Fall Preview

Movies

Gwyneth Paltrow retires from stardom with a bang; Elijah Wood becomes a Chauncey Gardiner�ized Jonathan Safran Foer; Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a savage Capote; Meryl Streep gets hysterical.

Theater

A rock punk takes the lead in Sondheim’s most gruesome musical; Taye Diggs joins the Army; Mia Farrow is back; Elaine Stritch never left; and Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick are the new Odd Couple.

Books

Zadie Smith on what’s wrong with her work; E. L. Doctorow takes on the Civil War; Bee Season’s Myla Goldberg stings again.

Pop

Nada Surf crashed but never burned; Harlem’s hardest-working rappers actually keep it real; Fiona Apple teams up with Dr. Dre collaborator Mike Elizondo; Franz Ferdinand somehow equals the awesomeness of �Take Me Out.�

TV

Darren Star turns Anthony Bourdain into Carrie Bradshaw; scene-stealer Adam Goldberg gets his own show; the fertility-clinic comedy-drama Inconceivable is winningly Six Feet Under�ish.

Art

Robert Smithson’s posthumous Floating Island is this season’s Gates; Elizabeth Murray on her MoMA show and women in art; Van Gogh’s drawings justify the huge crowds they’ll surely draw.

Classical

The operatic version of The Little Prince lands at City Opera; Marin Alsop on conducting an orchestra that didn’t want her.

Food

Mario Batali makes a gargantuan bid for four stars; Andrew Carmellini, Beard’s best New York chef of 2005, does affordable Italian.

Shopping

Ralph Lauren makes a play for the A&Fers; an auction house for the auction-shy.

Enrich. Enlight. Entertain. Repeat.

The 86�Day calendar.

The Preview Matrix

Our deliberately oversimplified, totally speculative look at what’s coming up this fall.

Features

The Journal at Sea

With its editors jumping ship, its top management in a succession fight, and its financial future dependent on the success of a risky new weekend edition, the Wall Street Journal suddenly looks like the kind of distressed company it does such a great job of covering.

Columns

The City Politic

He might not be able to beat Bloomberg, but a Freddy Ferrer primary win will give New York Democrats the best shot at winning the next mayoral election.

The Bottom Line

Google is still a steal, even at $280 a share. So why aren’t Wall Street analysts urging you to buy into the money-making machine? Blame Eliot Spitzer.

Intelligencer

Intelligencer Gossip

Monica! The Musical! Plus, Moby moves uptown, Frank Bruni's spaghetti-bashing, and more.

It Happened Last Week

The devastation that Hurricane Katrina wreaked on New Orleans concentrated the minds of New Yorkers.

Red-Carpet Bombing

Why are all the Hollywood movies opening in New York?

Storm Tracker

A history of hurricanes in New York.

Strategist

Best Bets

Distinctive locks with combinations you can readily remember, a rare-motorcycle auction, and more great new stuff.

Ask a Shop Clerk

Paula Pritchett of Chloe.

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

Embellished Jeans: A Brief History

This fall, the high-end-jeans craze ratchets up another level with jewelry and other fancy treatments. Here’s how fashion got there.

The Look Book

A prep-schooler with a very un-preppie style.

Restaurant Review

Adam Platt on two new restaurants that�despite slick appearances�serve authentic (and excellent) Chinese cuisine.

In Season

How to exploit eggplant season.

Hot Tomatoes

Local restaurants celebrate the love apple in all its peak-season glory.

The World is Your. . .

Now's the time to start slurping again.

Mating

A backup spouse can be a comforting notion, but reality usually intervenes.

Real Estate

Bobby Abreu, Phillies outfielder and aspiring Manhattan mogul.

Departments

Letters to the Editor