FEATURES

The Littlest Hustler

Following tweener networking savant Alex Goldberg on his rounds, from the Hamptons to the kitchen at Peasant to the front row at the Knicks games.

West World

Untangling the mess of real-estate scheming and political posturing around the Hudson Yards-Penn Station project to figure out exactly who wants to do what, where they want to do it, and whether any of them are likely to get their way in the end.

INTELLIGENCER

Malibu Fires Send Acting Couple East

Erstwhile Gothamites want to come back. It’s for the kids, dude.

Artsy Fans in Lance Tributes

�They try hard.�

NYC’s Finally Going to Be Urinetown

Pay toilets...almost here!

WWJD in ’08? Ask Sarandon

Celebrity Bible study.

Holiday Cocaine Prices Get Higher

She don’t lie, she don’t lie.

Coffee & Grunge to Gentrify �Soma’

A hotel fit for a spotted pig.

Winter Vegetation

The lighting of the solar-powered Rockefeller Center spruce put the city in a verdant mood last week.

Fontainbleu Period

Has creative Miami been debased by Art Basel?

Know Your Emirates

As the rivalry between Dubai and Abu Dhabi heats up, a tale of the tape.

Hell Yeah, Dr. No

Why New York likes a Republican also-ran.

Overdrawn

Is the bank-branch boom going bust?

The Picket Party

The fashion semiotics of unionism.

To the Barricades!

Who’s going to strike next?

COLUMNS

La Vie en Morose

The surge is working! Yikes. Stem cells can be harvested embryo-free! Boo-hoo.

STRATEGIST

Presents With Purpose

These gifts include a local donation in their price tags.

The All-Purpose Head Thingy

A Buff is a seamless, tubular piece of fabric that can be styled to fit the current weather.

Look Book

"I grew up in Georgia. We tend to be a little vain, and we do not mind maintenance routines."

With Seconds to Spare

If procrastination is your usual strategy, here are three neighborhoods mapped out for efficiency.

Restaurant Review

Primehouse New York indulges some steakhouse gimmicks, but the meat is straight-ahead great.

In Season Recipe

This week marks Hanukkah.

Insatiable Critic

The grand scheme to turn Shelly’s Tradizionale into an Italian fish house has been officially launched.

Restaurant Openings

Week of December 10, 2007: Rheon Café, Philoxenia, and Bar Blanc.

The Big Table

Never are group-friendly accommodations at more of a premium than this time of year.

The Everything Guide to Bras

One hundred years of bras, and how to get the most out of the garment's current iterations.

��When Are You Going to Fix That?’’

And other things not to say in your co-op-board interview.

CULTURE

Having a Laff Yet?

Ricky Gervais’s spoof on celebrity is more serious than you might think.

The Movie Review

Atonement should make amends to Ian McEwan. Plus: Juno, a teen flick run amok.

How to Build a True Urban Jungle

Creating the illusion of a verdant, depopulated Manhattan.

On Deck: Eclectic Gift Ideas

New, eclectic DVD gift ideas.

The Theater Review

Martha Plimpton, in Cymbeline, may actually be better than the play deserves.

The Architecture Review

The new Times headquarters has all the visual appeal of a column of newsprint.

The Book Review

Amazon’s new e-reader, Kindle, is good because it feels old. Wonder how long that’ll last.

Bookworms Let Loose on the Undulating Curve of Shifting Expectations!

This year, Hollywood’s betting big on literature.

The Art Review

Has the New Museum sold itself short?

The TV Review

A four-part finale cracks the riddle of Saving Grace’s engrossing, self-destructive lead.

Animal Planet: Bananas

The latest development in reality television is Animal Planet’s Orangutan Island.

The Approval Matrix: Week of December 10, 2007

Our deliberately oversimplified guide to who falls where on our taste hierarchies.

DEPARTMENTS

From the Editors

Comments: December 10, 2007

Readers sound off on the spa industry, gift ideas, and more.

Artifact: Foreclosed

Findings from the streets, files, and hard drives of New York.