Just when you thought you'd fling yourself into the Hudson if another taxidermy-filled boho-luxe lounge opened, Taavo Somer and Ken Friedman (the geniuses behind Freemans and the Spotted Pig, respectively) have teamed up to create the Rusty Knot, a nautical-themed restaurant on Manhattan's West Side Highway. The jury's still out on the food—we only sampled a few spicy shrimp at last night's "friends and family" fete—but if it matches the spot-on execution of drinks, staff, and decor, consider us besotted. The seventies-era Long Island rec room aesthetic includes a jukebox, a boat steering wheel, a pool table, plastic wood-laminate walls, and dropped ceilings—we overheard one guest proclaim, "Nobody purposely drops a ceiling in New York City in 2008," but apparently if you're Taavo Somer, you can, and you do.

But despite the dive vibe, expect humongous tumblers filled with clever cocktails (Milk & Honey's Tobey Maloney helped curate the rum-heavy drink list) and sophisticated, simple food (think pigs-in-blankets and a discriminating selection of oysters). And if you can't get a table—it's bound to be a few hours' wait for the first couple months—just hop into a rickshaw and shuttle back to the Pig. Oh, and the latest word is that they'll open to the public "sometime next week."
The Rusty Knot, 425 West St., NYC, (212) 645-5668

Online Italian retailer Yoox has launched a new high-end site,  TheCorner.com. The virtual shop will guide users to "corners" (get it?), which are essentially mini-boutiques stocked with clothes and accessories from 20 brands, including Marc Jacobs, with Raf Simons and Martin Margiela soon to come. Think of it as a high-end department store, without the snooty sales help.

Really, there is one: Yasuo Nakajima, whose family's Nakajima Dye Works has been in business for 175 years and was even recognized as a "prefectural treasure" by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. (Hey, why don't we have one of those?) So call it a sign of the times that at the age of 78, Nakajima Sensei is just now applying the fam's seventh-century pot dye techniques to his first-ever denim project, a collection of jeans dubbed Tsurukichi (for "longevity and prosperity"). "We hand-dyed our cotton in 315 spools, which were sent to weavers in Okayama," he says. "Roughly 42 pairs will be made." To promote the line, the master is in New York for the weekend, but don't expect to see him endorsing the creased jean trend if you spot him on the street. "For my generation," he says, "there was only Levi's."
Tsurukichi jeans, around $500, due this June at Project No. 8, 138 Division St., NYC, (212) 925-5599, projectno8.com

While Roland Emmerich's action flick 10,000 B.C., out today, stars the not-unattractive Camilla Belle, there's only one curvaceous cavewoman for us: The luscious Ms. Welch, who ran around in a loincloth and little else in 1966's One Million Years B.C. And that's pretty much all the excuse we needed to post this photo. You're welcome.

While the era of the 200-dollar jean is far from over, the economic climate has made the 65-dollar pair a little more appealing. Case in point: H&M just bought Fabric Scandinavien, which owns Cheap Monday, and plans to expand the brand's reach by building more stores worldwide. (It won't change the jeans' design or sell them in H&M stores, however.) Given the news that Urban Outfitters is expanding thanks to record earnings—and that luxury stores are starting to feel the pinch—it looks as though the age of cheap-chic is upon us. Then again, we told you that a year ago.

This spring, the designing couple's estate has authorized a reproduction of this bird, which was the prize piece in their massive folk art collection. (Who knew?) Discovered in Appalachia, it was displayed prominently in their living room for 50 years, and even made a cameo in this famous photo of their famous chairs. The new version, of course, is a little fancier—made from alder wood and given a black lacquer finish, it retails for just under 200 bucks from German manufacturer Vitra. Hey, that's probably cheaper than scouring for one yourself.
Eames House Bird, $195, hivemodern.com

[Design Mind via Luxist]

Lingerie model May Anderson has just introduced a new line of jeans, dubbed Chick With Guns and described as "spray-on skinny." And while she claims "lots of my guy friends" wear the pants, we happen to think they look a lot better on her.

