1. Saul of the Mole Men

Adult Swim’s new live-action sci-fi show has stilted acting, creepy puppets, and greenscreen f/x that must have set the production back a whole 20 bucks. You’ll love it! The shoddiness is all an effort to evoke campy 1970s Sid and Marty Krofft shows like Land of the Lost and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. The look and feel is spot-on — the only difference is that now the hilarity is intentional. A top-secret mission to Earth’s core goes awry, and a nebbishy geologist named Saul Malone, clad in an unflattering skintight jumpsuit, must contend with a race of Mole Men (actually, actors in faux-fur costumes that wouldn’t pass muster on Sesame Street). Tune in each week for a thrilling new 15-minute episode!

2. Yoko Ono: Yes, I’m a Witch Artists including the Flaming Lips, Peaches, and Cat Power put a remix twist on “classic” Yoko Ono songs. Don’t love Ono’s notoriously grating solo work? All we’re saying is give these 17 fresh and innovative pieces a chance.

3. Absolutely MAD Magazine

That complete New Yorker DVD set is great and all, but it’s severely lacking in Al Jaffee, Don Martin, and illustrated parodies of Melrose Place. This retrospective of more than 50 fershlugginer years of output from the best humor magazine ever is funny even when the cultural references are dated. Bonus — animated greeting cards!

Photograph: Peter Samuels

4. Nashguitars Timewarp S-63

For many, the Fender Stratocaster is the gold standard of electric guitars. And it’s gold in more ways than one: Vintage Strats cost upwards of $10,000, and a new Masterbuilt model sells for $4,000-plus. Leave it to legendary luthier Bill Nash to reverse-engineer the thing for less than half that price. Using the same parts as the big guys, a Nash guitar is custom-aged — your choice of Church Gig, Workingman, or Louisiana Roadhouse — very playable, and totally professional. Trust us: One of our designers is a bona fide rock star.

5. Baking Illustrated

If you need to be convinced that cooking is chemistry, here’s your textbook. The genius of Baking Illustrated — brought to you by the white coats at Cook’s Illustrated magazine — is that each classic recipe is preceded by an article that both describes how the authors used chemistry to perfect the concoction and explores some of the mysteries of baking. (Why use Dutch-processed cocoa? What’s the deal with baking powder? How can you fake buttermilk with vinegar?) And the food is as top-notch as the science: One recipe ended a Wired editor’s 25-year quest for the perfect chocolate-chip cookie.

6. iliketotallyloveit.com It’s Digg for the shopping set. Aping the same popularity-contest scheme as the news aggregator, users submit links to products, and if enough people like totally love it, the lustworthy object lands on the front page. You won’t find mainstream goods here — mostly doodads you didn’t know you wanted but suddenly like totally need.

7. Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America

The ultimate cinematic mashup is finally on DVD. Drawing only from preexisting footage, Craig Baldwin’s 1991 mockumentary is told from the perspective of a paranoiac filmmaker who has discovered a grand unified conspiracy theory and must share the Truth with the world. Tribulation looks uncannily like something you’d find on public access TV, but it’s made with DJ-like dexterity, wit, and a hip sci-fi undercurrent. Don’t be surprised if halfway through, you’re muttering, “Of course! It all makes sense!”

8. Wolf & Cub: Vessels Crikey! Those Aussie alt-rock bands sure love their Canis lupus; first Wolfmother, now Wolf & Cub. From the opening howl of the brilliant title track to the heavy-lid fade of “Vultures,” Cub’s debut LP pushes psychedelic garage rock into the stratosphere. The four Adelaideans combine tense guitar work and driving bass grooves with blissed-out vocals and intricate percussion (two drummers!) to sculpt tunes that can border on a sort of organic electronica. It’s both danceable and tranceable.

9. Tourfilter.com

Can’t keep track of your fave bands? Try Tourfilter, which tracks 13,000 artists and nearly 1,400 clubs in 24 cities. Just type in “OK Go” (or “Fergie,” if that’s your thang) and Tourfilter will crawl the Web and email you when the next gig is announced.

10. 5 People Who Died During Sex: And 100 Other Terribly Tasteless Lists

Five most peculiar ways to get yourself on a list in a book of lists: Vomit between courses (Anne Boleyn, “Least Appealing Dinner Dates”), pierce your pecker (Prince Albert, “Greatest Fashion Mistakes”), execute 300 people in three days (Charles Henri-Sanson, “Famous Executioners”), discover that Britain’s ugliest women live in Aberdeen (Sir Francis Galton, “Lesser-Known Scientific Endeavors”), and — stop now if you’re squeamish — drink a bowl of pus (St. Catherine of Siena, “Routes to Sainthood”).



credit:

PLAY

What's Wired This Month

Stalk a Nuclear Ruin

Me, My Soul, and I

A Spartan’s Last Stand

Reviews

Superstar Supercar

Drive Safely — Big Brother Is Watching

Did Timbaland Do It?

Backyard Fuel Cell

Conspicuous Consumption

Art of the Transformer

Ace of Bass

Test