We’ve said it before, and we are very pleased to report that our fact-checking department has just given us the all-clear to say it again: New York has a lock on fall. All other cities—Paris and London and L.A. and Des Moines—can just step off. (Sorry, but your day in the cultural or political sun will come; in Des Moines’s case, really, really soon.) This is our season, and if post–Labor Day means a return to actual work, to putting on a brilliant performance in the office or classroom, the good, compensatory news is that the whole world (or so it seems) has come to town to put on a show for us. Mischievous genius Mel Brooks has been busy “reanimating” his monster, Young Frankenstein, out on the West Coast, getting it in tip-top shape for a Broadway unveiling. Nicole Kidman has been holed up in the Hamptons, rehearsing in bed with Jennifer Jason Leigh, for Noah Baumbach’s new movie. Meryl Streep, possibly the busiest woman in show business, is back in not one but two couldn’t-be-timelier political movies. Brad Pitt is Jesse James! (For a complete mathematical breakdown of our enthusiasm for this, click here.) Pop’s wonderful weirdos Animal Collective have hoisted their freak flag higher than ever (an impressive accomplishment, truly). And the Lower East Side is giving Chelsea a run for its money. We could go on. We won’t. How to divide and conquer all this potential fun? Begin with nothing more complicated than clicking ahead. You’ve still got a little bit more summer left to plan for the most glorious three months of all.

Related:

• Archive: “Guides”
• Table of Contents: Sep 3, 2007 issue of New York | Subscribe!