I saw the video of Dan Aykyroyd talking about Crystal Head vodka a week or so ago but I wasn't sure it was a real thing but turns out it is Aykroyd's newest venture in the world of liquor. Aykroyd's wines are currently the top selling celebrity brand in Canada and he recently announced they would be available in the U.S.

The selling point for Crystal Head vodka is is that it is quadrupled distilled and filtered three times through charcoal followed by triple filtration over Herkimer crystals. It also comes in that nifty skull bottle designed by John Alexander and manufactured by master artisans in Milano's Bruni Glass Company. The Infinium Spirits division of Wilson Daniels is marketing Crystal Head Vodka in the U.S. and it will be available initially in California, Texas, Nevada, Louisiana and Florida. It retails for $49.95.

As for the legend of the crystal skulls, I tend to side with the comprehensive article in Archaeology Magazine that came out earlier this year when the crystal skull craze began over the latest Indiana Jones movie.

From the NY Times Big Deal:
--The Wanamaker Munn house, a grand limestone and brick townhouse on East 90th Street that had been in the same high society family since the 1920s has been listed at $33 million. The home, shown at right, maintains much of its original details including 10 period fireplaces, a curved grand staircase and elaborate molding and woodwork. The listing is here.

From the NY Times Big Deal:
--Dan Aykroyd and his wife Donna Dixon have listed their New York apartment for $7 million. The couple seems to be in move mode. As we learned earlier this year, their Hollywood Hills home is also on the market for $4.2 million. It turns out that their NY apartment is one I covered a few weeks ago as an estate of the day. Check it out here.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Steven Spielberg is snapping up properties near his East Hampton estate. He is negotiating to buy two properties that would add an additional six acres to his compound.
--Former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Chris Parnell has sold his one-bedroom condo loft in SoHo for $1.8 million and is headed to Hollywood.
-- New York University selling a luxury apartment at The Pierre hotel for $7.6 million. The buyer is Ali Fayed, the brother of Harrod's owner Mohamed Fayed. The 19th-floor two-bedroom co-op was being used as faculty housing for a lucky professor and his family. Fayed also bought an adjoining one-bedroom unit for $2.6 million.
--The penthouse apartment of Hollywood casting director Vic Ramos, who died last October at age 77, is on the market for $3.3 million. The apartment is a three-bedroom duplex with a glass-enclosed den, two fireplaces, a greenhouse and a fully landscaped garden with an outdoor fireplace. The listing is here.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--A three-bedroom apartment that belong to Washington Post publisher Kay Graham has finally been sold, six and a half years after her death, for $2.3 million.
--Mexican radio and music publishing mogul named Rogerio Azcárraga Madero has picked up a couple of new apartments in New York, a $5.3 million penthouse duplex at 715 Park Avenue and a $8.26 million Plaza apartment. He owns many apartments throughout the city which he rents out.
--A 17-room, seven-bedroom duplex penthouse at 1060 Fifth Avenue, on the corner of 87th Street, will sell for around $46 million which is the most money ever paid for a New York City co-op.

From Big Time Listings:
--Action star Jason Statham is the latest celebrity buyer in the Broadway Hollywood Building in Los Angeles picking up an eighth floor unit in the building.
--Marlon Wayans has sold a condo unit in Los Angeles' Sherman Oaks area for $650,000 and has also bought into the Broadway Hollywood building, purchasing a ninth-floor unit in the building.
--Looks like actor Chris Parnell has moved into my neighborhood, he paid $620,000 for a two-bedroom, tri-level town house in Silver Lake.
--Kanye West's six-bedroom Beverly Hills teardown may be sold. The home is now listed as "looking for backup."
--Debbie Harry has paid $580,000 for a co-op apartment in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood.
--It's looking more likely that Jason Lee is in fact the buyer of Robert Cray Los Feliz home.

From the Real Estalker:
--The listing for Greg Norman's $65 million Florida estate is up. We'll discuss this later as our estate of the day.
--An update on Michael Jackson. He has had to pay a $3.8 million settlement to his manager Dieter Wiesner that was payable on November 15 and remains in default on the $23,000,000 loan secured by Neverland Ranch. Rumor has it that people are looking to buy the place including Simon Yates, a British discount clothing store owner and of course, the subject of nearly every real estate rumor of late, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
--via Newsday, Tommy Hilfiger may have finally sold his East Hampton home. It has been listed for a while at $24.5 million and Mariah Carey rented it this summer for $350,000. Newsday reports that the buyer paid $2 million more than list price in order to keep the furnishings. It was our estate of the day back in October 2006.
--via new blog Real Sedated. Actress Anna Farris and Ben Indra have put their home on the market for $1.995 million (the same price the couple bought at in November 2005). The virtual tour is here.
-Ricky Martin has put his house in Golden Beach, Florida on the market for $22.5 million. He bought the home in April 2007 for $16.25 million and seems to be looking for a quick flip. The listing is here.
--Ashley Olsen has picked up a four-bedroom home in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles for $1.575 million.
--from the NY Post, Madonna has filed suit against her Central Park West building's co-op board. She says that the board wrongfully blocked her from buying a neighbor's apartment.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--Los Angeles Laker Luke Walton has moved up in Manhattan Beach paying $2,750,000 for a new house and selling his town house for $1,235,000.
--A home known as the Bette Davis estate in Palm Springs has been sold for $5 million, about the asking price when the property was listed in June.
--A home lived in by Alice Backes, a character actress from the 1950s to the late '90s, is now on the market for $1.39 million. The listing is here.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--One Madison Park is now home to two celebrity couples, Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts who are purchasing a four-bedroom apartment for around $6.5 million and Susan Sarandon and TIm Robbins who are purchasing a three-bedroom unit for around $3.5 million. So far the $35 million triplex penthouse is still up for grabs. --Sky --Sky --Sky Studios, the triplex penthouse that went through at least five different brokers, a $10 million price discount has finally closed for $17.5 million. We first fell for this one back in 2004 when it was listed at $20 million. Lucky owner, billionaire Ron Burkle is getting quite a place.
--Yup, here's one just about everyone called, Shorewood Manor, the former Hamptons estate of Gov. Hugh Carey's family is getting a discount. Investor Chris Knight bought if for $10 million and relisted it a few weeks later for $33 million. Now he has listed at $24.9 million. The listing, with new pictures, is here.
--Former TV anchor Forrest Sawyer has paid $3.81 million for a penthouse condo on Riverside Drive in the 90s.
--The price for Beechwood, the Astor mansion in Newport, Rhode Island has been bumped up to $18 million from $16 million.
--Environmental lifestyle guru Danny Seo is selling his eco-friendly Bucks County, Pa., bungalow for $425,000. The listing is here.

