Sure, it's the brand's signature logo, but the giant burgundy pot leaf at Hickey's new store still managed to catch us by surprise. The 2,000-square-foot location—the first from Hickey Freeman's pranksterish diffusion line—otherwise features a more rustic decor, from the wagon wheels on the walls to the wooden display island that showcases the label's suits. The store also carries its full line of shirts, sweaters, and accessories—rolling papers not included.
Hickey, 96 Grand St., (212) 219-0230, hickeystyle.com

You know how iTunes automatically recognizes just about any CD you rip? It does that thanks to music cataloging service Gracenote. Yesterday, the company launched an online map that lets you see what music is being uploaded in different parts of the world. Turns out that love of crap music transcends national boundaries: Linkin Park is in the top ten in areas as diverse as Nebraska, the Ukraine, and Egypt.

[Gracenote via BoingBoing]

As any car enthusiast worth his naked lady mud flaps will instantly be able to tell, the body of this guitar was made from the hood of a 1964 Volvo P-1800. (The neck? Originally a tailpipe.) One of just two Pow! Guitars in existence, it was made by Pau Fuster of the indie band Proton Proton, and we came across it when our friends at online indie retailer BombBelt sent it our way. Each instrument takes about a week-and-a-half to make, and Fuster's working on two more out of parts from a 1954 MG Midget. So what do they sound like? "Innocent rawness," Fuster says—which isn't a bad way to describe their appearance, either.
Pow! Guitars, $8,000, bombbelt.com

Already a hit in Europe, HTC's slick new Touch finally gets a stateside release this weekend. The phone uses the company's TouchFlo interface, which despite sounding like an exciting new bladder-control drug is actually an intuitive way of navigating (via thumb or stylus) through your frequently used applications and contacts. Believe it or not, it compares favorably with the interface of that other, more-publicized touchscreen phone. The keyboard's two-letters-per-key system takes some getting used to, but after a few days, we were using Windows Mobile 6 apps with ease. And, thanks to Sprint's speedy network, streaming content actually looks like real television. What's more, the thing even makes telephone calls.
HTC Touch, $249.99 with two-year service agreement; sprintpcs.com, available Sunday

Jack Spade opened its first-ever Beantown store yesterday, and it's filled with Andy Spade's usual mix of cultivated oddities: vintage hunting vests, an Oriental rug and couch from a South Dakota schoolhouse—that old gimmick—and a stuffed squirrel near the window. More importantly, the shop carries the label's entire range of accessories, from locale-appropriate hats and gloves to its full line of bags. Incidentally, Spade sold its first bag to a hardware store in 1997, which helps explains designer Matt Singer's pegboard-heavy décor.
Jack Spade Boston, 117 Newbury St., (617) 262-2632, jackspade.com

Action Anthony for Men, a new line from Anthony Logistics, includes the usual goodies: a foaming face scrub, a 2-in-1 shave cream (left, which can be rubbed into the skin as an aftershave), and several postshave emollients—all made from soy proteins, silk amino acids, and, yep, licorice extracts. (Apparently, they even your skin tone.) But what makes the line interesting is two claims by founder Anthony Sosnick: that it was inspired by the motion in Roy Lichtenstein paintings, and that the packaging is modeled after Donald Judd's minimalist concrete sculptures. Pretentious gimmick or clever branding? Find out tomorrow, when the line goes on sale at Barneys stores nationwide.

Scared off by American Gangster's 157-minute run time? Don't be—it's the best gangland movie since The Departed. Sure, Scorsese's Oscar winner's only a year old, but it also set a pretty high bar (rent it—the movie's actually better the second time). Also out tomorrow: The Future Is Unwritten, which documents the sad but inspiring life of Clash leader Joe Strummer.

Two weeks after opening a Nike iD outpost for the hoi polloi at Niketown on 57th Street—the Elizabeth Street studio, now closed, was appointment-only—Nike's bringing a new, equally egalitarian custom shop (above) to London. Both locations let you work with one of the brand's design consultants to create your own kicks using materials and styles (like the Dunks Hi and Lo) not available on NikeiD.com. But only the UK studio—in an unexpected nod to 007—has a concierge named Q. Unfortunately, he's not able to outfit your new Dunks with "oil slick" capabilities.
Niketown, 6 E. 57th St., NYC, (212) 891-6453; NikeiD London, 236 Oxford St., 44-207-612-0990, nikeid.com

