Features

Liza Must Go On

For showbiz’s ultimate survivor, life has been one hell of a cabaret. But it’s marvelous all the same.

Hiding in Plain Sight

For an undocumented family, life in a sanctuary city is feeling less safe all the time.

Intelligencer

No Koch Float for NYC Opera

He’s paid for the theater.

Robert De Niro Hits TriBeQatar!

Very sheikha.

Big Soup Kitchen Needs a Hand

There’s a boom in need.

Polanski and Portman to ‘Pitch’ Perfume

It’s art.

Patient Shrink! Therapists Worried

Mental-health slowdown.

Art Basel Art Fountain’s Inhuman Stain

City blots it out.

It Happened Last Week

The city was feeling anything but lighter than air.

Tipping Point

How’s the downturn hitting the 175,000 New Yorkers who make at least part of their living from gratuities?

Super Jersey

Brett Favre has been the shiny object that has kept New York sports fans occupied.

Ignore the Dow!

Why hitch your sense of well-being to the twitches of a market indicator you can do nothing about?

Recession Index

A numeric summary of our troubled times.

Green Dreams on Madison Square

Daniel Libeskind has unveiled a proposal for his first New York building.

Columns

The Obama Portfolio

Where to put your money—or some of it, anyway—in 2009.

Strategist

Shopping By Stopwatch

Here, $213 worth of eleventh-hour presents found last week at a Duane Reade, a Walgreens, and a CVS.

The Alterna-Sohos

These three micro–shopping districts remain blissfully unpicked-over.

The Wanton Splurge

New plan: Spend all your money today instead of losing it tomorrow on the stock market.

More Than One Way to Wrap a Box

There are at least eight, actually.

The Look Book

"The real Buddhist meditation is very complex, but the action is mainly to sit and let."

The Restaurant Review

Char No. 4 is a welcome addition to the city’s ever-growing roster of barbecue joints.

In Season

Once you’re done with pumpkin carving and pie baking, you’re left with the seeds.

Restaurant Openings

Week of December 8, 2008: Shang, L’Artusi, Baoguette, Fishtail by David Burke, and Zibetto Espresso Bar.

Edible Giving

A trio of New York chefs share their personal food-as-gift strategies.

Your Landlord Loves You Again

As apartments go empty, good tenants get better freebies.

Culture

The ‘Mad Men’ Dilemma

First The Sopranos. Then The Wire. Why you might be suffering from Quality Show Fatigue.

The Independent Edge

This is our guide to the very best in indie culture.

California Dreamin’

Golden Animals fled Williamsburg for L.A.’s bluesier pastures. Will Brooklyn welcome them back?

The Movie Review

Frost/Nixon’s iconic TV moment seems quaint after Couric/Palin. Plus: Cadillac Records hits its groove.

Señor Guevara, You Look Familiar

Steven Soderbergh’s four-hour-plus epic Che opens briefly next week for Oscar consideration.

The Theater Review

In Dividing the Estate, Horton Foote takes the southern family drama out for one more spin.

Conversation: The Pals of ‘Pal Joey’

The emphasis is on the female leads in this revival of the Rodgers and Hart classic.

The Approval Matrix: Week of December 8, 2008

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

Agenda

Carnegie Hall Goes DIY

Kids make their own instruments.

It’s Supper Time

Is Sunday supper the new Sunday brunch?

Departments

Comments: Week of December 8, 2008

Readers sound off on urban loneliness, Bellevue Hospital, and more.

Artifact: At Least One Market’s Doing Fine

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