Features

A Come-From-Behind Plan to Land the Olympics

The long-shot NYC 2012 Olympic bid is counting on relentless politicking and intra-European squabbling to bring home the Games�if Cablevision’s ploy to kill the West Side stadium doesn’t knock them out first.

The 2012 Contenders

Ladbrokes, the British bookmaker, puts Paris as a heavy favorite, but IOC voting patterns are mysterious enough that every city still has some notion of how it could win the final vote on July 6 in Singapore.

The Big F

Getting fired at the age of 50 is a numbing experience that robs you of every ounce of self-worth. But sometimes that can be good for you.

St. Elsewhere

New York breeds more basketball talent than anywhere in the world, and St. John’s is the No. 1 college program in town. So why has it gone so horribly awry?

Strategist

Best Bets

An alluring (and functional) surge protector, plus multiple uses for the peacock feather.

Economy of One

Ultimate matchmaker Samantha Daniels spends a hypothetical $150,000.

The Look Book

The outfit of a Broadway vet.

Mating

Making the marriage sale.

Real Estate

Storefront Realtors take Manhattan.

Shop News

Store openings this week.

Ask a Shop Clerk

Alveen Dabandan of Yellow Rat Bastard.

The Best Seller

Nepalese rug, $2,799

Sales & Bargains:
This week's hottest sales & bargains.

Market Research

A review of leading men’s jeans.

The Restaurant Review

Hedeh and Komegashi Re-Construction Cuisine, two very different Japanese restaurants.

In Season

Tiny, succulent shrimp from Maine pack a lot of delicately sweet flavor into a small package.

Haute Cuisine, Petit Space

Master chef Eric Ripert demonstrates how to cook well in a cramped apartment kitchen

Walk It Off

Before or after your Christo-curated stroll in Central Park, you’re going to need to eat.

Hey, Big Spender

Not so long ago, the $160 tab on a four-course Ducasse dinner gave the fine-dining community fits. Today, that price seems almost reasonable. Where to go when someone else is picking up the check. (Tax, tips, and drinks not included, of course.)

Intelligencer

Intelligencer Gossip

Damon Dash goes Harvey Weinstein-hunting, final skirmish in �DisneyWar’, Christopher Guest’s latest ensemble satire, and more.

It Happened Last Week

It was a week of high frivolity, as the city gave itself over to ogling frocks (and the preternaturally beautiful models who wore them), erecting enormous artworks, and arguing about porn.

Not in My Back Alley

Freeman’s restaurant vs. theater scion.

GHOST Busters

A night out with Bloomberg’s crack anti-graffiti squad.

Shark Woes

Damien Hirst’s decomposing shark.

A Tale of Two Brownstones

One’s protected, the other declared by law to have �no style.� Can the Whitney bring them both down?

Martha’s Little Would-Be Helpers

Who wants to be Martha’s apprentice?

Brad and Jen: The Quickie Book

How to write a Brad-Jen-breakup book in one week.

Columnists

The City Politic

The mayor has dealt deftly with a court ruling forcing his hand on gay marriage�so far.

The Imperial City

The Iraqi elections have New York liberals struggling to accept that the Bush administration may have actually done something right.

The Culture Pages

Culture Opener

In The L Word, Jennifer Beals shows a sexy second act.

Movie Review

A wry Keanu Reeves highlights the well-crafted supernatural noir of Constantine.

Theater Review

Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies’s latest is endearing and well acted.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Reviewed

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is almost too much title for a wispy little musical that hangs on the horns of a dichotomy.

Good Vibrations Reviewed

How, I wonder, could one salvage the presently disastrous musical Good Vibrations, which is based on the preexistent songs of the Beach Boys?

Long Story Short

Spelling bees move from local news to Broadway.

TV Review

A one-woman show from Sarah Jones is entertaining but could use more edge.

Ladies Night Reviewed

If you needed to know what happened to Paul Michael Glaser after Starsky & Hutch, you’ll find him running around the Pacific Northwest.

The L Word Reviewed

It’s a soap with nipples.

Flashback: Beyond the Fringe

Spamalot may mark the arrival of Monty Python on the New York stage, but it’s not the first British TV comedy export to make waves on Broadway.

Overheard

What fashion types are saying about Project Runway.

Architecture

A Nomadic Museum stop in Manhattan.

Book Review

The haunting memoir of a witness to the Rwandan genocide.

Lurid Tell-All Watch

The Anna Wintour book shows what’s wrong with the modern celeb biography.

Pop Music Review

Music for hipsters and their kids.

Art Review

�Ellen Gallagher: DeLuxe� confronts issues of race not with hectoring but with clever, even antic, satire.

Departments

Letters to the Editor