I went into The Dark Knight expecting to watch it the way I would any other movie: You know, admire the actors and get caught up in the story, with a few mental detours to check out the clothes and wonder where all my Sno-Caps went.

But watching the new...

Okay, you know that forgetting what you were about to, uh, say or eating dinner at 5:30 makes you old. But what about the other, subtler, yet just as revealing ways of acting old? You may not be aware that what you're doing and saying pegs you as over the...

Try to think like a billionaire for a second. Make that a super-tacky billionaire.

You want a vacation retreat. So you head to the Adirondacks in upstate New York, the largest national park in America. You buy -- no, not just a house, not merely one of the Great Camps...

Okay, the whole world pretty much agrees that sex is just about the best thing there is. Some of the time. But let's face it: it can get better. How? When? Well, here are 17 things that can be better than sex:

1. The anticipation of sex with someone you're...

You were supposed to read them back in school. You mean to read them....someday. And maybe you still will: you know, when you're old and rich and curled up by the fire in that country house you're going to retire to.

In the meantime, you can feign familiarity with centuries...

Should you stay or should you go? It may be a job as often as a relationship that prompts that quandary. You know you're not happy, but is there really anything better out there? You're worried you're not valued or appreciated, but maybe you're expecting too much?

In this...

Today is my birthday. I know, super-exciting, right? This morning, I bounced out of bed and ran right to my computer, where I read my birthday horoscope. Then, I didn't go to the gym. And now, I'm indulging in a waffle for breakfast instead of my usual boiled egg. Whoopee!...

So okay, in modern relationships, we've decided that talking is good. But HOW good? When do you tell him (or her) everything? And when might it be preferable to fast forward (or, in other words "yada yada" over) through the details of your past, present, and theoretical future?

Here,...

1. Volunteer at a food-oriented charity: a soup kitchen, a food pantry.

2. Volunteer at a non-food-oriented charity helping people with problems bigger than weight: a kids' cancer ward, for instance, or a hospice.

3. Donate your scale and all your diet books to Goodwill.

4....

Last night I dreamed that my shrink ordered me to parade in the park while wearing a tee shirt and a bikini bottom and leading an elephant.

Never mind that I don't have an elephant. Or a bikini. Or even, in real life, a shrink.

I'm in treatment...

Last week, John Edwards and Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the presidential race, the Fed once again cut interest rates, and Microsoft bought Yahoo.

But in even more burning news, the names of Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony 's about-to-be-born twins were leaked: Max and Emme.

As the...

Dear 14-Year-Old Son,

I know you were pissed off at me this morning because I wouldn't write a note excusing your lateness. It seemed so easy to you: A stroke of my magic mommy pen and I'd save you from suffering through an hour-long detention for showing up at...

What I Want To Know More About

THE KARA WALKER SHOW AT THE WHITNEY - I'm a Kara Walker fanatic, and the artist's show at The Whitney, through February 3, doesn't disappoint. But see it less for Walker's famous silhouettes, most now over a decade old, and more for...

Moms, want to work at home but don't know where to start? Wish you could make money in your spare time but aren't sure how to succeed?

There's only one piece of advice you really need: Don't do the laundry.

That's it, the most useful thing I can...

ME: Fully-grown and self-sufficient daughter with adolescent angst, college expenses, and house down payments far behind me. I've written several books, appear regularly in the national media, and cook an excellent turkey. Even better, I can offer you a nice, successful son-in-law plus three fabulous grandchildren, including one who lives...

Jake Gyllenhaal and Chelsea Clinton had dinner together last night at Milos Estatoria, the groovy Greek restaurant on West 55th Street in Manhattan. They were not on a date, unless those other two guys at the table were Secret Service agents. But the biggest star at the place last night...

The good news is that I lost a lot of weight and had to get rid of most of the clothes in my closet. The bad news is that there's nothing to do with them -- nothing that truly assuages the guilt in my liberal little heart, anyway, or helps...

Americans love football, a commentator on the Michael Vick case said today on CNN, but they love dogs even more. All Americans but me, I guess. I hate football. But I hate dogs even more.

Yes, okay, I said it. Come on, burn a big doggie biscuit on my lawn....

Every woman should have a black lace bra, a cordless drill, and a past juicy enough that she's looking forward to retelling it in her old age.

Every woman should know how to fall in love without losing herself, when to try harder and when to walk away,...

On the treadmill next to me at the gym this morning was a gorgeous guy, and on the TV screen above us was a lineup of pregnant women modeling bathing suits.

"They're so beautiful," the man said, riveted.

"They're very pregnant," I observed, not so astutely, considering one...