryan Lourd, no word on whether those will go ahead. But the intimate at-home gathering might be a popular option for post-show Oscar night, especially given the limbo the award show's talent bookers are in because of the writers' strike and whether stars will even march the red carpet. If the uncertainty goes on too much longer, potential presenters might make other plans altogether and not be able to scurry to the ceremony at the last minute if the writers' strike is settled. "They very well could be watching from a hotel room in St. Barth's," said one insider. — Marcy Medina

CARLA CHRONICLES: A few days after her 40th birthday and her marriage to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Carla Bruni is generating plenty of type. French publishers rushed two biographies about Bruni to bookstore shelves on Wednesday, and a third tome is due out on Valentine's Day. But after all that has been written in the French and international press since the beginning of her love story with Sarkozy, often called "the French soap opera," it seems there is not much new to say about the singer and ex-model's life. All three biographies recount her rosy childhood in Italy and France, her successful modeling career, her numerous romantic escapades and her transformation into a singer (she is currently recording her third album). Thierry Coljon describes her as a smart, determined and talented woman in his "Carla Bruni: The Queen of Hearts" (Luc Piré), while in "Who Is She Really?" (Privé), Christine Richard and Edouard Boulon-Cluzel wonder how the free-spirited man-eater got tricked into married life. But the latter authors note she was the one who asked Sarkozy, "Got a car?" the first night they met. In "Dangerous Liaison Chronicle" (Scali), Paul-Eric Blanrue and Chris Laffaille suggest Bruni's class and education will be of some help to Sarkozy, whom they call President Bling-Bling. They note, for example, Sarkozy traded his Rolex in for a Patek Philippe. — Chantal Goupil