Jeffrey Kalinsky's revamping of the American preppy catalog continues next month with his take on the classic Bass Weejun. "I lived in them—we all did," Kalinsky says. "But it's very much a new Weejun, very American, very modern, but very improved." Translation: a more elongated toe box, fine cordovan leather (shell cordovan and tech leather options are in the planning stages), and a penny slot preloaded with a silver "Bass-Jeffrey" medallion. But the most significant improvement isn't immediately apparent: Kalinsky worked with Bass to have the shoes handmade in a Maine factory for the first time in a generation. "It's very expensive to get these made in the USA," he says, "so it's almost like a lost art."
Bass Weejun for Jeffrey, available in black and brown, est. $295-$315, available in early December, Jeffrey New York, 449 W. 14th St., NYC, (212) 206-1272, jeffreynewyork.com

Finally, some good old-fashioned car porn, made here in the USA: Test Drive premieres tonight on the high-definition channel Mojo. While the show doles out plenty of practical advice—how to get better gas mileage, how to speed your commute—the best parts are when host Craig Jackson takes sexy coupes like a Lamborghini Gallardo (above), a Ferrari F430 and a Mercedes SLR McLaren for, well, test-drives. Think of it as Top Gear without the accents.
Test Drive, 10 p.m. Eastern, mojohd.com

(Looking to test-drive a car of your own? Check out our sports coupe Hotlist.)

Good news: Terry Richardson's finally found a way to scare the hell out of people for a good cause. The photographer signed and numbered 500 jigsaw puzzles (left, obviously) that went on sale today to benefit RXart, a not-for-profit that provides fine art to health-care facilities.
Terry Richardson puzzle available for a $250 donation at rxart.net

The last thing San Francisco needs is another wine bar, yet the purists behind Terroir may have found a worthy differentiator. Their combination bar/shop, which just opened in the city's SoMA neighborhood, is modeled after the "natural" bar a vins that have taken off in Paris over the past few years and are stocked with European selections (often organic or biodynamic) that use only naturally occurring yeast, minimal sulfur, and—rare for these parts—no over-the-top oak. In other words, wines made by calloused-handed vignerons who can't afford marketing directors. Cheers to that.
Terroir, 116 Folsom St., San Francisco, (415) 558-9946, terroirsf.com

Learjet has just announced that its new NXT will go on sale next October. The midsized plane—it holds a whopping eight people—will cruise at a mere Mach 0.82. Sadly, no word yet on price.

And in more high-end transportation news, Bono is putting his Ducati 916 up for auction in December. He'll use the money to buy a new home in the South of France. Just kidding—it's going to a charitable organization called Riders for Health.

[Aero-News via Luxist]

The Marantz SR8002 7.1 system is exactly what a receiver should be: versatile (four HDMI 1.3 outputs and two inputs), powerful (125-watt output), and capable of producing top-of-the-line audio and video (Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, and DTS HD Master Audio decoding capabilities). Better yet, the device includes room correction technology, so you can find the best sound for your living room. Haven't gone fully HD yet? Well, we're not sure why you're waiting, but the system does upconvert older video sources and can even tune into a very old-world medium: terrestrial radio.

The Marantz is shipping now, but we just got our hands on the Mako, a new desktop speaker set from THX and Razer that's due in December. The 2.1 system offers six 50-watt channels and is the first to include THX's new Ground Plane and Slot Speaker drivers, which essentially bounce signals off your desk to create a fuller sound—an innovation that also explains the Mako's funky, mushroom-style design.
Marantz SR8002, $2099.99, us.marantz.com; Razer Mako, $399, razerzone.com

With index entries like "nude scenes, best" and "football, concussions and," Schott's Miscellany 2008 leaves no detail overlooked. But Ben Schott's 368-page almanac also tackles the big stories, from international relations to the environment to, of course, the travails of a certain recently divorced young singer. ("I don't think you would wish anybody the year Britney's had," Schott says, and who are we to disagree.)

This week's other offerings include two geography-inspired books for non-geographers: Transit Maps of the World, an oddly compelling new collection of maps from every rapid-transit system on earth (yep, even the MART), and The Onion's Our Dumb World, possibly the first-ever satirical atlas. Also out: Michael Chabon's fun (if not quite satisfying) Gentlemen of the Road, Ronnie Wood's (ahem) sobering memoir, Ronnie, and Anthony Bourdain's travel journal No Reservations, which is the best Discovery Channel show tie-in we've ever seen.