[British Vogue]

Couldn't score a Japanese bootleg of Super Smash Bros. Brawl for your Wii? This Sunday brings the long-delayed stateside release of what is likely the game of the year. It's the third installment (and first for the new console) in Nintendo's bankable mash-up fighting series, which boasts the usual roster of home-team stars (Mario, Donkey Kong, Samus from Metroid) and, for the first time, third-party characters (Sonic the Hedgehog, Solid Snake of Metal Gear fame). Other features include online play, a level editor that lets bored fanboys create their own stages, and the always-useful "taunt" feature.

So how does it play? In short, it feels like you're beating the tar out of opponents with your own hands, thanks to the lightning-quick character actions, fluid motion, and graphics that make the GameCube Melee version look like it's from, well, 2001. The best part, though, is the 300-song soundtrack—it's so good, you probably won't hear your girlfriend yelling at you to turn the damn thing off.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl, $49.99, available March 9 at gamestop.com

First, there were these guys. And now hipster Swedish brand Acne has introduced a new pair of, yes, creased jeans. Gentleman's Jeans were created in collaboration with Fantastic Man editor Gert Jonkers and the magazine's art director, Jop van Bennekom, and have both a crease and (heresy!) a single pleat, not to mention a higher waist and slightly tapered leg. They're available now at Colette in Paris, but you can try 'em on closer to home at the company's new Soho store, set to open later this month. Iron not included.
Acne Gentleman's Jeans, $350, available soon at Acne Studio, 10 Greene St., NYC, acnejeans.com

(ALSO: Check out our basic blues hotlist.)

Ah, Japan: land of tea ceremonies, cherry blossoms, and tattoo-stained, finger-slicing mobsters. In case you were wondering which one of those three things makes for good cinema, Gamblers, Gangsters, and Other Anti-Heroes, a series of five classic Japanese Yakuza movies, opens tonight at Manhattan's Asia Society. It's culled mostly from the sixties, but closes with 1973's Battles Without Honor and Humanity, pictured, a brutal, documentary-style flick based on a series of newspaper stories by a former gangster. It spawned four sequels, none of which is included here—but now you have some leftovers for your Netflix queue.
Gamblers, Gangsters, and Other Anti-Heroes, tonight through April 17, The Asia Society, 725 Park Ave., NYC, (212) 288-6400, asiasociety.org

With its fluorescent decor and rooftop pool, Manhattan's Gansevoort Hotel has always felt like it would be right at home in a certain Florida party city. So it's no surprise that this month the brand is opening the Gansevoort South in Miami (cue Brandon Davis sightings). Behind its original quasi-deco facade, the place will house a David Barton gym and spa, a haute Asian eatery (hey, why didn't anyone else think of that?), and a double-height lobby complete with that Bond villain favorite, a shark tank. But as in New York, the real selling point is up top—Gansevoort North vet Stephen B. Jacobs has outfitted the roof with a 115-foot-long outdoor pool. Meanwhile, the burgeoning hotel empire is about to add a second Manhattan property near the Flatiron District, though Jacobs insists it will never become a cookie-cutter chain. "Every location must always respond to their local impulses and regional features," he says. Given some of the characters we've encountered in Miami over the years, that probably explains the shark tank.
Gansevoort South, 2377 Collins Ave., Miami, (305) 601-1000, gansevoortsouth.com

An exploration of artificial hair and the U.S. Constitution? Actors spewing artificial vomit? Homemade musical instruments? Yes, the Whitney Biennial is back, and this time the museum's once-every-two-years survey of contemporary art is incorporating a satellite show at Manhattan's castle-like Park Avenue Armory. The idea is to showcase some of the (even) less traditional stuff—performance-based work, art films, even radio broadcasts. We've asked a few of the included artists to explain the methods behind their madness—it might not expand your understanding much, but at least you'll sound smart during this weekend's dinner-party conversations.

