Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Is it because there's a recession going on, or because the Times' Eric Wilson believes that nothing in the world is more important than cosmetics and skincare, that he's so very surprised about the absence of rioting in the streets yesterday morning, when department stores were giving away products in recompense for price-fixing? "The strangest thing about the scene in front of Bloomingdale's," he writes, "... was that there was no scene." Eerie! After all, why wouldn't you want to trek out in the snow for strictly one tube of mascara or jar of skin cream per customer, especially as nothing else important was going on?