The latest from Globe-Trotter looks nothing like the luggage Winston Churchill toted in the twenties, but then again, he never had his suitcase manhandled by security at O'Hare. The British brand's new onehundred&ten suitcase—yep, it's another curiously timed anniversary tie-in—was unveiled today at Tokyo Design Week. Designed by Ross Lovegrove (the guy behind Sony's original Walkman), the curvy carbon fiber case is strong and light enough for 21st-century travel. The brand has dabbled in designer collabs before (Eley Kishimoto in 2004, Colette in 2006), but Globe-Trotter is calling this the single most important development in its 110-year history. Hyperbole? We'll find out in January, when the suitcase goes on sale.
Onehundred&ten suitcase, price TBA, globe-trotterltd.com

Graffiti artist Neck Face opens his first-ever New York solo show tonight, and his timing (as in Halloween) couldn't be more appropriate. After all, he has already tagged his bloodthirsty goth creatures—beloved by collectors like Beck—from New York to Tokyo, and the exhibit includes eerie metal masks (above), a toddler-sized pair of witch's hands, and sculpted neon-yellow devils. And then there's the show's title and theme: Closed Casket, which is loosely based around the idea of Satan. "I'm inspired by the dark, the blackness of the night, the things you ain't supposed to laugh at, the evil in the world today," he says. (Cue Vincent Price chuckle here.) But consider yourself warned: If you plan on going to tonight's opening, costume is required.

Also, Londonist claims to have "unmasked" Banksy, but we're not convinced that blurry, tilted-angle shots taken from a distance really count.
Closed Casket, Oct. 31-Nov. 24, Dactyl Foundation, 64 Grand St., (212) 696-7800, dactyl.org. RSVP for the opening to rsvp@dactyl.org

Quick reminder: Tomorrow is the start of Movember, a monthlong campaign of mustache-growing. This is the first-ever U.S. edition, after the concept started three years ago in—where else?—Australia. Need to justify participating to a loved one? The campaign raises money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation—get sponsors to make pledges (or donate the money yourself), go clean-shaven on November 1, then let your 'stache grow. (Think of it as a walkathon for hirsute lazy men.) Not sure what to use when you shave it off in December? Check out our shave creams Hotlist.

Best 'stache in the biz. This is one of his Emmy-winning ESPN commercials from 1996.

Instead we direct you to Dirt Farmer, by ex-Band drummer Levon Helm. On it he blends originals with traditional tunes—made all the more remarkable by the fact that this is his first album since he had throat cancer in the nineties. Also of note, two biopic-inspired releases: The all-star covers soundtrack to the still-not-released Dylan movie I'm Not There, and long-overdue reissues of Joy Division's all-too-thin back catalog.

Quick reminder: WhiskyFest kicks off in NYC tonight. Sponsored by Malt Advocate magazine, it's the largest independent whisky event in the country—i.e., not funded by an alcohol-maker—and brings together hundreds of master blenders, geeks, and curious newbies. What's the upside to attending?  "For $125 you get to try thousands of dollars' worth of whiskies," says Kevin Erskine, publisher of TheScotchBlog.com. "If you went into the average bar in New York, you'd pay $40 a dram for some of these malts." And which of the 200 brands (including Highland Park, left) is he looking forward to sampling? "I'm actually not going to drink tonight. I've already tried most of these as part of my day job." Nice work if you can get it. Those who can't attend—and because it's sold-out, that's most of us—can always stay in and study our scotch hotlist.

Given the ubiquity of full-featured, well-designed pocket-size cameras—and we can recommend a few—separating yourself from the herd takes some extra effort. Like, say, going to Japan, where you'll soon be able to get the new Ricoh GRII. Two years in the making, the camera's both lighter and more powerful than its award-winning predecessor, the GR. No word yet on stateside availability, but expect it to be on gray-market sites—for upwards of $700—within hours.

[Amateur Photographer via Engadget]

Google has announced that it will announce—yes, it's that tentative—something in the next two weeks, which is probably either a really nifty cornucopia-themed Google logo for Thanksgiving or the long-rumored Google phone. We're hoping it's the latter, which is believed to be open-source from the start (unlike the iPhone), and reports say the company will offer service via T-Mobile. No word on whether it'll have an "I'm Feeling Lucky" dial function.