Click here for a slideshow >

Whitney Biennial at the Park Avenue Armory, today through March 23, 643 Park Ave., NYC, (212) 616-3930, whitney.org, armoryonpark.org

The new BD Live feature on the latest Blu-ray discs (including War, Saw IV, and Alien vs. Predator) lets you play movie-based multiplayer games over the Internet while watching your action flick. Sounds like a ploy to get you to buy a PlayStation 3, which will be the only player that complies with the new standard, beginning late this spring. No word on whether The Darjeeling Limited will let you design your own luggage.

International travel ain't getting any cheaper, so lately we've been eyeing Puerto Rico, where you don't need to worry about the devaluation of the damned dollar. In particular, a certain stretch of San Juan coastline has recently seen numerous A-list openings, including two at the El San Juan Hotel: the enticing Encanto Beach Club (pictured), an open-air lounge staffed by attractive Mojito hostesses and designed by the team behind NYC's Buddha Bar, and KOCO, an eatery serving some very exotic-sounding snacks.(Truffle conch fritters, anyone?) Farther down the beach at the Condado Plaza, designer David Rockwell has been brought in for a major revamp that includes an offshoot of his elegant Strip House in NYC—after all, there's only so many shark paninis a man can stuff down.
El San Juan Hotel & Casino, 6063 Isla Verde Ave., San Juan, Puerto Rico, (877) 597-9696, elsanjuanhotel.com; Strip House at the Condado Plaza, 999 Ashford, San Juan, (866) 317-8934

Now coming stateside: Loake shoes, courtesy of custom clothiers Astor & Black. Previously available only in the U.K., the stylish footwear has earned the Queen's Royal Warrant—an accolade that means the House of Windsor's official endorsement. (Other products on the list include Aston Martin, Laphroaig, and Burberry, so Loake is keeping good company.) "I wear the shoes around and it's like wearing a pair of sneakers, says Astor & Black founder David Schottenstein, who started the Columbus-based tailoring chain in 2005. "You think of British shoes, you think hard, stiff, unforgiving—this is a whole different ball game." Still, Schottenstein says he might have to collaborate with Loake on new designs—many of Astor & Black's clients can't fit into the shoes, which currently max out at size 13. You know what they say about big feet: They belong to Americans.
Loake shoes, from $250 to $300, available at Astor & Black stores, astorandblack.com

Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art, opening today at London's Barbican Art Gallery, presents contemporary art the way, well, Martians might see it—that is, stripped of context and considered solely as enigmatic sociological detritus. What, for example, did the Earth people do with Sherrie Levine's bronze-cast urinal? Is it an altar, or a pissoir? And—once it's bleached of all that presumptive irony—surely Scott King's Pink Cher, pictured, proves a call to join the subject's revolution. Gimmicky? Perhaps. But co-curator Lydia Yee, for one, is gamely staying in character. "Art is a particularly difficult concept for Martians to grasp," she explains. "They tend to try to make sense of artworks as artifacts with a functional purpose. Therefore, ready-mades and artworks that include everyday terrestrial objects are particularly confusing from the Martian point of view." In other words, the day E.T. finally comes to town, we should all expect to be greeted with a resounding "Huh?"
Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art, today through May 18, Barbican Art Gallery, Silk St., London, 020-7638-4141, barbican.org.uk

Olympus' new E-420 (presumably named to attract stoner photography enthusiasts) is billed as the first ever DSLR to cost under $500. That's a bit of a technicality, considering it costs $499, and a 14-42mm lens will set you back another hundo. Still, it's the lightest in its class at only 13.4 ounces, while featuring the same 10-megapixel sensor as the higher-end E-510. Given the E line's rep for producing decent bang for your buck, it looks like a solid buy—but we'll find out for sure when it hits stores in May.

