All’s Fair: We’ve always said, appearing nude in a national publication is the best revenge. [Vanity Fair]

Going Mad: The impeccable Glenn O’Brien ponders the latest Mad Men developments. [GQ Eye]

The Internet Wins Again: MSNBC’s twitter gets hacked, says ungentlemanly things about Don Imus’ wife. (Warning: You are about to peer into the dark heart of the internet.) [TechCrunch]

The Getaway: Four of the coolest bank robberies ever, almost all of which have found their way to into films, one way or another. [Neatorama]

—R.B.

The iPhone’s been ruling the gadget world for upwards of two years now, but it’s finally got a worthy competitor. As of today, it’ll be splitting the gadget-obsessed market share with the Motorola Droid, a Google-powered, open source contender for the title of Best Phone Ever.

The big additions are a Blackberry-style physical keyboard for those tired of touchscreen tapping, along with a supercharged navigation system courtesy of Google Maps, but the real pull is a chance to get a little techier. Unlike the iPhone, the Droid lets you customize just about everything about the interface, with the help of third-party apps, downloadable skins and old-fashioned tinkering. If you feel like making the gadget your own, it’s easy to do—unlike the iPhone, which will always belong to the folks at Cupertino.

If you’re looking for a more thorough blow-by-blow, we recommend this one…but at this point, you might as well just see it for yourself.

—R.B.

Also Known as a Femme Fatale: Someone runs a garters-and-tights editorial spread every few months…and we have no problem with that. [Fashion Copious]

All Together Now: Popular music’s greatest hits, scrambled, courtesy of the fine folks at Eclectic Method. [Boing Boing]

Panda Panda Panda: How cute is too cute, asks an article topped by a picture of a panda. [Vanity Fair]

Hooray Success: Alain de Botton ponders the true meaning of success. His conclusion: What really matters is having an awesome name. [TED]

As you may have heard, the Olsens are trying their collective hand at menswear. And surprisingly enough, they’re pretty good at it.

Exhibit A: this narrowly double-breasted cardigan. The big loose-knit, shawl-collared style makes for an extremely cozy item, and a little overlap between the buttons only makes it cozier. It’s one of the best deep winter sweaters we’ve seen all season—and easily their best work since Passport to Paris.

—R.B.

The cigarette case might be the perfect accessory. It’s palm-sized, functional, and leaves lots of room for cool design touches. The only problem: As you may have heard, those things’ll kill you.

But there may be a replacement in the works. These slim leather-and-steel hard drives from Brinell fill the same empty spot in your jacket pocket, but they manage to fit 160 to 500GB in there. That means that instead of a pack of Nat Shermans, you’ll be carrying around your resumé, Miles Davis’ first eight albums, and the entire third season of The Sopranos with a little room left over for any crucial Flickr pics you may run across. Not bad for a trinket.

—R.B.

The Pompadour Rises Again: This is as threatening as Natalie Portman has ever looked, including when she was waving a pistol around. [Fashion Gone Rogue]

Just in Time for Movember: An in-depth interview with John Oates and some other guy. [A.V. Club]

Japan Wins Again: Behold the strangely transfixing trailer for a game called My Boyfriend is the President. [Gizmodo]

Take This Broken Menswear and Learn to Fly: Valet sits down with the mastermind behind our second favorite Northwestern boutique, Blackbird. Valet]

—R.B.

Following in the footsteps of Radiohead’s USB box set earlier this year, the Fab Four’s catalog is being digitally repackaging into a handy USB drive, concealed in this plastic apple along with a few mini-documentaries, rare photos from the archive and digitally enhanced liner notes.

It’ll set you back nearly $300—thanks to the usual New Medium price hike—but it’s handier than carrying around a dozen jewel cases. Still, we might hold out for the Stones’ tongue drive.

—R.B.

These Persol-ish shades come from an unlikely source: Fiat heir and occasional Kempt icon Lapo Elkann. His Italia Independent marque tends to the “millionaire playboy” look—we can’t imagine why—but if you’re looking for something to get you through ski season, this may be the perfect item.

