On Sunday night, ESPN is airing Dan Klores' Black Magic, a documentary about players from historically black colleges and universities during the civil rights era. Just as Ken Burns' 1994 Baseball helped turn Buck O'Neill into an icon, this series should do the same for John McLendon, pictured, the late coach who, among other things, invented the fast break and won three straight national championships while at Tennessee A&I in the fifties. (He later became the first black coach in all of professional sports when George Steinbrenner hired him to lead the ABL's Cleveland Pipers in 1961.) Happily, the network has agreed to air the entire four-hour doc—which concludes Monday night—commercial-free.

Nomzee doesn't have the only show in L.A. this weekend. On Sunday, the Getty is opening California Video, a new exhibit culled from more than 40 years of video art by California artists. (The kind you find in museums, not from big-budget auteurs like Brett Ratner.) Among the included filmmakers are Nancy Buchanan, William Wegman, and Paul McCarthy. Check out a trailer below:

California Video, March 15 through June 8, J. Paul Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Dr., (310) 440-7300, getty.edu

Every so often, NYC design shop Kiosk rotates in an entire stock from an individual country. Past nations have included Japan and Sweden, and the latest is China, or more specifically, Hong Kong, whose wares were introduced last night. They range from a paper Ping-Pong set (made for burning during Chinese funerals) and a scarlet lampshade (insert "red light district" joke here) to so-called harsh tobacco, which is exactly what it sounds like (and comes in a cool matchbox-sized paper container). The selections are also online, where you can peruse owner Alisa Grifo's oddball product descriptions, like the one of the pictured handmade knife: "Zing! Only nine fingers left!" Sharp.
Kiosk, 95 Spring St., 2nd floor, NYC, (212) 226-8601, kioskkiosk.com

Last night Tabasco sauce celebrated its 140th birthday at NYC's Old Homestead steakhouse, which is almost exactly the same age. The clan behind the Louisiana staple, the McIlhennys, threw a serious bash, with lots of bourbon, music, crawfish, and oysters. On the latter was Tabasco's Avery Island Reserve, a special sauce made from handpicked peppers and limited to a production of 2,500 bottles. It's usually only given to the company's family and friends, but this year it will be available to the public for the first time. So how's it taste? In short: less spice, more pepper, and plenty of bite. And compared to a Bloody Mary at Prune, it's a steal at fifteen bucks a bottle.
Tabasco Avery Island Reserve, $14.99, tabasco.com

It all started with 40 vintage suits: Stanton Social, that is, the Lower East Side eatery conceived by NYC avant-garde interior designers AvroKO as an homage to traditional tailoring, inspired by the days when the neighborhood bristled with seamstresses and haberdashers. Those 40 suits were torn apart—ahem, deconstructed—their elements and details incorporated into the space's design in various clever ways. In the most striking example, a classic Harris Tweed jacket was reinterpreted as a massive two-story herringbone-patterned wine storage wall holding 2,000 bottles. Along with the firm's other design feats, the restaurant's included in their beautiful (but oddly titled) new book, Best Ugly: Restaurant Concepts and Architecture. If nothing else, you'll never look at your old suits the same way again.

Click here for a slideshow >

Coming later this year: Top Gear, the world tour. The live show will "incorporate the drama of film and theatre with the thrills and spills of stunts and special effects," the BBC promises. (Hey, we'll settle for some stars in reasonably priced cars.) The show's big three (Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond) will likely take part in the British dates this November, but it's not clear whether they'll visit any of the tour's 15 other countries, which are still TBD. Here's hoping they remember a certain apple-pie-loving nation that, after all, invented the automobile.

[BBC]

Mix together that timeless trio of a former graffitihead, the works of Carl Jung, and transcendental meditation, and what do you get? "A more sophisticated mode of expression," says L.A. artist Norm "Nomzee" Maxwell. Translation from hipster-ese: His new show, L.A. Follies, includes a dozen line-drawn faces from Andrew Brown of fashion label Drifter (right) and a series of Nomzee's own Technicolor canvases, which, according to him, "play out like an autobiographical motion picture with flashbacks to my adolescent days writing graffiti and running the streets of Philadelphia." Judging by the above left, those days must have included some clown dancing.
L.A. Follies opens tonight and runs through March 31 at Norm Maxwell Gallery, 2049 Sawtelle Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 528-1136, normmaxwell.com

Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk may sound like a new ride at Disneyland (and its treacly father-daughter plotline doesn't exactly help), but with sweeping aerials, 3-D effects, and rapid-charging raft shots, Greg MacGillivray's 35th IMAX vehicle is one of his best. (And no, that's not a backhanded compliment.) As the subtitle suggests, the film takes a wide-angle look at the ever-diminishing Colorado via a thrilling ride downriver, aided by Wade Davis, Nat Geo's explorer-in-residence (that's a job?), and his college pal Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (Narrator Bob Redford stays off-camera.) As MacG said at Wednesday night's world premiere, "It's the most important film we've made." We're sure Adventures in Wild California is a close second.

