The must list: Week of Feb. 1
1. The album Hope for Haiti Now
With 100 percent of the proceeds going to relief efforts, download Jan. 22’s star-flooded telethon for $2.99 on iTunes, or the album featuring the evening’s A-list performances for only five bucks more.
2. ”STYLO,” Gorillaz
We’ve been waiting since ’05 for the cartoon band that brought us hits like ”Feel Good Inc.” and ”Clint Eastwood” to regroup. And now we know what’s taken them so long: Gorillaz’ sublime new single sounds like Kraftwerk backing an old-fashioned soul revue?which makes sense, since that’s ’70s R&B great Bobby Womack on lead vocals (along with rapper Mos Def and Gorillaz mastermind Damon Albarn). Other famous guests on their new album, Plastic Beach (due March 9), include everyone from Lou Reed to Snoop Dogg.
3. RuPaul’s Drag Race
Season 2 of TV’s guiltiest pleasure starts Feb. 1 on Logo with guest judge Kathy Griffin and queens named Tyra Sanchez and Pandora Boxx. You betta watch!
4. Fish Tank on cable on demand
A lonely teen in a British housing project (played by stunning newcomer Katie Jarvis) is the center of this clear-eyed indie film.
5. Claire Danes in Temple Grandin on HBO
Danes takes us inside the unique mind of an autistic woman who ignored the naysayers and earned a Ph.D. in animal science. Her no-frills performance makes us forget all about her So-Called Life.
6. More Than a Game on DVD
Before LeBron James ruled the NBA, he led a legendary high school team in Akron, Ohio. Kristopher Belman’s moving documentary takes a look back at the camaraderie of five inner-city kids with hoop dreams and the fatherly coach who taught them how to be men.
7. VBS.TV on CNN.com
Hipster bible Vice magazine’s online forays into the world’s most dangerous places (Liberia, North Korea) depict realities so frightening they’d make VBS creative director Spike Jonze’s Wild Things cry like giant babies in fur suits.
8. Voice Band app
This iPhone add-on turns your mouth into a one-man band. Sing into your iPhone, then turn your ”bah bah bah”s into various instruments like drums, bass, guitar, synth, and sax. Layer the tracks, and by God, you’ve got a song.
9. Man v. Food Live on Travel Channel
Watch in awe?with a side of queasiness — on Feb. 3 at 9 p.m. as host/culinary stuntman Adam Richman attempts to down a 48-ounce steak in two hours on live TV. Hope they have a seven-second vomit delay.
10. The Collected Works of Robert B. Parker
Parker, who died Jan. 18, wasn’t just a great writer, he was a great storyteller. Dip into The Judas Goat and relish the blunt wisecracking of PI Spenser; page through Appaloosa and find yourself riding with a couple of laconic Old West lawmen; have a few pints with the Boston cops in All Our Yesterdays. You won’t be sorry.