Peter Sarsgaard takes care of his ultra-rare, remote-control, toy-donkey-pieces charity lunchbox on wheels (Photos: STV)

The whole thing sounded more than too good to be true--it sounded about one exclamation point short of ludicrous. However, the folks who promised a "star-studded party and mini-auction to showcase personalized lunchboxes created by each celebrity at the kickoff of an online auction to benefit two hunger relief organizations" delivered one of the more bizarre, fun and staggering events that any of the attendees had seen in a while.

After all, there really were more than 100 arty celebrity lunch boxes displayed around the Wooster Projects Gallery, and that really was Alicia Keys clustering in the corner with Bono, The Edge, Michael Stipe. Peter Sarsgaard and Maggie Gyllenhaal really did show up early to make sure their own lunchboxes were just right, and an achingly beautiful Charlize Theron really did arrive late and cut a swath through the crowd, straight toward the martini bar. Mike Myers really did work diligently to shake off the press, and Helena Christensen and Naomi Campbell really did catch up against a background of boxy, painted tin.

The mini-auction really did take place, with Bono and party host Mario Batali dueling over Michael Stipe's "19 Photographs" lunchbox before none other than Coldplay's Chris Martin won out at $20,000. In total, four lunchboxes--including kind of a We-Are-The-World job designed by fomer President Bill Clinton (who, regrettably, was not in attendance)--raised $51,000 for the Food Bank For New York City and The Lunchbox Fund of South Africa. The online auction starts at 9 tonight at www.thelunchboxauction.org.

And stupid me, when I saw Peter Sarsgaard, all I really wanted to ask him about was his performance in The Dying Gaul (I'll share more as the film's November release approaches, I promise), so there was not much lunchbox chat that survived to see the light of day. But I thought I would at least bring you The Reeler's first photo gallery, featuring a selection of work that literally had NYC cinema and music's bigger names written all over it.

Michael Stipe shows off the unofficial Most Expensive Lunchbox on Earth--$18,000 worth of aluminum and celebrity photographs

Lovely Maggie Gyllenhaal handles the art, is immediately thrown out in the rain

President Clinton 's lunchbox, still not large enough to tote around My Life

The handiwork of Bono (L) and the Edge, the latter of whom seems to have had his milk money stolen a lot as a child

David Bowie, Iman and their 5-year-old daughter Alexi pay tribute to Paxil

Mary-Louise Parker and Justin Theroux teamed up with a message for Billy Crudup, who evidently denied being an unconscionable cad with a dick for a brain

Other than Chad Lowe, we never found out what was in Hilary Swank's box

Charlize Theron plans to send a few hundred of these lunchboxes (L) to Oscar voters in the next month or two, while the influence behind Liv Tyler's Sparkling Watermelon dominated the cocktail conversation for hours

Jon Stewart, company man

Cameron Crowe (L) shared childhood lunch memories (with an appendix of recommended listening), while Paul Rudd applies some strategy

Anton Corbijn and Bono, setting the homoeroticism standard in vintage Mexican sombrero porn

Alan Cumming and his life story

The kid who takes Diddy's lunchbox to school in the morning will probably be pretty popular

Maggie Gyllenhaal's second lunchbox encourages mouthfuls of compassion, "the missing food group." But the pasta on her other lunch box just looked so much yummier

Sarah Silverman's lunchbox features no mention of cock or pot!?! Yawn!

Chuck D's lunchbox comes with a one-year supply of righteous indignation

I think this is the part where we say something about "Only in New York, kids." Unbelievable.