[Gizmodo]

The latest vintage sneaker getting the re-release treatment: Le Coq Sportif's Dynatec running shoes, originally out in 1982. Considered something of a technical marvel in their heyday—the original press release touted the "intensive research" behind the design—they're nowadays better fitted for weekend brunch than a morning jog. We mean that literally: The insides offer a sock-style fit, so your feet will feel as good as they look. Available in their home nation's blue, white, and red, the limited-edition kicks are in stores this month.
Le Coq Sportif Dynatec running shoes, $90, available at Steven Alan, NYC, stevenalan.com

We'll probably never know what the hell Yoko Ono was thinking when she persuaded her knockout assistant May Pang to get it on with her husband in the summer of '73. What started out as a "lost weekend" with John Lennon turned into a year-and-half-long affair, a period the Beatle later called "the happiest I've ever been." Pang has few regrets, but what she does have are some great photographs, seen for the first time in her new book, Instamatic Karma. Lennon later admitted he was "fucked up on booze and shit" most of the time; perhaps that state of inebriation led to the unguarded moments—swimming, smoking, stuffing his face, wearing his girlfriend's pants—that come through in Pang's pics. Obviously, it was good shit.

The horribly named upcoming Bond flick Quantum of Solace is filming now, and Daniel Craig says he's already ruined 40 bespoke Tom Ford suits during the process. ("It makes me weep every time," he claims.) First of all, they must have some wardrobe budget. Secondly, let's hope the movie doesn't suck (and Casino Royale decidedly didn't)—we'd really hate to see all those suits go to waste.

[Vogue UK]

The Swiss also make some of the strangest, coolest-looking art books in the world, judging by those of six-year-old independent publishing house Nieves. And tomorrow night, the brand is finally opening its first stateside bookstore, a 75-square-foot pop-up shop inside L.A. hipster boutique Ooga Booga.

The place will carry 120 new, rare, and out-of-print titles—including 333, right, a collection of collages and drawings by NYC artist Marcel Dzama, and Emerald, left, a zine by Boredoms drummer Yoshimi P-We. (She also inspired The Flaming Lips' 2002 album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.) On Thursdays, the location will host book signings by artists like Ari Marcopoulos and Mike Mills (the director, not the R.E.M. bassist). But stop by soon—the store closes in a month.
Nieves Library at Ooga Booga, tomorrow night through April 3, 943 N. Broadway #203, Los Angeles, oogaboogastore.com; nievesbooks.com

To smoke or not to smoke, in liquid terms, is the Scotch drinker's dilemma. The peaty flavor of classic single malts from Islay—think Laphroaig or Lagavulin—is an acquired taste, to be sure, but ultimately well worth the effort. And the Ardmore distillery, founded in 1898 in Aberdeenshire, produces the perfect introduction: The only fully peated Highland malt, it tenders a softer, less salty smokiness than those found on Islay, tempered with inviting top notes of butterscotch and vanilla. Problem is, the stuff has never been sold in the States—until now. Starting this month, 3,000 coveted cases of Ardmore Traditional Cask are being shipped across the pond. Better 110 years late than never.
Ardmore Traditional Cask, about $50, ardmorewhisky.com

(PLUS: Check out our Scotch hotlist.)

And unlike the hybrid Fisker Karma and the electric Tesla Roadster before it, the new LifeCar uses hydrogen power. Unveiled at this week's Geneva Auto Show, the car is made by British automaker Morgan—best known for making vehicles from ash wood (which is, after all, a natural substance)—and will produce no emissions. (It also goes from zero to 60 in a solid, if unspectacular, seven seconds.) Too bad it tops out just shy of 100 mph and is just a concept. Still, it looks good, thanks to a body based in part on the brand's retro-styled Aero 8—which, by the way, is available now with a 4.8-liter gas-powered engine from BMW.

[BBC]

Starting today, you'll be able to bring it home. Well, kind of—Savile Row's Henry Poole has refabricated Churchill's signature striped flannel cloth (used here) into a lighterweight material. The first suit made with it is a 40R, in part because the prime minister's 1905 measurements were so unusual (37-inch chest, 35-inch waist, head forward, thick neck, "rather flat chest") and the later ones were lost. (Like Hollywood, London's bespoke houses once had a cavalier attitude toward their own history.) It goes on display today at the start of London's BADA Antiques Fair, and it's yours for just under £2,500—tommy gun not included.
BADA Antiques Fair, today through March 11, Duke of York Square, Chelsea, London, bada-antiques-fair.co.uk

And it's as restrained as you would expect. Just kidding—the Fbg par Hermès is a $2.35-million edition of Bugatti Veyron's speedy 16.4 coupe, complete with H logos on the wheels and a trunk lined in leather. (They even include a leather case for you to put inside; no orange gift box, though.) The car (like the 16.4 Pur Sang from last year's Frankfurt Auto Show) also boasts a 1,001-horsepower 16-cylinder engine, capable of going 0 to 60 in only 2.5 seconds. No plans are yet being made for a Bugatti bag.

