Music:
Radiohead Hail to the Thief
The machine dreams and pervasive dread of Kid A and Amnesiac may have seemed histrionic before 9/11, but we're living in the future those albums described. On Hail to the Thief, Radiohead reclaims the guitar-driven ferocity of The Bends without surrendering any of the sonic expansiveness it's achieved since. It honed songs like "There There" on the road, and the discordant chorus at the start of "A Punchup at a Wedding" resonates like a medieval chant for the end times. - Steve Silberman
Death in Vegas Scorpio Rising
The techno duo's deft third album is cinematic in scope, a Koyaanisqatsi set to motorik beats, strings-infused ballads, and psychedelic Brit-pop. The pop songs are solid - Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher sneers on the title track, and former Mazzy Star vocalist Hope Sandoval drones out "Killing Smile." But Death in Vegas finds its own chilling voice on "Hands Around My Throat," an electrocharged romp of Cold War paranoia and the twang of an acoustic guitar. - Adrienne Day
Screen:
Wave Twisters (DVD)
Call it the Yellow Submarine of Gen Nintendo. DJ QBert's soundbreaking concept album begat this full-fledged skratch epic, directed by Syd Garon and Eric Henry, which was a cult hit on the festival circuit. The story line is something about interstellar dentists saving the universe from hip hop haters. The visuals are everything from videogames, graffiti, and Transformers to Mexican wrestling and mouthwash commercials - all synced beat for beat with QBert's otherworldly turntablism. - Chris Baker
The Art of Pixelvision (DVD)
Fisher-Price's PXL2000 flopped as a camcorder for kids in the late '80s but became an icon for angsty indie filmmakers thanks to its ghostly lo-res effects. Part one in an "Underground Archives" series, Pixelvision is a lovingly assembled collection of three-plus hours of PXL work, but it's the extras that steal the show: a documentary on how a toy became an art form, an interview with the camera's creator, and a guide to modding your own PXL2000 (www.precious-realm.com). - Alison Willmore
Games:
Unlimited Saga (PS2)
As Final Fantasy proved, few publishers know RPGs like Square-Enix. In its latest Saga - the third US release in the series - seven strangers seek divine guidance. You play one of them, and the path you choose affects which skills, like sword handling and psychic powers, you develop. With sharp, hand-drawn 2-D visuals and a slot machine-style battle system that randomly doles out penalties and rewards, it's no accident this mystical adventure is spellbinding. - Scott Steinberg
Freaky Flyer (PS2 | CUBE | XBOX)
Please return to your seat and prepare for a ride like no other. Freaky Flyers is a frenetic game that pushes the limits of traditional cart racing - combining dog-fighting, Top Gun stunts, and combat flying. Choose one of 13 chief pilots as whom you explore and zip through 13 enormous levels. With a hilarious script written by Ben Edlund, creator of The Tick, each character is an outrageous caricature whose reactions will keep you laughing for the whole flight. - Will Tuttle
Print:
Invisible Frontier: Exploring the Tunnels, Ruins, and Rooftops of Hidden New York by L. B. Deyo and David Leibowitz
A gang of intellectual misfits sets out to explore the city's perilous, concealed places - from the bowels of an abandoned aqueduct to atop the steal girder of the George Washington Bridge. As the team shimmies into dank and narrow spaces, homages to the likes of Nikola Tesla are interwoven with humorous tales and tirades. The human ingenuity is palpable, and its beauty is owed to engineers. - Heather Sparks
Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience, & What Makes Us Human by Matt Ridley
In Genome, Ridley cracked open the double helix for the world to enjoy; now he defends it from attack. Specifically, Nature via Nurture rebuts the notion that gene science is pushing us off a eugenic cliff or that Gattaca is around the corner. Consider Ridley's take on the idea of genes predicting criminal behavior: Don't worry; their expression is mitigated by environment. The author packs enough sizzle - sex is a frequent topic - to keep the pages turning. - Dustin Goot
PLAY
Soldiers of Fortune
Heart and Soul in the Machine
What's on Your iPod?
Call Upgrading
Keiboard Gets the Thumbs Up
The Microsoft IQ Test
Ultimate Truth
Sick Bastard
Time Warp
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Bot
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