Elsewhere, Austrian auteur Michael Haneke delivers a 'mericanized frame-by-frame remake of his creepy 1997 thriller Funny Games. Not 3-D, but definitely an adventure.

The brand unveiled its Peter Marino-redesigned flagship the other night, and while the shop and clothes look fantastic—the Zegna Sport collection on the second floor is particularly strong—we were most intrigued the all-glass bridge on the floor above. It slopes a little as you walk toward the elevator, which creates a sinking sensation. Come to think of it, it's not unlike the feeling you get when you "accidentally" drop $6,400 on a pair of alligator wingtips.
Ermenegildo Zegna, 663 Fifth Ave., (212) 421-4488, zegna.com

You've seen the Kaufmann House in everything from fashion ads to coffee table books, but now you can make it yours. Richard Neutra's modernist masterpiece will be among the lots on May 13, the just-announced date of Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art evening sale in New York. The five-bed, five-bath structure, built on a prime piece of Palm Springs desert in 1946, was once owned by Barry Manilow, which might be the only deterrent to ownership—well, aside from its estimated $15 to $25 million asking price. Also going on the block that night: Francis Bacon's Three Studies for a Self Portrait, painted in 1976 and just the thing to hang inside your new Neutra.

Could be, at least if a recent survey from that august American organization the International Culinary Schools at the Art Institutes can be believed. The study asked 906 students what international cuisines they saw influencing the nation's menus in the next few years, and the answers didn't include staples like Mexican, Japanese, or even Italian. (Respondents could list more than one answer.) So what might you be seeing on your plates instead? Their answers are below:

-Spanish, 44.5 percent -South American, 43.8 percent -Thai, 36.7 percent -Central American, 32.8 percent -Moroccan, 24.2 percent -Vietnamese, 18.8 percent -Korean, 15.6 percent

Rogan Gregory is launching his spring/summer collection at Beantown boutique Stel's tonight, and naturally he's commemorating it with a limited-edition T-shirt. Appearances to the contrary, the designer's not using it to make some comment on world affairs: Middle East and Rathskeller were two of the city's top punk clubs in the seventies and eighties.
Rogan T-shirt, $65, only 100 available, on sale starting tonight at Stel's, 334 Newbury St., Boston, (617) 262 -3348, stelsinc.com

That's how Lucien Samaha sees it, anyway. Thus the photographer describes his new Uneasy About Beirut, opening today, as a collection of "failed photographs," images derived from negatives accidentally underprocessed and overexposed, so much so that his scanner couldn't read where one frame of film began and another ended. "I went back to Beirut, where I was born, with the idea that I would deal with it like any other city, you know, just taking snapshots," he explains. "Not focusing on the bullet holes, as it were, but improvising, seeing whatever I saw." Shooting on film, a change of pace for the longtime digital fanatic, Samaha saw a city juxtaposed against itself—"one part of town might be burning, while elsewhere, people were at the beach"—and this collision of impressions found an eerie analogue in his scanner's confusion. "The fact that the machine jammed these images together wound up yielding a result much more interesting than anything I could have thought to do intentionally," Samaha notes. In other words: If at first you don't succeed, fail, fail again.
Uneasy About Beirut, Sara Tecchia Roma New York, 529 West 20th St., NYC, (212) 741-2900, saratecchia.com

A month after Gucci opened a massive Fifth Avenue flagship, its old place just down the block has a new tenant: Diesel, which will move in at the end of the year. And economic slowdown be damned: The store will launch in time to carry the new, higher-end Black Gold collection.

Diesel's Renzo Rosso will have a new neighbor of his own, as Tommy Hilfiger is set to open two doors down around the same time. And in keeping with the optimistic tone on the avenue, TH is reportedly considering offering a bespoke service.

It seems that December 2007 photoshoot with Thom Browne was a sign of things to come: Last night at the American Museum of Natural History Winter Dance (sounds awesome!), photographer Terry Richardson ditched his trademark plaid for a crisp suit. (The next step: taking the Sartorialist's advice and showing some cuff.) The bigger question is whether this means the much-touted "return to dressing up" has now reached saturation point. For more on the crucial smart vs. casual debate, tune in to a special men.style.com report tomorrow.

