Jul 31, 2008 13:47
: Somewhere, chart guru Edward Tufte is squirming: This site's homages to pop culture come in the form of perverted infographics. From the map indicating which countries a Flock of Seagulls deem "so far away" Iran to a bar graph illustrating the possibilities at the Hotel California checking out: 100 percent; leaving: 0 and a flowchart for deciding what game console to buy pivotal question: Do you have any friends, GraphJam will give you newfound respect for the awesome power of Microsoft Excel.: The closest Chick-fil-A is 45 miles from Wired's offices, so we can't easily enjoy its superlative chicken sandwich. Good thing McDonald's has hatched the Southern Style Chicken Sandwich, a feat of culinary reverse engineering that astonished even staffers from below the Mason-Dixon line with its similarity to the Chick-fil-A original. And there's a Golden Arches right down the street. Yum.: Bust it! Two decades after launching seminal rappers like Young MC, LA label Delicious Vinyl is back with this collection of old-school gems reworked by the likes of Eminem and Peaches — who electrifies Tone-Lôc party anthem "Wild Thing." Not feeling Hot Chip's take on the Pharcyde Use the included instrumental tracks to make your own rmxx.: All hail Anglo-Franco pop! Having endured the death of both bandmate Mary Hansen and the alt-rock '90s, the reigning royals of postmodern electrolounge return. Eschewing forays into droning avant interludes, Chemical Chords showcases Stereolab at its shortest and sweetest — as the purveyor of pure '60s-tinged bliss. Light up a Gitane, swoon with your sweetheart, and imagine you're drifting among Godard's nouveau stars.: Normally a 47-inch LCD with full 1080p resolution and a 120-Hz refresh rate is thicker than Finnegans Wake. Not this $4,699 supermodel. At 1.5-inches, the UT47X902 is heroin-chic thin, with a video processor that boosts the frame rate from the standard 24 fps to a gorgeous 28 fps. But why does such a beauty have such an ugly moniker: Truly fit for a player, these '90s-style kicks are sure to be a hot property when they hit stores and eBay in late August. Advance to Go, drop $85, and you'll soon be walking on Park Place.: Architect John Lautner's insane engineering, space-age designs, and Los Angeles backdrops have been catnip to filmmakers. Chemosphere, his 1960 flying- saucer house that sprouts out of the Hollywood Hills, played a supporting role in Body Double, while other Lautner homes stole scenes in Diamonds Are Forever and The Big Lebowski. Through October 12, these ingenious buildings get their close-up in this exhibition at LA's Hammer Museum.: The bon mots from Cody, the Oscar-winning writer of Juno, keep coming, this time via Twitter. Her stream of consciousness — "I'm at the Denver airport eating a Pizza Hut grease mattress because I clearly hate myself" and "I went with 'That's a cut!' instead of just 'Cut'; I've always favored the conversational approach" — should tide you over until her next project, The United States of Tara, debuts on Showtime next year.: Kids don't understand you Send them to film summer school via these reissues of '80s cinematic essentials. Perhaps if they spend a weekend watching Airplane!, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Fatal Attraction among others, they'll grok your familiarity with jive, nostalgia for "Twist and Shout," and fear of keeping a pet rabbit. Plus: Each disc includes a bonus CD with songs from A-ha and Erasure. Roger, roger.: The Robot Chicken guys got carte blanche from George Lucas to make this 23-minute stop-animation spoof of the Star Wars trilogy. And for good reason: The DVD extras alone are worth the purchase price, with clips of show cocreator Seth Green acting out sketches and countless behind-the-scenes shots of the cast and crew goofing off.