Features

This Is the Part Where the Superhero Discovers He Is Mortal

Following subway hero Wesley Autrey out from under the train and into a world of handout seekers, crushing demands, “business partners,” and other problems rarely encountered in comic-book tales of triumph.

One, Two, Three, Four, Can a Columbia Movement Rise Once More?

The student radicals of Morningside Heights are surrounded by indifferent careerists and divided by the Palestinian question.

Intelligencer

Mdm. Speaker Is Speaking Better

Is Quinn City Hall’s Eliza Doolittle?

Video Games and Junk Food

Mr. J.Lo’s taxing schedule.

Unhappy Feet at Central Park Zoo

Bush-bashing docent fired.

Hellhole Opens on Second Ave.

UES stores boxed in.

Golden Gloves Broker in Comeback

TKO’d Hamptons champ fights again.

It Happened Last Week

The comedy of errors that led to the tragic fifth act of talk radio’s King Lear, Don Imus, set the stage for a most Shakespearean week.

The Last Don

The I-man’s self-destruction came from the same internal drama that made him so compelling.

Border Patrol

How did Don Imus blunder across the frontier from funny to fired?

Making It Work

Project Runway aspirants Jay, Chloe, and Jeffrey queue up in the cold. It was target practice for Tim Gunn.

Rudy and ’Nam

He’s no war hero. Will it matter?

Strategist

The Weekend Getaway Planner

The art of instant sanity restoration: 42 ways to soothe and/or stimulate the soul in four days or less, ranging from fresh-seafood sampling in Japan to open-air moviegoing in Dutchess County.

Best Bets

A fragrant grapefruit-vodka pedicure and other olfactory treats.

Shop News

New store openings this week, including Tom Ford on Madison Avenue.

Look Book

Two complementarily natty designers.

Restaurant Review

Skilled sidemen take center stage at Gramercy Tavern and Gilt.

In Season

No point in arguing food miles to certain European expat chefs when the subject turns to (nonlocal) white asparagus.

Insatiable Critic

Spotlight Live is braced for flocks of free-spending fame freaks, wannabe American Idols and karaoke fans hungry for fame, popcorn shrimp, and mini-burgers.

Restaurant Openings

Week of April 23, 2007: Insieme, Tiffin Wallah, and P*ONG.

Real Estate

Two-bedroom penthouse, for sale, cheap! Unbudgeable tenants included.

Life Swap: What If You Left New York?

There’s Prewar Style, and Then There’s Really Prewar Style.

The Culture Pages

Daughter of the Revolutionary

Charlotte Gainsbourg on being a child of French show business.

The Movie Review

In Hot Fuzz, the Shaun of the Dead guys blow up a quaint English town. Plus: Hopkins vs. Gosling.

Oh, Diane

Why Diane Keaton deserved last week’s Lincoln Center tribute.

The Book Review

A history of adolescence makes today’s kids seem conservative by comparison.

Eye on Zimbabwe: Peter Godwin

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun started out as a work of straightforward journalism. Then Peter Godwin found out that his father, a paragon of Britishness, had long hidden his past as a Polish Jewish refugee from the Holocaust.

The Theater Review

Christopher Plummer and Jeff Daniels help carry two highly recommended productions.

Nixon's the One

The road from White House disgrace to Broadway buzz.

The Art Review

An illuminating exhibit about the accelerated rise and fall of pre-minimalist painting.

Five Years Aprés le Sotheby's-vs.-Christie's Scandale

Ever since they were founded in London in the 1700s, Sotheby’s and Christie’s have been the Hulk Hogan and André the Giant of auction houses.

The TV Review

Does David Chase really deserve credit for making television into high art?

Clarification

Postcolonial author or supercute teen heartthrob?

The Approval Matrix: Week of April 23, 2007

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

Columns

The Imperial City

It took 30 contentious years to find a national consensus about saving the environment. And yet the hard part is still ahead.

The Week

Works on Papers

Two artists exploit yesterday’s news while a third capitalizes on the discarded notes of others.

Macbeth, With Strings Attached

Marionette Shakespeare at the New Vic.

Three's the Charm

The Met’s new production of Il Trittico offers a delightful trifecta of Puccini.

Road Food

Suddenly, it’s safe to eat at and around the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

After you switch to compact fluorescents and recycle the papers, celebrate Earth Day at a sustainability-minded restaurant.

Saturday Night Weird

The long-running Ontological-Hysteric Theater returns with three twisted little stories ($5; April 21 at 10 p.m.).

Departments

Letters to the Editor

Readers sound off on office life, Keith Olbermann, and more.