[Autoblog]

The Japanese brand announced today that it's "reviewing" its plasma business, amid rumors that it will be abandoning the genre altogether. (For comparison's sake, Toshiba was said to be "reviewing" its HD-DVD format earlier this year.) Too bad—it makes some of the best in the business—but sales have recently been lousy, in part because LCDs have gotten bigger and cheaper while plasmas have not. The good news? The company is rumored to be moving into the LCD market instead.

[AP via Engadget]

Just when you thought today couldn't get any more indie, Pitchfork announces a new online video channel devoted to "original mini-documentaries, secret rooftop and basement sessions, full concerts, exclusive interviews, and the most carefully curated selection of music videos online." The site goes beta April 7; expect to read the first snobby, overwritten, negative reviews shortly thereafter.

Following TomTom's latest entry, Garmin just unveiled its new Nuvi 2x5 series at CeBIT. The four included devices integrate MSN Direct's traffic updates—a feature already offered on its pricier models—and include shaded elevation maps. The flagship is the 255w, pictured, which sports a generous 4.3-inch screen and Canadian maps. It'll set you back just under 400 bucks, and should be out this spring.

Also, German brand Navigon introduced the 2100 and 2120 Max, both of which come with an extra-wide 4.3-inch touchscreen. They look cool, but unfortunately lack such necessities as Bluetooth or included live traffic info. (You can upgrade for $99.) Availability date TBD.

Not that we're complaining, mind you. The latest is the T303, a tiny slider the brand just unveiled at CeBIT. It weighs just 3.2 ounces, and comes with a mirrored-glass screen and chrome-finish exterior. The specs are ho-hum—8 MB of memory, a decent media player, not much in the way of a camera—but you're not buying it for its functionality, are you? (If so: Yes, it makes calls.) Due this summer, price TBD.

[Gizmodo]

One of Geneva's stuffiest hotels has just gotten an overdue injection of glamour. The five-star Le Richemond, built in 1875 and located in the city's center, has fully reopened after a two-year rehab and several months of operating in parts. Additions include a swank Shiseido spa, but the most impressive improvement has to be the new Royal Suite, taking up the entire top floor. The 2,700-square-foot space features fireplaces, a sauna, an 1,100-square-foot terrace with views of Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc, and—because, hey, you never know—bulletproof windows.
Le Richemond, rooms from about $695 per night, Jardin Brunswick, 1201 Geneva, Switzerland, +41-22-715-7000, lerichemond.com

Former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus' two main gifts as a songwriter are an ear for catchy choruses and a way with surrealist wordplay. Neither is at the fore of his new solo record, Real Emotional Trash, but that's a good thing—the all-out guitar jams find him stretching out into new, surprisingly listenable territory, closer to recent Wilco than anything by his former band. Muscled along by former Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss, the album manages to truly rock without losing any of the goofiness that made SM so lovable in the first place.

Craving more indie? Head over to Merge's new online store, where you can download exclusives from Spoon alongside classics by Magnetic Fields and Neutral Milk Hotel.

It's not your typical love story: Boy meets bassist, boy loses wife, boy's band breaks up. But Luna wasn't a typical band, and the affair between frontman Dean Wareham and the beguiling Britta Phillips (who joined the dream-pop combo in 2002) was far from formulaic. In the singer-guitarist's compelling new memoir, Black Postcards: A Rock & Roll Romance (out next week), he recounts his futile efforts to forestall the dangerous liaison he knew would wreck his marriage and devastate his then-eight-month-old son. Luna broke up in 2005 and Wareham got divorced soon after, but he and Phillips formed their own band, Dean & Britta, and got married last year while recording their latest album, Back Numbers. Best of all, all that angst made for some great lyrics.