—R.B.

One of the charms of travel is seeing the world’s different style quirks: drop-crotch pants in Seoul, flat grays in Stockholm and in Shanghai…pajamas. Since the Middle Kingdom’s home to some of the better PJs in the world, it’s a sartorial highlight in an otherwise drab town, but it looks like the tourist bureau doesn’t see it that way.

In anticipation of the city’s 2010 world expo, the cops are getting the city dressed up…which includes cracking down on anyone seen outside the house in loungewear. It’s a debatable point, but a style fiat is never a pretty thing and it’s already drawing criticism. Even beyond the indignity of fashion police, Shanghai is likely to look a whole lot worse when they’re done with it.

Anyone up for holding a pajama day in protest?

—R.B.

Run This Town: Rihanna graces TWBE’s globe-spanning favorite women list. [TWBE]

The New Kids on the Internet: A newly minted men’s style blog ponders the denim jacket. Welcome, gentleman. [Put This On]

Jesus: Developing Story: Willem Dafoe is still incredibly cool. [Blackbook]

Campfire Tales: An old gem, recently unearthed, looks into Haitian zombie culture. [Men’s Journal]

—R.B.

The scarf is probably the most versatile piece of outerwear, so we’re surprised we don’t see them popping up earlier in the year. Particularly now that we’re on the cusp between light jacket weather and arctic-level bundling, a good muffler can give you another few weeks before you have to break out the toggle coat. Which, depending on how you feel about winter, can be a lifesaver.

This wool item is from a shipment of Pria scarves recently stocked in Blackbird, and the pattern makes it a pretty good candidate for autumnal muffling. Go forth!

—R.B.

This snap comes from Chinese photographer Cao Fei, who was just shortlisted for the Hugo Boss Prize for his work raising awareness of the growing Golden Warrior threat.

—R.B.

The design crowd prides itself on being able to turn just about anything into an art object, so it was only a matter of time before they got around to toys.

These tops come from Herman Miller’s workshop, supposedly inspired by Charles Eames preoccupation with childhood playthings. Of course, because it’s a serious design house, the tops are all lathed and lacquered like the leg of a dinner table.

Watch your back, Hasbro.

—R.B.

Range Life: She seems underdressed for farming. [Refinery29]

A Gentleman’s Guide to Not Getting Sauce on Your Face: The mechanics of eating a chicken wing, explained. Seriously, take notes. [Lifehacker]

Smash!: If you only watch one forklift catastrophe video today, make it this one. [Gizmodo]

Glow in the Dark: Seeper Interactive takes over Branchage, UK with one of the more impressive light shows we’ve seen. [wejetset]

—R.B.

It would appear the art world isn’t immune to a little financial chicanery. This gold brick is currently on sale at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art as a paperweight/doorstop, but if the $80 price tag seems a little low for ten ounces of gold there’s a reason: it’s gilded aluminum stamped with a few significant dates and christened as art.

Of course, you could always pick up the genuine article for a few hundred more…but you’d have to leave the museum first.

—R.B.

The Tokyo Motor Show finishes up this Wednesday, and if there’s a takeaway, it’s that cars are about to get a lot smaller and a lot shinier. Nissan’s big concept offering was the Land Glider, a motorcycle/car hybrid that leans into turns like a motorcycle and, more importantly, does away with the passenger side entirely. If you’ve got a guest—or groceries, for that matter—they’ll be riding in back.

—R.B.

Better for your Back, We Hear: MTV’s latest celeb is lying on the floor in this month’s V Magazine. [I Know What You Wore]

On the Road: Jay Carroll takes a menswear driven tour of America. [Valet]

Don’t Go in the Basement: Gawker’s Halloween horror movie death roundup is basically rap music in video form. [Gawker]

G.O.A.T.: The greatest Halloween costume of all time, ever. [Shortform]

—R.B.

A lot of work goes into a good graffiti mural—you just don’t see it because of the whole “rule of law” thing. Fortunately, a crew called the Central Illustration Agency was able to get together with a camera crew and a wall-owner to produce this video to show you how it’s done. Consider it a devil’s night gift.

