This robot playing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on the piano looks kind of wack compared to hep cats like Shimon, the head-bobbing marimba player, or the avant-garde improv trio Three Sirens, or Toyota's incredibly tight four-piece band. (Not even to mention Daft Punk, or Herbie Hancock.) But it's actually pretty cool, because it can read and play a musical score on the spot. READ MORE

This weekend, I found myself in a bathroom that time forgot, and there was a copy of New York magazine's 1991 fall fashion issue. The third best part: the fashion edit was spectacular. It was like the first round of new wave flashbacks, and it was like a neon sign shop threw up on Taylor Dayne, with Samantha Foxx singing backup. Girls on the wet streets with smoke machines, with a hand sassily on the hip! The second best part was that David Blum was listed as a contributing editor. But the absolute first best part was the blow-in subscription card. READ MORE

"2009 is shaping up to be the year of the Grown-Ass Man, says New York's Josh Eels, discussing the notion of the middle-aged rap star. With a host of still-viable MCs approaching 40 (and, considering the showbiz tradition of shaving years off bios, it's safe to assume that some of them are already past the mark), the piece looks at the different tactics they employ to try to remain relevant. Jay-Z, of course, gets top billing. But as is so often the case, Ghostface Killah steals the show. "I wanted to take it to a more mature level," says the 37-year-old Wu-Tang Clansman, who's forthcoming album, The Wizard of Poetry, leans heavily toward love-song R&B stylings. "It's like having the same piece of pussy for twenty years. Sometimes you just need to change it up." READ MORE