The Top 25 X-Men?
Over at IGN.com, Hilary Goldstein and Richard George have compiled a list of the top 25 X-Men characters. Granted, it's a shamelessly blatant tie-in to Friday's release of X-Men III: The Last Stand, but it also points to what I suspect will be that movie's biggest weakness, judging from the trailers I've seen.
The Top 86 Travel Books
At least according to Condé Nast Traveler's 45-judge panel, that is. It's a great list, including some usual suspects (Twain, Newby, Markham, Bowles, and Chatwin), as well as some enticing reads I have yet to assay (Peter Fleming, Rosemary Mahoney, and lija Trojanow, are on the "right now" list). There's altogether too much Theroux for my taste—my idea of hell would be traveling anywhere with that misanthropic hair-shirt of a man.
The Treadmill Bike
The SUV of bikes.
The Trouble With Truffles
The Amateur Gourmet received a press release promoting Alain Ducasse's $320 white truffle prix fixe menu. He wrote back that neither he nor his readers could afford that, but he'd gladly come taste it and report on his experiences. Ducasse said sure and TAG posted his report, as promised.
The True Cost of Piracy?
If you go by the RIAA's claims of $150,000 damage per song caused by downloading (as in this Stereophilehttp://www.stereophile.com/news/052206xmtrials/">Stereophile; story), that would mean that one month's worth of downloads caused be a single P2P site would be greater than the GDP of France—at least according to Donny's Blog.
The Truth About American Beer
You can't handle the truth! Well, maybe the 3.2% variety.
The Truth About Artists
"Business, and art, went on like this for years, fleecing the rich.
The Truth About Battery Life
Does DRM drain your battery faster? James Kim says it might sap as much as 25%. Like several of the comments on this story,I have questions about his testing—such as why .WAV should require as much processing as MP3. I look forward to more exploration of this issue.
The Truth About Being a Writer
Is there anything better than having written? Well, perhaps not having to write at all, but do people who have never itched know how exquisite a good scratch can be?
The Truth About HP
No, not that one, Hewlett-Packard. consumerist.com gives you the skinny on HP printers. I can second tip #10: Do not yell at the CSR. Patient intransigence goes a long way towards getting what you want—making you happy eventually is more efficient than continuing the conversation.