—R.B.

Unless you’ve got an unusually thorough sports calendar, you may have missed one of the most important boxing anniversaries on the books. 35 years ago today, Muhammad Ali and George Foreman converged on Zaire for the Rumble in the Jungle—cementing Ali’s legend and unleashing Don King on a more or less unsuspecting public.

In honor of the occasion, New York’s No Mas is taking a break from their usual diet of vintage-styled tees to produce a trio of animated shorts about the Rumble, including a spirited faceoff between Ali and a jumpsuited James Brown. Using live radio transcripts, audio collage and oil paints, it might be as close to the feeling of the real thing as we can get…at least on the internet.

And, just because we can, here’s Round 8 from the Rumble itself:

—R.B.

It Gels: Iekelene Stange is at the mercy of idiosyncratic designers. [Fashion Gone Rogue]

Alone in the Dark: Martin Scorcese names his eleven favorite horror movies. Apparently he’s not a Wes Craven fan… [The Daily Beast]

God’s Country: Des Moines gets a dose of sculptural clout. Does this count as the Bilbao Effect? [NYTimes]

My God, It’s Full of Stars: Esquire is planning something hinky and potentially earth-shaking with Augmented Reality. We think it involves Robert Downey Jr. pulling a Lawnmower Man. [Esquire]

—R.B.

An advance warning: This past June’s Pop-Up Flea is getting ready for a repeat performance from ACL’s Michael Williams and our very own Randy Goldberg. We’ll pass along more info on who will be peddling their wares soon, but expect some new names and fun offerings. In the meantime, we’d save the date. And, of course, prep yourself.

—R.B.

Last time we checked in with Hard Graft, they were reinventing the wallet with a little help from raw felt, but it looks like they’ve been plenty busy in the year since.

Today, they unveiled their latest creation, a gray leather satchel that can transform into a laptop case, a portfolio or a weekender bag. It’s called the 3Fold, and depending on how you button, snap and fold it, it can be perfect for anything from a coffee shop run to a weekend in the country. Hopefully the leather’s tough enough to stand up to all that creasing, but in the meantime you’ll get a little extra use out of the day-tripping bag that usually sits in the back of your closet.

—R.B.

Christmas Lights: Mme. Moss graces a few holiday Topshop spots. [Les Mads]

Boo!: Halloween costumes from the fashion crowd. 70s Rod Stewart may be a stroke of genius. [Refinery29]

A Matter of Taste: The Ed Hardy Boyz go viral. The name pretty much says it all. [Racked]

Anka Lives: Michael Jackson’s last stand turns out pretty well after all. [The Projectionist]

—R.B.

Old Hollywood had its share of great directors, but genuine iconoclasts are in surprisingly short supply. So when one like Samuel Fuller pops up in the archive, we tend to take notice.

From the 50s on, he was a reliable source for brutally effective flicks delivered in the most direct style possible. He became a French new wave favorite a little later, but he’s only now getting his due as one of the great macho filmmakers Hollywood ever produced.

A collection of some of his lesser known works hit shelves yesterday with a gem called Underworld U.S.A. bundled up inside. The movie’s a standard issue mob revenge story—as in, “My name is Tolly Devlin. You killed my father. Prepare to die”—with Cliff “Uncle Ben” Robertson in the icy central role. It’s high-grade pulp, make no mistake, but it’s got the kind of paranoid edge that makes good pulp into great film. And if you’re looking for a lost gem to fill out your DVD collection, it’s hard to find a better one.

—R.B.

Cardigans have always walked the line between being a casual outer layer and downright outerwear, especially as weaves get looser and wools get chunkier.

Pendleton’s latest cardigan (by way of Opening Ceremony) complicates things by bringing in one of our favorite professorial affectations, the elbow patch. That little tough of ruggedness puts it in the company of any number of fall jackets—at least, the non-weatherproof ones—and removes a sizable chunk of twee from an otherwise twee-packed item.

Well played, gentlemen. And as a late October boutique arrival, extremely well timed.

—R.B.