The film 638 Ways to Kill Castro makes its fortuitously timed stateside television debut tonight on Sundance. Originally aired on the BBC in 2006, it documents the U.S. government's attempts to kill the Comandante over the years—from ex-lovers paid to poison him with pills to those famous exploding cigars. (Fun tidbit: Castro allegedly stopped smoking in 1985.) As you should know, none of them worked—but that red, white, and blue tracksuit came close.

It's a 1.5-billion-square-foot development, designed by Rem Koolhaas for an artificial island in (where else?) Dubai. Described as a "generic city"—25 blocks of repetitive buildings that house global nomads with few local loyalties—it frankly looks much, much cooler than that. (Imagine Metropolis remade by Peter Jackson.) The architect says his goal is to "find optimism in the inevitable," but there is some reason to be pessimistic: There's no date set for construction.

[NYT]

As portrayed in Sean Penn's beautiful (if sometimes frustrating) adaptation of Into the Wild (out this week on DVD), Christopher McCandless is a charming and manipulative sweet-talker, quoting Tolstoy with reverence and then abandoning anyone who gets close to him. Clearly, this is someone Penn can relate to, but what's surprising is how much tenderness he shows for his subject's real and surrogate parents. In particular, the scene where Hal Holbrook's widowed WWII vet offers to adopt Hirsch, only to be flatly rejected, is as heartbreaking as anything I saw last year. It's not a flawless film—a few too many mid-tempo Eddie Vedder tunes, and way too many slo-mo nature shots—but Penn hasn't been this warm and fuzzy since he wore Spicoli's checkered Vans.

Every GPS company is adding live traffic updates these days, but TomTom is taking the next logical step: estimating drive times based on actual traffic speeds, not speed limits. The IQ Routes feature, announced today as part of the brand's new Go series, tracks everything from speed bumps to unfriendly lights to where drivers can put pedal to metal on I-95—in short, everything you need when you're traveling in a strange place. Also, the company's new Advanced Lane Guidance provides lane-specific directions so you don't miss turns just because you're in the wrong lane. Not that that's ever happened to us.
TomTom Go 730, $449, and TomTom Go 930, $499, due this April, tomtom.com

That's right, Wal-Mart. The New York Times has a profile today of the usually tight-lipped company's new site, Check Out, which features its buyers' honest, insightful opinions on everything from gadgets to movies, the occasional bit of breaking news (Wal-Mart dropping HD-DVD), and (of course) posts about their cats.

Finally, Keith Richards has something in common with Mikhail Gorbachev and Andre Agassi (besides a great backhand): appearing in an ad for Louis Vuitton (pictured). While we can't quite imagine Keef carrying that guitar case around (though it was custom-made, presumably to help him get through customs), we do like his leather jacket, which he reportedly picked up at an LV store the day of the shoot.

[WWD]

…Engineered Garments. Designer Daiki Suzuki beat out stiff competition from Steven Alan, Gilded Age, Obedient Sons, Rag & Bone, and Spurr to take home the first-ever prize. Up next: creating a mini-collection to be sold this fall at levi.com and select Bloomingdale's locations for one month (and other retailers thereafter), not to mention finding a way to spend the $50,000 award.

Time to redecorate the office: Haute design depot Metropolis Modern has launched a new line of "executive toys" that won't make you look like an emotionally retarded teenager with his first credit card and a Sharper Image catalog (while they last, by the way.) The collection kicks off with a selection of vintage teak animals and toys by Danish designer Kay Bojesen, an early model of the stainless-steel revolving ashtray designed by Danish star Arne Jacobsen in 1967, and a selection of antique Machine Age drop-forged iron tools mounted on custom metal stands. That last one's manly wrenches will make you feel like you're doing real work—even if you're really just punching up spreadsheets at your desk.
Center 44, 222 E. 44th St., NYC, (212) 450-7988, metropolismodern.com