Features

The Close-Up Is Her Voodoo

Julia Roberts owns the world’s largest reserves of camera-charming, big-smiling, leading-lady Star Power. But what happens when you take away the camera?

Big Love on Staten Island

Deep in the urban jungle, a relic of the nation’s pre-ironic past lurks. One week of arguing, dating, and 30-person grocery distribution on a commune that’s staving off its own midlife crisis.

Intelligencer

Rupe & Ron’s Neighborhood

Murdoch: “Isn’t he my neighbor?” Right-o.

Kathleen Turner Overdrive!

Serial Mom sells self-help book.

Russell Simmons On the Prowl

Downward-facing dawg!

Eyebrow-Raising Salon Feud In Trump Tower

It’s not all bliss these days at the posh Avon Salon and Spa in Trump Tower, where eyebrow guru Eliza Petrescu and the owners of the spa have become arch-rivals.

Kenneth Cole Feels Pretty Kinky

Disco shoes saved him!

Holy Moses

If the city had Moses on the brain last week, it wasn’t merely because Passover left some in a reflective mode.

Joltin� Jew

Ex-Yankee and memoirist Ron Blomberg is in the record books for being the first DH. (That doesn�t stand for Designated Hebrew.)

Art Survivor

Artists leave work outside; pigeons refuse to poop on it.

So Long, Farewell, Tony Swag!

No more brown-paper packages tied up with string.

Just Asking . . .

A random survey of 100 pedestrians in Union Square on news, celebrities, and (allegedly) crooked gossip columnists.

The Cave Collapses

The last of the East Village dirtbag-artist squats gets gut-renovated.

Psychic Warfare

Who can predict the winner in the battle to be the city�s top seer?

Strategist

Best Bets

A pearl-and-diamond necklace from a Hollywood glamour expert, resolutely utilitarian boots, and more.

Ask a Shop Clerk

Richard Spiess of B&H Photo-Video.

Shop News

Store openings this week.

Look Book

A bewigged hairdresser.

The Restaurant Review

Philippe—like Mr. Chow’s but worse.

In Season

A Bread Tribeca chef's pan-roasted trout.

Insatiable Critic Gael Greene

Crema Restaurante reviewed.

Australian for ‘Food’

With all this activity, and an Aussie fish bar in the works (Bondi Road, at 153 Rivington Street), it’s time for an Australian-food primer.

Restaurant Openings & Buzz

Week of April 17, 2006: Frankies Spuntino 17 Clinton Street, Megu Midtown, Dirty Bird To-Go, and Dressler.

The Underground Gourmet

The latest arrival to Van Brunt Street makes one of Red Hook's strongest culinary impressions yet.

Floor Shows

Just when you thought old-fashioned tableside service had gone the way of the cummerbunded captain, it’s turning up all over town.

What’s Your Pleasure?

Wine, cheese, fresh bacon—there’s a special dinner or tasting out there for every kind of connoisseur.

In Town

An interview with Miuccia Prada and Rem Koolhaas on shopping, art, and the revamped Prada store.

Spring Cleaning Handbook

DIY and LSQDI (Let Someone Qualified Do It) approaches to spring cleaning.
Includes:
• A Kitchen of Distinction
How to get the fridge shining, the stove gleaming and the cabinets impeccably crumb-free.
• Office Space
How to go from chaos to orderly, alphabetized serenity.
• Closet Confidential
How to ditch the unworn, unused, sample-sale misfits once and for all.
• Window Work
It’s time to perfect on your squeegee technique.
• Clean on the Inside
A few days of juice and raw food will scrub your body new.

Real Estate

Buildings finally rise on the site of an infamous Brooklyn tragedy.

The Open-House Log

Apartment-shoppers at a Fort Greene open house opine on a one-bedroom on South Oxford Street.

The Culture Pages

Domestic Disturbance

Is A. M. Homes happy and domesticated? Sort of.

The Movie Review

A satire of American politics and culture from Paul Weitz is barely as ridiculous as the real thing.

The Theater Review

A drama about Iraq called Stuff Happens fails to realize the potential of a great premise.

Killer Charm: Alan Cumming

Q&A with actor and The Threepenny Opera star Alan Cumming.

The Art Review

Met shows about Kara Walker and an Egyptian queen have the relevance that all museums crave.

The TV Review

Helen Mirren may not be the best Elizabeth ever, but given the competition, that’s hardly an insult.

The New Adventures of Old Christine

This show wants us to know that fortysomething single moms are smart and sexy, too. Of course, Julia Louis-Dreyfus has been here before.

Rocket Man

Robson Green stars as an unemployed steelworks engineer and recently widowed father of two who has decided to build, in his garden, the very first Welsh rocket, in order to send his wife’s ashes up into space.

Reality-TV Index

A recurring guide to which shows are on the rise and which are about to crash.

Jukebox

Our citizen reviewers’ takes on the Flaming Lips (yea), Ghostface Killah (double yea), and others.

The Book Review

Gay Talese, still charmingly incorrigible after all these years.

The Approval Matrix

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

The Week

Let’s Get Visual

Two evenings of smart talk about art.

De Niro's Baby Is Growing

Tribeca Film Festival turns five.

Step 1-2-3

The Joyce Theater’s 1-2-3 Festival puts top junior companies onstage together for opening night on April 25—then lets the superb young dancers offer their own runs.

Everything New Is New Again

Striking new takes on contemporary favorites.

An Hour in North Chelsea

By night, the upper west Twenties are all about the club scene—but by day, there’s lots to see at the galleries.

Columns

The City Politic

Even if a pipe dream, the Bloomberg-for-president movement is good for New York.

Departments

Letters to the Editor