Features

Blood on the Tracks

Every time a trackworker goes into the tunnels, there’s a chance he won’t come back out. What the world looks like when a 400-ton train is barreling toward you at 30 miles per hour.

Coolhunted

For those in search of the next groovy thing, Taavo Somer, proprietor of Freemans and the new Rusty Knot, is the prey of the moment. His downtown anti-style wants to have it all ways all the time�ironic and earnest, neurotic and carefree, cool and cheeseball.

Columns

About That Crush on Obama

If Barack is out of touch with America, then the media must be too.

Intelligencer

Luddite Talese Won’t Visit NYTimes.com

New doc is about the kingdom, not the PowerBook.

Lax Cracks Cost Banker His Job

Another credit-crunch victim.

Justin and Madge Get Cozy at the Box

No pictures, please.

Ira Glass Learns to Love This Public Life

Ads, ads, everywhere!

Classier Celebs at the Old Gramercy

They vanted to be alone.

It Happened Last Week

News that marijuana-related arrests in the city were up tenfold could help explain a rash of fuzzy thinking.

Look Back and Laugh

Remembering the Baggot Inn, where comedians went to chill after they killed.

Shape Up for Gondola Season!

Vogue publisher Florio has canal crisis.

Gone in an Instant

Top photographers are angry over Polaroid’s fade to black.

Wii Love to Eat

Competitive gluttony goes virtual.

Strategist

One Mother's List

Writer-artist Sloane Tanen picks Mom’s Day presents she'd like to get.

The Look Book

"My mom is a pretty prim and proper lady, and she always thinks I dress like a bum."

Six Hundred Big Ones

Eighteen ways to blow (or invest) your tax rebate.

Underground Gourmet Review

The New French isn’t quite what you’d expect, which is part of its charm.

In Season

Yes, the ramps have arrived at the Greenmarket, but so too has the green garlic.

In Season, Too

Outdoor-Restaurant Reopenings: N.Y. Dosas, the Arepa Lady, Picnick, SheepMeadow Cafe, and Shake Shack.

Insatiable Critic

Alain Ducasse’s need to be embraced by New York has a real chance for fulfillment at Benoit.

Restaurant Openings

Week of May 12, 2008: Cabrito and Abigail Café & Wine Bar.

Trendlet: Four-Star Frankfurters

Hot on the heels of the Chang Dog comes the Wylie Dog.

Hot Tuna

From the science labs of a Japanese university comes a farmed bluefin that might save the planet.

Stuff for Your Scruff

This week, the men’s apothecary Alford & Hoff debuts a $32 tube of �Performance� shaving cream.

The Walkable, Bikeable Summer House

Four idyllic options for a week or a month that don’t involve going near a gas pump.

Culture

The Principal of P.S. 1

Can Alanna Heiss’s vision for her museum outlast her?

The Movie Review

The Wachowski brothers aren’t playing with a full set of crayons.

On Deck: May DVDs

I’m Not There, The Three Stooges Collection, and more.

Mamet’s Anti-Antihero

Redbelt star Chiwetel Ejiofor goes from Shakespeare to jujitsu.

The TV Review

An American Crime’s explicit yet abstruse torturing of Ellen Page.

The Book Review

A novel in which a punctuation mark could almost be called destiny.

In Cold War Blood: Tom Rob Smith

Think of his debut novel, Child 44, as a prequel to Martin Cruz Smith’s Gorky Park.

Girls Town

Elizabeth Marvel calls the first act of Top Girls �this very cacophonous joyful noise.�

The Theater Review

Both The Country Girl and Les Liaisons Dangereuses give virtuoso actors a chance to triumph.

The Gist: What Will $70 Million Get You in the Art Market These Days?

There are not many artists who can command that kind of price.

The Approval Matrix: Week of May 12, 2008

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

Agenda

The Blockbuster Brunch

On Mother’s Day, it’s the thought that counts�but great food never hurts.

Tykes on Bikes

Long Island City hosts a bike parade.

Departments

Comments: May 12, 2008

Readers sound off on Zoe Cruz, Augusten Burroughs, and more.

Artifact: Letters From a Stalker

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