MOST RECENT ARTICLES BY:

Michael Idov

  1. politics
    Lessons From Putin’s Russia for Living in Trump’s AmericaOnce you lose faith in one institution, you start to lose faith in them all.
  2. the media
    How the Media Forced Mad Men Down the World’s ThroatHow does one measure the impact of a show whose most fervent fans are the people paid to talk about it?
  3. When Did Young People Start Spending 25% of Their Paychecks on Pickled Lamb’s Tongues?Foodie-ism, as youth culture.
  4. The New Decembrists“They had their own forgatherings: they, over the goblet of wine, they, over a glass of Russian vodka … for trenchant oratory famed, the members […]
  5. 20. Because Even Our Bathrooms Are World-Class.When you think of New York, even the sanitized Bloomberg version, you don’t necessarily think “fantastic toilet facilities.”
  6. literally early and often
    Russians Are the Latest to Take Up iPhones in ProtestWe don’t know whether the election was dirtier than previous contests. We do know more people carried iPhones.
  7. And Another Fifty Million People Just Got Off of the PlaneEven in this economic climate, by the time New Year’s Eve rolls around, the city should have hit a milestone: the greatest number of annual to […]
  8. Retail GriefGoing to the store, to do some mourning.
  9. Unidentified RemainsThe ongoing task of cataloguing hell.
  10. anthropology
    Considering Lifetime’s Wan New Reality Series, Russian DollsBrighton Beach’s answer to ‘Jersey Shore’ is more or less ‘The Real Housewives of Kings County.’
  11. Bon Jovi As Cult FavoriteWRXP changes its tune, and rock music’s devolution to niche genre is complete.
  12. M.M.GoodIn the kitchen of the borough’s most exciting, and maybe strangest, new restaurant.
  13. Project Miranda JulyWriting a duet with the director-artist-writer I once stone-cold dissed in song.
  14. Williamsburg in the RockawaysThe L-train crowd establishes a summer beachhead, anchored by a locavore taco stand.
  15. The Zombies at AMC’s DoorstepCan the Mad Men network survive its own success?
  16. movies
    A Russian Film Comes Up With a Crazy New Kind of Publicity GimmickHe’s buried under latex and CGI, and the press is being driven mad trying to figure out who it is.
  17. Steven Slater’s LandingFrom folk hero to pitchman, the long tail of overnight fame.
  18. Splotch and MeOne man’s experiment in true farm-to-table dining.
  19. Deliveryman for a DayWhat’s it like to shuttle pizzas around town? The author gave it a spin.
  20. Look on the Bright SideThings are better than they seem. Honest.
  21. 123 Minutes With Jeffrey KatzenbergKicking off the Oscars campaign season with the DreamWorks Animation chief, champion bi-coastal schmoozer, and man of 3-D destiny.
  22. The Demon Blogger of Fleet StreetNick Denton cast himself as a media outsider. That’s how he made it inside.
  23. out on the weekend
    One Night With Amanda Palmer’s Evelyn EvelynFrom writing to performing to partying.
  24. The Russian InvasionFrom Emma Goldman to Prokhorov (a selective survey of Russians in New York).
  25. Klub ProkhorovThe billionaire Nets owner and the creation (his creation, actually) of a new kind of New York Russian.
  26. effigy whiz
    Woody Allen Picks a Russian Town’s Woody StatueWe have the four designs that Allen picked that best illustrated his legacy.
  27. Clash of the Bearded OnesHipsters, Hasids, and the Williamsburg street.
  28. tea time
    Meet the Masterminds of New York’s Tea-Party MovementTheir biggest donor so far is a Manhattan doctor who’s written a check for $500.
  29. fallout
    City Agencies Descend on Lead- and Asbestos-Choked Apthorp BuildingThe Apthorp tenants were always an eye-rollingly wheedling bunch, but it’s hard to argue with a laundry list of wipe samples quoting six to ten times the legal amounts of lead in the air.
  30. early and often
    Eric Massa, Unpredictable ExplosiveRepublicans are embracing the ex-congressman’s tales of Rahm Emanuel’s intimidation tactics, but Democrats expect him to backfire.
  31. Spies Like MeThe return of Boris Badenov.
  32. Would You Circumcise This Baby?Why a growing number of parents, especially in New York and other cities, are saying no to the procedure.
  33. How Much Does It Hurt?Conventional wisdom once held that because an infant’s nervous system was not yet fully developed, he wasn’t fully capable of experiencing pain. […]
  34. chat room
    John Krasinski on Adapting DFW“I was scared people would think I was doing this only to get away from ‘The Office,’ to be super-dark and cerebral.”
  35. Krishna Gone MissingA Nepalese woman’s 53 hours lost on the streets of Queens.
  36. early and often
    The Political-Celebrity ComplexBarack Obama, Vladimir Putin, and Silvio Berlusconi are on the cutting edge of a new trend in political personality cults.
  37. User’s Guide
    Novel Advice: The Best Cafés for Writing’Ground Up’ author Michael Idov considers the most comfortable coffee shops in which to write a book.
  38. Pizza Pizza
    Anthony Mangieri Looking for Less Stress in CaliforniaThe former owner of Una Pizza Napoletana wants to create a replica of his New York shop on the East Coast, right down to the oven.
  39. Chairman AnthonyA day at the office with the supreme obsessive.
  40. an embarrassment of toilets
    Koganadu R.I.P.Valery Kogan’s dream of building the most ostentatious mansion in all of Greenwich has come to an end.
  41. what happens when unlimited wealth happens to people with limited talents
    Getting to the Bottom of the Guitar Theme at Valery Kogan’s Greenwich PalaceIt has to do with his son, the guitar-strumming crooner of songs like “Beautiful Is She.”
  42. Xanadu, CTThe most ostentatious mansion in Greenwich history managed to survive the outrage. Now, will it survive the bust?
  43. in other news
    You Think Glenn Beck With Gasoline Is Scary? Try Glenn Beck With BloodThe Fox News host’s latest meltdown reminded us of a couple of things.
  44. 81 Minutes With Glenn BeckThe weepy Fox populist is enjoying his moment from the back seat of an Escalade.
  45. scenes from a meltdown
    The Howard Beale GenerationOur new era of righteous indignation.
  46. last night’s gig
    R.E.M. Tribute Concert at Carnegie: A ReckoningSong-by-song ratings of performances by everyone from the Moldy Peaches’ Kimya Dawson to Darius Rucker, a.k.a. Hootie.
  47. Lost LeaderDenmark’s P.M. cycles Central Park.
  48. FreakoutonomicsFew are feeling the city’s economic pain as acutely as shopkeepers, restaurant proprietors, and small-business owners. Amid eerily empty sidew […]
  49. beef
    Is Anya Ulinich’s New Short Story an Attack on Jonathan Safran Foer?Yes.
  50. The ProfessionalHoward Wolfson once bled Clinton blue. So what is he doing spinning for Obama on America’s reddest TV network?
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