For 43 years, the Pirelli tire company's limited-edition annual calendar has been highly coveted, not least because it's not for sale—instead, it's only distributed to a select list of VIPs. Rizzoli's new 640-page collection, The Complete Pirelli Calendars—not to be confused, of course, with 2004's The Pirelli Calendar: The Complete Works—collects every picture ever published, including shots by the world's top fashion photographers of Kate Moss, Christy Turlington, Eva Herzigova, Natalia Vodianova, and 200 other nubile nudes. The results range from arty to quasi-pornographic, but the best, of course, meld the two.

Click here for a slideshow preview >

The annual 12-hour race takes place this weekend, and Porsche is issuing a special edition of its Boxster RS 60 Spyder, which was already patterned after the 1960 winner, the 718 RS 60. At 298 hp, the new version will have a little more power, and will sport the same silver-over-red palette as the original 718. And (surprise) only 1,960 will be made.

[Autoblog]

Back in the early nineties (and hence our period-appropriate headline), Casio's G-Shock digital watch was the must-own of its genre: highly functional, relatively sleek, and damn near indestructible. Since then, the line has taken some baffling detours (like last year's silver analog version), but the latest entry is a return to form. The new G5500C has been built for greener times, with a solar panel and an auto light that keeps the display dimmed until you tilt the timepiece toward your face. Also new: color, with models available in red, white, and green. It sports 200-meter water-resistance, four alarms, and that same rigid construction—after all, some things never go out of style.
Casio G-Shock G5500C, $120, gshock.com

The online video channel from NBC and Fox went live today, five months after going beta (and having an invite-only policy). It hosts a slew of clips and episodes from each network, but the real reason to watch is the movies: About a hundred are available now, from Weekend at Bernie's to Dude, Where's My Car? (They have classics of the nonstoner variety, too.) Better yet, they're free, though you have to watch either a two-and-a-half-minute movie trailer upfront or let commercials disrupt your viewing—hardly a deal-breaker, that. Best of all, the launch gives us a decent excuse to post our favorite clip from Office Space.

The story is as American as the clothes themselves: Immigrant boy (a shirtmaker) meets girl (a button specialist) and falls in love. Together, Bernard Gant and his wife begin making preppy button-downs, which they sell to high-end clients like Brooks Brothers and J. Press before breaking out on their own in 1949. Two decades later, Gant shirts (with their signature stitched "G") are a WASP staple, and the family sells the company.

Unfortunately, the brand that bears their name declines in quality for, oh, the next few decades. But then in 2001, Swedish ownership takes over and injects a dash of flair (and cash); a few years later, by happy coincidence, classic American prep comes back into style. Drawing inspiration from both its legendary archives and a successful collaboration with retailer Jeffrey Kalinsky (whose authentically detailed oxford shirt is a huge hit), the label begins reworking its clothes, giving them a better fit and an updated (but not too updated) design. A mere 40 years after its peak, Gant is suddenly on the backs of fashionable editors—and in the pages of their magazines.

The renaissance comes full circle with Gant's new Limited Edition Collection, a 30-piece line hitting stores this month. It distills the brand's heritage from the fifties and sixties heyday into a look that should appeal to contemporary Mad Men—think shirts with button-down micro-collars and suits with a subtle sheen and tailored feel. The polos and knitwear have details like a rugby stripe on one sleeve or piping at the collar, but my favorite is a floral-print swim trunk that evokes something a little unexpected: the South Pacific. There might not be second acts in American lives, but it's good to know there are in American menswear.

This summer, Mickey Drexler's brand is opening its first-ever all-men's store inside NYC's The Liquor Store, pictured, an old tavern now considered a historical landmark. (The company incidentally just reported that revenues went up 9 percent last quarter.) The shop will carry the label's "best of the best," including its Collector's Item line of limited-edition clothes and accessories. But despite the building's origins, there are no plans to sell drinks.

[DNR]

The CFDA Swarovski Award for Menswear nominee's addition to the Japanese brand's Designers Invitation Project takes inspiration from an unlikely source: late Italian artist and designer Bruno Munari, whose photographs of European hipsters (and their square elders) in the thirties influenced the collection's combination of muted and bright colors. ("I just stumbled upon Munari's books at 192 Books on [NYC's] Tenth Avenue," Hamilton says, for those wanting to track them down.) The clothes also mix relatively clean design (a blue hoodie) with more forward-thinking construction, as in a cotton jacket with diagonally zippered chest pockets or an extended cardigan that Hamilton cites as a favorite. (The chambray shirts with rounded collars should get plenty of attention, too.) The line is due in stores later this month, but you can click here for an exclusive slideshow.

