Sideshow: Pastore v. Regina, Part II

Notice how

Sopranos

alums keep popping up in court? The latest is

Vincent Pastore

, 62, who played Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero. Pussy, fans will recall, was shot and dumped at sea, haunting Tony Soprano for the rest of the show.

A particular afternoon in April 2005 is haunting Pastore. His then-fiancee,

Lisa Regina

, 47, says the two were in Little Italy in Lower Manhattan when Pastore pulled her out of a car, struck her, and dumped her stuff in the street. Pastore pleaded guilty that year to attempted assault and has served 70 hours of community service. Not enough, evidently: Now they're in civil court, and Regina is asking for damages for physical and psychological harm.

Speaking of not acting nice, how about that

Christian Bale

? Ever since a tape surfaced of Christian throwing a fit at director of photography

Shane Hurlbut

on the set of

Terminator: Salvation

last July, everyone from

Whoopi Goldberg

to Bale's mother,

Jenny Bale

, and sister,

Sharon Bale

, have weighed in. (Remember, Christian was arrested and released on charges of verbal assault against Sharon and Jenny, also last July.) So Christian went on L.A. radio station KROQ's

Kevin & Bean Show

to apologize and to declare himself a "punk" and "out of order beyond belief."

And then guess to whom he shouted out?

Michael Phelps!

The Phelpster is in hot water for a being a little too close to the water - of a bong - which a photo is alleged to show him using. The NCAA has suspended the Olympics mega-swimmer, and he may have endorsement problems.

"Please, Michael Phelps, swim in the next Olympics," Bale said. "This guy has a God-given talent. So he's smoked a bit of weed. Plenty of our presidents have."

In the "A

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; category, actress

Kristy Swanson

married Canadian ice-skating pro

Lloyd Eisler

in a small ceremony in a California hotel over the weekend. Swanson, who played the original

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

in the 1992 movie, met Eisler on the set of the Fox faux-reality show

Skating With Celebrities

, which Swanson won in 2006. So smitten was the Canadian skater that he failed to switch off his cell phone, and of course someone called in mid-ceremony. Swanson said she lost 45 pounds for the wedding. May the new marrieds perform Salchows and triple Lutzes into the sunset.

Whitney Houston

is back! It happened at the annual star-studded pre-Grammies party in Beverly Hills for music maven and mogul

Clive Davis

. Toward the end of the concert early yesterday morning, Houston, 45, sang in top form. She hasn't made an album since 2002 and has been seen very little in public, thanks to marital tribulations with

Bobby Brown

and alleged drug difficulties. "She was on it, she was happy - she's back," said attendee

Jamie Foxx

. "Everybody else watch out." Other performers at the shebang included

Jennifer Hudson, Kelly Clarkson, Barry Manilow, Diddy

and

Kanye West

.

The Grammies are so big that they may obscure the deserving Writers Guild of America awards, doled Saturday at Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles and the Hudson Theatre in New York.

Simon Beaufoy

copped the adapted-screenplay award for

Slumdog Millionaire

, which he based on the novel

Q and A

by

Vikas Swarup

, and

Dustin Lance Black

got the original-screenplay nod for

Milk

. Also awarded were the writing teams for AMC's

Mad Men

, NBC's

30 Rock

(yes,

Tina Fey

is in there), HBO's

In Treatment

and

John Adams

, and the video game

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

.