[MarketWatch via Engadget]

Chances are, you haven't seen Twin Peaks in its entirety—the original pilot had not been released in the States until today, with the new Definitive Gold Box Edition—but you probably should. And in other DVD news, United Artists has announced a 90-disc box set of its best films—Annie Hall, Raging Bull, and Some Like It Hot among them—at the not unreasonable price of $869 (less than ten bucks a movie). Look for it in December.
Twin Peaks: The Definitive Gold Box Edition, $64.99; UA Super Deluxe Gift Set, $869, available December 11

Finally, a legally sanctioned way to search lyrics from the Black Eyed Peas back catalog: AOL and MTV are about to launch an online database of lyrics from 500,000 songs. (Yahoo! and Rhapsody created a similar site earlier this year.) Other artists include Tim McGraw, Justin Timberlake, and Elton John—which should settle that "Tiny dancer"/"Tony Danza" confusion once and for all.

Kink emporium Kiki de Montparnasse has opened a new shop (above) in L.A., the second-ever store from the upscale lingerie line. (The first, as sophisticated pervs already know, is located on Greene Street in NYC.) So what makes the new Melrose outpost special? The most tastefully dirty lingerie out there, for one thing, and an "aphrodisiac garden," for another. We're not quite sure what that is, though it sounds like the kind of place one could get to know in a biblical way.
Kiki de Montparnasse, 8280 Melrose Ave., (323) 951-9545, kikidm.com

Frenchman Pierre Hardy is already known for his outré dress shoes and boots, but frankly we didn't see this coming: Colorama, a limited-edition new sneaker wherein every part of the shoe is made from a different color. The kicks, available in a run of 500, should make matching either a breeze or a nightmare—or a little of each—and will be available this week from Barneys.
Pierre Hardy Colorama, $440, available from Barneys, 660 Madison Ave., (212) 826-8900, barneys.com

Downtown artist-prankster Tobias Wong has learned what every publicist in America already knows: To get attention, mention the iPhone. He's done just that with ccPhone, an iPhone customized with special on-screen artwork, preselected music, and hipster shop Citizen:Citizen's personal address book, which he will update twice a year. (And, oh, yeah, apparently you actually can put a price on irony: $2,000.) Citizen founder Philip Wood demonstrates (kind of) the phone below:

Skype has teamed up with UK provider 3 on its first-ever carrier-branded phone, to be released this Friday. Network operators have traditionally shunned the Web-based Skype, fearing it would usurp their business, so this is potentially big news—basically, it makes the free service much easier to operate (handsets will include a dedicated button) and won't require downloading third-party software. The 3 Skype is strictly available overseas for now, but the news means it's likely a matter of time before a forward-thinking U.S. carrier (if there actually are any) follows suit.

[T3 via BBC News]

Also, the saddest: Wes Anderson talks to Owen Wilson about everything but the thing you want them to talk about.

Finally, a place to catch up (legally) on old episodes of Picket Fences: Hulu.com, the much-anticipated (kind of) online venture from NBC and Fox. The free site, which goes beta today, shows both old and new episodes of approximately 90 of the networks' shows, plus a whopping ten movies (including Sideways and The Blues Brothers). The videos are commercial-free, though their media player flashes banner ads. But the best feature is an easy-to-use editing tool—perfect for forwarding the one and a half funny bits from the latest episode of The Office.

DNR's annual list of menswear's movers and shakers, The Power 100, is out today, and they really went out on a limb with their top two: Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani.

Also, Tom Ford (number 19!) hints in the issue that he might launch a men's skincare and grooming line. We assume this will include chest hair stimulant. Oh, and he's opening a Milan store next summer.

The bad news: Ernie's, the old-school restaurant featured in Alfred Hitchock's Vertigo, is closed. The good news: An excellent new store is taking its place. Carrots, opening this week in San Francisco, is a 4,000-square-foot boutique owned by Missy and Catie Grimm. (Their family runs Grimmway Farms, worldwide distributor of—you guessed it—carrots.) The shop carries the usual favorites like Band of Outsiders and Rag & Bone alongside lesser-known brands such as Chimala and Transit, though you may also dig the fully stocked bar, complete with a flat-panel TV. Missy Grimm promises a final touch even teetotalers will enjoy: "We'll always have carrot cake in the store."

Carrots, 843 Montgomery St., San Francisco, (415) 834-9040, sfcarrots.com