So, that yacht anchored off the Malibu pier, the one starting conversations and stopping traffic? Turns out it belongs to Andrey Melnichenko, one of the many Russian billionaires brought to you courtesy of the collapse of the USSR. The boat's called simply "A", so even though it's not the biggest or priciest thing on the seven seas, its name will always top the super-yacht registry.

Tons of breathless stories about the boat, with details like the fact it was designed by Philippe Starck, is 390 feet long, cost upwards of $317 million to build, and is based on the lines of a battleship. It's bombproof and bulletproof, with the kind of security (heat sensors, finger-pad locks, getaway boats) a student of the Jason Bourne trilogy might concoct.

A tour of the joint, with pix of the pirate-proof hull and the all-white interior and one of the three swimming pools, from the Wall Street Journal. (Preceded by a crankier boy-is-it-ugly WSJ story.) The Brits have their say, and in San Francisco, the Russians' rumored destination, they seem disappointed that the boat hasn't yet arrived.