Harry Potter has a nice new West Village house.

According to city records, a brownstone on West 12th Street that was apparently built 162 years ago by a sea captain, was just sold for $5.65 million to the same limited liability corporation that owns Daniel Radcliffe's apartment at Jean Nouvel's 40 Mercer Street. The 20-year-old actor's mother is listed on the deed.

According to a listing with Sotheby's International Realty, which is the kind of fancy brokerage that doesn't make things up just because they sound incredibly cool, the townhouse was one of three houses built by a sea captain in 1847 for his three daughters, and has six working fireplaces. A floor plan shows a 39-foot-long backyard ("cooled by beautiful old trees and landscaping," Sotheby's says), and a balcony off a bedroom overlooking it.

Mr. Radcliffe's lawyer did not return a message, so it's not clear if the actor's moving to the West Village, or, like the apartment he bought at 40 Mercer, if the house will be an investment. But whereas that condo was put on the market for $20,000 per month right after it was bought, the house, between Greenwich and Washington streets, is not available for rent.

He has even more local real estate. Last year, he bought an apartment at One Morton Square, and was reportedly going to move there in time for his Equus performance.

Melissa Rycroft has revealed that she has swine flu.

"I am indeed recovering from a bout of the H1N1 flu virus," the former Bachelor star, 26, tells Usmagazine.com exclusively. "Like most people who become infected, I thought I had a mild case of the common flu, but when my symptoms exacerbated, I immediately went to the hospital where I was diagnosed with H1N1 and given the proper medications to cure the infection."

She said she learned a lesson from fiance Tye Strickland's mother, who is a nurse: Get checkups and get better.

"I want to stress to people how easy it is to battle this flu when you take the proper steps such as seeking the care of a doctor," she tells Us. "I'm a clear case that by paying diligent attention to your health, it's easy to overcome this illness and be healthy again."

George Clooney – the son of a journalist and a man who has had, quite possibly, more column inches devoted to his life than almost any other living actor – was asked to give his opinion on the media obsession with celebrity today . He admitted: "Any answer you give, you're dead, right?"

Clooney was facing journalists on day two of the London film festival ahead of the UK premiere of his film The Men Who Stare at Goats, based on Jon Ronson's book of the same name.

He said he was sympathetic to journalists. "I'm the son of a newsman, I grew up around news," he said. "I can understand newspapers are losing subscribers. It's a tricky thing, you have to sell papers, I get it.

"The problem is that there is so little reporting any more, somebody will write a story and it will be in 1,800 different outlets and you have no recourse. It will be false and you'll go 'it's not true' and they'll go 'we're not saying that, we're saying a London tabloid has said it'. So they're just reprinting and reprinting things that aren't necessarily true.

"It used to be two reliable sources and that doesn't seem to exist any more. I understand the problem, I understand why it happens but it certainly is an issue."

Clooney's co-star, Kevin Spacey, was less sympathetic. He said: "I don't get it. I don't understand the notion of people who might call themselves journalists who would just make up stuff. I don't understand it as a function of a human being. I don't understand why that's of interest, to write something that is false. If you even bother to say 'that story has no whit of truth to it' they write that you denied that that story is true, which is not the same thing as saying what we wrote was absolutely wrong.

"There are some people who choose to fight these things in the courts and there are those who say 'you know what, it's yesterday's news, it's fish wrapping and I'm not going to worry about it'."

Clooney and Spacey spoke after yesterday's Guardian reported on a soon-to-be released film called Starsuckers in which the documentary makers fed false celebrity stories to newspapers and the majority found their way into print unchecked.

Ironically, Clooney and Spacey were facing journalists with the hope that they would get some column inches as they promoted their film, in which they star as members of a top-secret psychic military unit. Clooney plays Lyn Cassady, a man who can, he thinks, disperse clouds and kill goats by staring at them.

.... appear in black face on the cover

Madonna ditched the provocative title and cover image from the album that became "Hard Candy" because she feared too many people would have a problem with it.

The pop superstar had planned to call the project "Black Madonna" and posed in blackface make-up with white eyes for photographer Steven Klein's cover art, but she quickly realized the whole idea would be too controversial - and scrapped it.

She tells Rolling Stone magazine, "I painted my face black, except for red lips and white eyes. It was a play on words. Have you ever heard of the Black Madonna?

"It has layers of meaning, and, for a minute, I thought it would be a fun title... Then I thought, '25 per cent of the world might get this, probably less, it's not worth it.'"

All Meghan McCain wanted to do was curl up at home with a book.

But Wednesday, when she snapped a photo of herself smiling slyly in a low-cut, cleavage-bearing tank top (and holding up the book) and posted it to her Twitter account -- writing "my 'spontaneous' night in" -- her cozy plans went sour.

The DailyBeast.com columnist and daughter of Republican Senator and presidential candidate John McCain proceeded to field tweets critical of her self-portrait. One Twitter user joked "WOW! I smell playmate of the year 2010?!?!"

"So I took a fun picture not thinking anything about what I was wearing but apparently anything other than a pantsuit I am a slut," McCain, 24, wrote.

As the night wore on, she considered deleting her Twitter account like Miley Cyrus: "I am going to take some more time to think about it but seriously I was just trying to be funny with the book and that I'm a dork staying in."

Next, she emotionally explained her at-home wardrobe choices: "when I am alone in my apartment, I wear tank tops and sweat pants, I had no idea this makes me a 'slut', I can't even tell you how hurt I am."

Before signing off for the night, she wrote, "ok I am getting the f*** off twitter, promise not to delete my account until I sleep on it, thank you for the nice words supporters . . . I do want to apologize to anyone that was offended by my twitpic, I have clearly made a huge mistake and am sorry 2 those that are offended."

This afternoon, Tweets of support (and mockery) rolled in for the young Republican. Wrote one fan: "[you're] smart, funny and very attractive. don't let this BS bother you! Keep you're chin up. I can't believe people r offended"

Countered a detractor: "There's a reason they're called 'TwitPics' you know.. [Meghan McCain] is NOT a VICTIM."