games
PC PS2 XBOX
Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided
Tired of waiting for the original Star Wars to hit DVD? Log on to this massively multiplayer online game, which begins after the destruction of the Death Star. Role choices are limitless: Start your Jedi Knight training, slip inside a Wookiee's skin, or become a swashbuckling space pirate as you explore 10 colossal planets (each the size of EverQuest's world) and join up with thousands of other fans (more than 3,500 per planet) to build your own stellar outposts.
- John Gaudiosi
Gamecube
Ikaruga
Like its arcade ancestor, this console game is a simple, even primal, experience: You shoot, you get hit, you die, you start over (there's no Save option). Avoid black bullets when in white mode, and vice versa in black. Easy enough. What the game lacks in complexity, it makes up for in action. Picking your way through the hail of gunfire requires classic hand-eye coordination, something many new titles have forgotten. Need a bit more room to dodge enemy fire? Turn your TV on its side and play in the original verticle dimensions.
- Chris Kohler
music
Aphex Twin
26 Mixes for Cash
Despite the album title, Aphex Twin doesn't do remixes just for the money - he does it for laughs and to "fix" songs he despises. Here he offers twisted takes from the past 10 years on tunes from such well-known artists as Nine Inch Nails and St. Etienne. On "Zeroes and Ones" he replaces Jesus Jones' cheesy lyrics with a blast of sounds, and on "Heroes" he lays Bowie's vocals over Philip Glass' symphonic rendition. The result: a listening experience more enjoyable than some of Aphex's own originals.
- Tamara Palmer
Turin Brakes
Ether Song
Since its acoustified debut, The Optimist LP, in 2001, Turin Brakes has seen its tidy quietcore genre turn Top 40, thanks to the likes of Coldplay. So in this follow-up, the duo goes electric, recruiting the rhythm section that backs Beck and Air to get a fuller sound. Although the material isn't entirely original ("Self Help" is derivative of the Beta Band), "Panic Attack" and "Little Brother" reveal that the pop crooners have started making some noise.
- Stacy Osbaum
Stephen Jay Gould
The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Magister's Pox: Mending the Gap Between Science and the Humanities
In his final book, the luminary biologist proves Vladimir Nabokov's remark "There is no science without fancy, and no art without facts." With learned enthusiasm, Gould finds evidence - in antique texts like Historia Animalium and Origines Sacrae - that the conflict between science and the arts is little more than a self-propagating myth. Mathematicians take note: You may need to read Shakespeare after all.
- Joseph Portera
Wil McCarthy
Hacking Matter: Levitating Chairs, Quantum Mirages, and the Infinite Weirdness of Programmable Atoms
Walls that morph into windows, lead that turns into gold - that's the stuff of programmable matter. Wired contributor McCarthy colors much of this (mostly) nonfiction account with a sci-fi sensibility. In his hands, MIT's materials science center becomes "a fey landscape" where the air "crackles with subdued excitement." Still, the book's science is solid and McCarthy's fervor genuinely infectious. The future never felt so close.
- Jennifer Kahn
screen
THEATERS
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
With a bioterrorist on the loose, this movie - an extension of the popular Japanese TV series - resonates more than the usual anime dystopia. In a strangely familiar scenario, a renegade goes on a killing spree he thinks will get him into heaven. He's pursued by bounty hunters in an otherwise lawless Martian society. Creator Shinichiro Watanabe takes advantage of his big-screen tableau to forge a spectacular amalgam of Paris, New York, and Hong Kong. As postapocalyptic visions go, this one's surprisingly united and hopeful.
- Beth Pinsker
DVD
by Brakhage
Stan Brakhage never made it big in Hollywood, but he sure had influence. A master of experimental film, his techniques are evident in everything from 2001: A Space Odyssey (abstract imagery) to Fight Club (subliminal edits). This set features 40 years of his meticulously handcrafted work, including footage Brakhage scratched and painted. The stunningly sharp transfer lets you savor each second - this is the reason your player has a frame-advance button.
- Chris Baker
PLAY
The Fantasy Life of Coder Boys
In Ronald We Trust
Astroboy, Born Again
Bootleggers, Roll Your DATs
What's On Your iPod?
The Electro Freak Show
If You Hear Me, Give Me a Sign
Read Me
A Reason to Walk in LA
Japanese Schoolgirl Watch
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Driver's Little Helper
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