New York mayor Michael Bloomberg sent undercover operatives to investigate illegal gun sales on the other side of the country.

American expat and Apartment 86 owner Linda Chandler shares her style secrets with Viva.

Max Gimblett is one of our most beloved painters. Rebecca Barry met him in his New York studio and learned about his creative process.

Once stuck in a 9-5 rut in a Wellington office job, Gala Darling donned a new identity and created a new life as a New York style and self-help guru.

Paul Auster writes splendidly about disaffected, damaged people, usually alienated from society in some way, often isolated, physically and/or psychologically.

Lunch still for wimps but technology and social change has toned down macho image

Power elite look down on the rest of us, but they still want to be admired. Well, tough.

P. Diddy is to play a detective in US TV series Hawaii Five-0.

Three years after the death of her lover Heath Ledger, actress Michelle Williams has an Oscar nomination. The Hollywood star talks candidly to Tim Teeman about grief, her daughter, her mania for cleaning — and her new film.

The human nose contains roughly 400 olfactory receptors, but no two people have the same sense of smell.

Yeasayer are back for Laneway, but don't expect a repeat of an infamous earlier trip, says Paula Yeoman.

How much you'll enjoy this novel from American actor and comedian Steve Martin will depend on how engaged you are with recent art history.

Decadent, creamy and delicious, cheesecake has been tempting diners for centuries.

Unfinished business is the theme of the new novel from best-selling author Kim Edwards.

Grab your diaries for Viva's essential guide to what everyone will be talking about in 2011. Here's to an eventful year.

The National Society of Film Critics on Saturday selected The Social Network as the best picture of 2010.

A new year, a new romance: Actress Meg Ryan and veteran rocker John Mellencamp are reportedly dating on the quiet.

An article on a New York society wedding that tore two families apart has unleashed a torrent of criticism.

Aidan is a thirty-something professional blogger, living a low-rent version of the high-life in post-9/11 New York. His relationship with his journalist girlfriend, Cressida, is strained; he's stuck in a bit of a rut.

Police in Long Island, New York fear they may have a serial killer on their hands.

Be true to yourself, and keep your inner Madoff where he belongs.