Tim Hamilton for Uniqlo reversible jacket, $59.50; cotton full-zip jacket, $59.50; color jeans, $49.50; chino pants, $39.50; chambray shirt, $39.50; full-zip hoodie, $39.50; V-neck cardigan, $39.50; available March 28 at Uniqlo, 546 Broadway, NYC, (917) 237-8811, uniqlo.com

For three weeks after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans' last surviving brewery was buried under eight feet of water. When the flood had gone, little was left of the 100-year-old Dixie Brewing Company, which made the beer that many a Southern gentleman cut his teeth on. (Author Walker Percy immortalized it in his ode to Southern culture, Why I Live Where I Live.) Only three of the brewery's 40 original cypress-wood tanks survived, but with those and some new state-of-the-art equipment, owners Joe and Kendra Bruno hope to have it up and running again within a year's time. In the interim, a limited quantity of Dixie's is being produced at Wisconsin's oldest brewery, and some of it is now making its way to select East Coast bars. "Dixie is more than just a beer," Kendra says. "It's part of our heritage."

cat: vices

A late addition to the Blue Planet trend: The IDEO Aquaduct, a high-design tricycle concept that helps those in developing countries create and transport clean drinking water. Essentially, the water goes in the trunk and pedaling powers a filter that leads to clean H2O in the second tank up front. Watch the video below to see it in action.

[Dezeen]

We plugged it before, but here's another reminder: Human Giant, MTV's very funny sketch show (not a contradiction in terms, after all), has its second-season premiere tonight. The episode features a memorable, sleazy cameo from Will Arnett (the guy who wasn't the voice of Kitt), which you can see below.

Chances are, if you've heard a modish, organ-driven pop song in a movie by Wes Anderson or Quentin Tarantino, it was by the Zombies. They sound like a catchier Doors or a jammier Beatles, but were blessed with the charisma of neither. (On the plus side, they're still alive and touring today.) Their masterpiece was 1968's Odessey and Oracle, reissued today in their native England with both mono and stereo versions. The only catch: It costs about 50 bucks to import. Hey, it's a better investment than joining Randy Jackson's Music Club.

Beginning tomorrow, artist Joseph DeLappe will begin reenacting Gandhi's 1930 240-mile Salt March on a treadmill inside New York's Eyebeam gallery—all of which will be reproduced in real time on Second Life. Yes, the self-parody is (kind of) deliberate. "I'm a spoiled American computer artist paying tribute to Gandhi's life and philosophy by taking on certain aspects of his march, like the walking," he says. "But at the same time, you know, I'm not going anywhere." Indeed. The inspiration came from DeLappe's last project, a series of virtual anti-war protests inside the America's Army video game that led one blogger to say he had a "Gandhi complex." Well, at least he's not wearing a dhoti, opting instead for "sweats, a white T-shirt, maybe, and either running shoes or Jesus sandals." Sounds like a whole new complex might be setting in.
Reenactment: Gandhi's March to Dandi—The Salt Satyagraha Online, tomorrow through April 6, Eyebeam, 540 W. 21st St., NYC, (212) 937-6580, eyebeam.org, saltmarchsecondlife.wordpress.com

The title of Sebastian Horsley's entertainingly appalling new memoir of "sex, drugs and Savile Row," Dandy in the Underworld, is stolen from a 1977 T. Rex record. That sets the tone for the British artist-provocateur's glammy persona, for which he's borrowed freely from Baudelaire and Bowie, with handouts from Sid Vicious and Oscar Wilde along the way. A retrospective of his work was called Hookers, Dealers and Tailors; a connoisseur of all three, he claims to have spent a Spitzer-besting £100,000 for call girls and another £100,000 on crack. (The latter might explain his outlandish costumes, which prove that bespoke isn't always better.) In 2000, Horsley achieved notoriety in England after having himself literally crucified; that episode, along with his various sexcapades, are rendered in stomach-turning detail in the book, which is out this week.

Well, pictures of them, anyway. Nude photographs of the duo (separate, not together) as well as the likes of Brigitte Bardot and Lauren Hutton will be sold at auction next month by Christie's in NYC. The 135 included shots were taken by the likes of Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, and Horst P. Horst and come from the collection of German-born Gert Elfering. (Note: You can only call your smut a "collection" when high-end photographers are involved.) The auction's on April 10, which means you still have time to save up—good thing, as the pics are expected to go for at least thirty grand each.

[Vogue UK]

Sounds a little like a law firm, but those are the names of the 2008 CFDA Fashion Award nominees for Menswear Designer of the Year: Tom Ford, Thom Browne, and Michael Bastian. The nominations for the Swarovski Award for emerging menswear talent went to Patrik Ervell, Tim Hamilton, and Band of Outsiders' Scott Sternberg. You can see the full roster of picks (including those for womenswear) here; winners will be announced June 2.