From the NY Post's Page Six:
--Gisele Bundchen has listed her two-bedroom New York condo for $10.9 million. The listing is here.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Real estate developer and Human Rights Watch board member David M. Brown has paid $8.4 million for a three-bedroom Beresford spread next door to the three-bedroom co-op he bought for $10.5 million in July 2004. And 10 floors down, hedge fund superstar Vikram Pandit and his wife, Swati, just paid $17.85 million for the late Tony Randall's 10-room sprawl, with 20 windows facing the park.
--South African gambling and resort magnate Sol Kerzner, was reported to have bought a $10.5 million penthouse at Philip Johnson's Urban Glass House for his daughter Beverley. Now records show that a holding company in the heiress' name paid $8.35 million for a colossal basketball court-turned-triplex at 213 West 23rd Street.
--Former Seventeen editor Atoosa Rubenstein her commodities-trading husband, Ari, paid $3.05 million for a 3,007-square-foot loft at Altair 18, a new condo on West 18th Street near Fifth Avenue.

From Berg Properties Celebrity Big Time Listings:
--Singer Jason Nesmith, whose father is the Monkees Mike Nesmith, has paid $500,000 for a condo in the Los Angeles' Valley Village area.
--British actress Anna Friel, who is appearing this fall on ABC's series 'Pushing Daisies,' has paid $1,195,500 for a home in the Hollywood Hills.
--Public records have cleared on the town home in Century City area that Lionel Richie purchased for Nicole Richie and Joel Madden, and reveal that Lionel paid $1,200,000 for the home.
--Public records have cleared for the mansion in Hidden Hills that Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne bought this summer. They paid $12,388,623 for the mansion.
[via the NY Times Big Deal column]
--Rosie O'Donnell has reportedly signed a $1.97M contract to buy a pied-a-terre in Manhattan's theater district
--Former Citigroup Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sanford I. "Sandy" Weill has closed on the purchase of his 6,744-square-foot unit in the newly built building at 15 Central Park West in Manhattan for $42,405,000.
--Houston Astros outfielder Carlos Lee has sold his house in Burr Ridge, IL for $250K
--Two Chicago-area houses that were crime scenes sells for $3.7M and $768,600
--Former Chicago White Sox pitcher Donn Pall sells a house in Bloomingdale, IL for $680K and pays $875K for one that is just across the street.
--Eddie Murphy's ex-wife Nicole has listed the couple's longtime Sacramento area home for $6.5 million. The listing is here.

From the Real Estalker:
--You can rent Dan Aykroyd and Donna Dixon's Los Angeles home for $30,000 a month. And as a bonus it just might be haunted by the ghost of Mama Cass.
--Also for rent is New York Governor George Pataki's Adirondacks getaway for $4,000.
--Alexis Stewart has put her Tribeca penthouse, shown above, on the market for $12.4 million. You can peep the gray floors and all the gorgeous spareness at the listing here.
--Basketball star Cuttino Mobley has put his Beverly Hills home on the market for $3,995,000. It is our estate of the day later today.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--As the Real Estalker reported back in August, John O'Hurley has put his home on the market for $6.2 million. He bought it in late 2004 for slightly more than $3 million. It was an estate of the day in August.
--James Burrows, the director and producer of "Cheers," "Will & Grace" and other NBC comedies has sold his Bel-Air home for close to its $12.9 million asking price.
--The Buddy Ebsen estate in Palos Verdes is on the market for $3.995 million. The listing for the French Normandy style home is here.
--Costume designer Greg LaVoi, has purchased a two-bedroom New Mexico retreat for less than its $479,000 asking price.

\Ontario gets its own big wine auction with the inaugural Niagara Wine Auction on June 22 - 24, 2007. The auction even has its own celebrity host, new winemaker Dan Aykroyd. Proceeds from the event will benefit SickKids Foundation and St. Catharines General Hospital Foundation. The event is modeled after the Napa Valley and Washington State events and will include an opening reception, winemaker dinners, a garden party, live and silent auctions and a black tie gala. One ticket to the winemakers dinner, garden party and gala dinner costs $1,000 and a table for ten at the gala start at $5,000.