A worthy iPhone dock has finally arrived. Altec Lansing's new wall-mountable T612 has shielded, best-in-class speakers that quash phone interference—meaning you won't get any (unintended) static or popping while cranking your tunes. It looks sharp too, with an intuitive LED-based system that displays the volume, base, and treble, all controlled via the included remote. And yes, it takes calls—when the phone rings, the music fades out and your ring fades in. Which, by the way, is yet another reason to reconsider your pop song ringtone: You might just miss a call.
Altec Lansing T612, $199.95, alteclansing.com

(PLUS: Check out our iPod accessories hotlist.)

No, not guitars—you can make actual cars out of them, too. Leif Tufvesson has created these hot rods from the parts of a 1962 P1800 and a 140 Series, and then based the design on the 1927 OV4, the carmaker's first-ever production vehicle. But he has added one modern touch: an eco-friendly 2.5-liter T5 engine (also by Volvo) that runs entirely on ethanol.

[Top Gear]

Italian supercar-maker Pagani just introduced this carbon-fiber-and-brushed-aluminum sound system at the Geneva Auto Show. It includes 350-watt speakers, as well as two turntables (but no microphone). No price yet, but it's got to be cheaper than the $900,000 Zonda F. Right?

[Sybarites via Gizmodo]

The latest entry in his Townhouse Collection for Tumi: the khaki Pimlico Tote. As with his previous work for the brand, Chu has wedded some upscale flourishes (the leather bottom and handles) with old-fashioned practicality (a removable strap, two inside pockets) to create an elegant, understated weekend bag in time for spring. Just think twice before pairing it with your khaki suit.
Tumi Pimlico Tote, $495, tumi.com

Not a lot. In fact, the bonus features are as minimal as the movie itself, consisting of three behind-the-scenes docs and no directors' commentary. They did, however, include a hilarious extended ending sequence, punctuated with Javier Bardem finally taking a trip to the barber—played, no less, by Coen fave Steve Buscemi. (Okay, we made all that up.) Still, the movie's the thing, and for once, the Academy got it right with this one.

Also: The series finale of The Wire aired last night, and Salon just posted an extended interview with creator David Simon. You know, if you're not sick of him yet.

Coming this July: a new version of Omega's Seamaster, perhaps best known for adorning the wrist of James Bond in every 007 flick since GoldenEye. The updated chronometer sports a black bezel (rather than the traditional blue), not to mention black gold-plated hour and minute hands. (As the name implies, it's also water-resistant up to 300 meters, if you need that for some reason.) The watchmaker will produce (ahem) 10,007 of them, with the first hitting the brand's Beverly Hills shop for a price TBD.

(Plus: For more wristwear, check out our chronographs hotlist.)

Victoria Beckham is introducing a line of men's denim, which will go on sale this August. (She launched a women's line last year.) The pants will set you back around $250, and are designed to have a roomy fit, inspired in part by how Posh Spice's husband, David Beckham, prefers to wear his. "I didn't want anything too tight around the crotch," she told DNR. "That really repulses me." Wait, hasn't she seen her hubby's Emporio Armani ads?

Visiting his wife's homeland of South Africa for the first time, Johnny Neill was thunderstruck by the majestic baobab tree, known to locals as the "Tree of Life" for the sustenance they derive from it. Some men might have been inspired to compose an ode or poem, but lucky for us, Johnny's thought was "This would make some damn fine gin." But then, as a fourth-generation British distiller, you might say the stuff runs in his veins. Thus was born Whitley Neill, an African-inspired London dry gin with the fruit of the baobab as its signature botanical. Less astringent and spicier than the usual fare, it has delectable notes of herbs, cocoa, and candied citrus. Luckily, it will also finally be widely available stateside by the end of the month.
Whitley Neill London Dry Gin, about $30, whitleyneill.com

Between wars and (more recently) tourist visits from Tara Reid, the country has suffered through a lot. But this June, things are looking up: Dubrovnik's seaside Hotel Excelsior will reopen following an extensive $20-million makeover. Once the walled city's premier resort, the 95-year-old building sustained heavy damage during the region's conflicts in the nineties. Now it's been refitted with in-suite Jacuzzis, an expanded spa for après-beach downtime, and a piano bar that's been shifted 180 degrees to face the Adriatic Sea. There's also the massive new Villa Odak—a four-room aerie with a private pool and head-turning Old Town views, which promise to be blessedly Tara-free.
Hotel Excelsior, reopening this June, 011-385-20-353-353, hotel-excelsior.hr